Does Entrepreneur Moral Reflectiveness Matter? Pursing Low-Carbon Emission Behavior among SMEs through the Relationship between Environmental Factors, Entrepreneur Personal Concept, and Outcome Expectations

Abstract

The intensity and severe impact of carbon emissions on the environment has been witnessed globally. This study aims to unravel how environmental factors, personal factors, and entrepreneur outcome expectations affect entrepreneur low-carbon emission behavior (LCB) through the lens of social cognitive theory (SCT). To achieve the aims of this study, we gathered data from 1015 entrepreneurs and small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Jiangsu province of China to analyze the predictors of entrepreneur low-carbon behavior. The proposed relationships were tested using the partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. The findings from the study indicate that environmental factors (i.e., climate change (CC), public media (PM), and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have a significant and positive relationship with entrepreneur LCB. Moreover, entrepreneur green production self-efficacy (GPS) is positively associated with entrepreneur LCB. The findings further revealed that entrepreneur personal concepts such as entrepreneur self-monitoring (SM), entrepreneur self-esteem (SE), and entrepreneur self-Preference (SP) significantly and completely affect entrepreneur GPS. Likewise, entrepreneur moral reflectiveness (EMR) substantially moderates the relationship between entrepreneur green production outcome expectation and LCB. This study concludes with recommendations for researchers interested in enhancing knowledge in this field. In summation, this study shows that a behavioral science viewpoint is critical for improving knowledge of low-carbon environment, CC drivers, mitigation strategies, and sustainable transition to our complex environment.