Craft breweries’ environmental proactivity: an upper echelons perspective

Abstract

Purpose Centered on upper echelons theory, this study aims to examine the interplay of US craft brewery owners’ green consumption values, environmental attitudes and environmental proactivity of their craft breweries. In addition, the moderating role of business challenges on the effect of environmental attitudes on environmental proactivity is assessed. Design/methodology/approach An online questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of US craft brewers through the Brewers Association Brew Forum Blog. A total of 237 valid responses were received. Structural equation modeling was used for testing hypothetical relationships among key constructs in the proposed research model: environmental values, environmental involvement, environmental sustainability practices and business challenges. Findings The results showed that green consumption values positively and significantly influenced environmental attitudes and environmental proactivity. Findings also confirmed the significant positive influence of environmental attitude on environmental proactivity. Furthermore, business challenges moderated the relationship between owners’ environmental attitudes and environmental proactivity of the breweries such that the higher the extent of business challenges weaker is the relationship between environmental attitudes and environmental proactivity. Originality/value It is accepted that upper management’s individual beliefs surrounding environmentalism are a contributing factor to the environmental management policy of their company. However, there is very little empirical evidence to demonstrate the impact that these values have in a tangible sense. To satisfy this deficit in the research, the study aims to analyze the relationship between the brewery owners’ environmental outlook and the sustainability practices of their brewery, regarding the former as a key psychological characteristic, which influences and motivates the direction of the latter.

Analysis of the Financial and Non-Financial Indicators of the Beer Sector: Italy and Spain

“…On the other hand, as far as non-financial indicators are concerned [39,[58][59][60] the sector web communication must improve in the two countries. Environmental information stands out in nonfinancial transparency, although it can improve since, on average, Spain lacked 70% of environmental information and Italy lacked 80% of it in March 2023, at the level of web transparency.…”

“…We explore the descriptive data referring to the web communication in March 2023 of nonfinancial indicators in the two countries since the analyzed academic literature demonstrates that the sector is intensive in water and energy, with large volumes of waste, and intends to make efforts to preserve the environment [39,[58][59][60].…”

“…Regarding the sustainability of the sector, this article dialogues with the emerging studies of the Spanish academic community on social and environmental accounting [57] and with other research that studies the brewing sector and its intensive use of water and energy, with large volumes of wastewater and solid waste and significant carbon emissions. This environmental problem makes it necessary to reflect on small-scale production and the process of "greening" in the brewing industry [39,[58][59][60]. Notably, companies in the brewing industry are willing to make many tangible efforts to address sustainability challenges [60].…”

The behavioural uncertainty and environmental sustainability of restaurant businesses: the moderating role of purchasing technical knowledge

“…Studies demonstrate that the majority of activities related to a sustainable restaurant environment are carried out on a daily basis (Cantele & Zardini, 2018). Thus, literature provides advice on how to improve the daily operations of a restaurant in order to create a more sustainable environment (Sozen et al, 2022). There are routine activities such as selecting a supplier, identifying the item to be purchased, selecting the energy to be used, identifying water sources, storage systems and so on.…”

“…They believe in the core activity of serving food consistently in a humble and welcoming environment (Jha, Kapoor, Kaul, & Srivastava, 2022). However, as environmental responsibility becomes more integrated into business plans (Engert, Rauter, & Baumgartner, 2016; Sozen, Rahman, & O’Neill, 2022), small restaurant businesses cannot avoid it. Furthermore, studies show that the majority of small restaurant operators are overburdened with the day-to-day pressures of running a business (Makona, Elias, Makuya, & Changalima, 2023).…”