Sustainability in Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises ( SME )
Integrated Research Framework and Future Research Agenda
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12307111 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kerem Dalgali (Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences University of Potsdam Potsdam Germany), Victor Tiberius (0000-0002-6492-0872, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences University of Potsdam Potsdam Germany, corresponding author), Alexander Brem (0000-0002-6901-7498, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research, University of Stuttgart Stuttgart Germany) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | S2 |
| Pages | 437-451 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sustainable Development (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0968-0802 • E-ISSN: 1099-1719 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/sd.70326 |
| OpenAlex | W4415545552 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 80 |
Over the past two decades, the concept of sustainability in the context of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SME) has gained significant attention within both business practice and academic research. This has resulted in a rapid and multidisciplinary proliferation of scholarly literature, which has led to an increasing fragmentation of the research field, calling for an integrative overview. Against this background, this paper aims to identify the main thematic clusters of the literature on sustainability in SMEs, using two science mapping techniques (co‐citation analysis and bibliographic coupling), and a cluster‐wise review identifying major determinants and antecedents of SME's sustainability, SME's sustainability efforts, and their outcomes, as well as contextual factors, applied theories, and research methods. Additionally, it seeks to reveal nascent subfields and research gaps. This research contributes to the literature by complementing and extending existing literature reviews in a quantitative approach and proposing an integrative overview. Moreover, implications for SMEs and future research directions are suggested
Conceptual framework · Context (archaeology · Fragmentation (computing · Multidisciplinary approach · Sustainability · Sustainability science · Thematic analysis · Environmental Sustainability in Business · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Strategic Management
Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments
The Concept of Environmental Sustainability
The Relational View
Resolution limit in community detection
Sustainability-oriented innovation of SMEs
Bibliographic coupling between scientific papers
Absorptive Capacity
Constructing bibliometric networks
Co‐citation in the scientific literature
Finding community structure in very large networks
How to conduct a bibliometric analysis
Building Theories from Case Study Research
Upper Echelons
Bibliometric Methods in Management and Organization
The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm?
Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage
Internationalization, digitalization, and sustainability
Sustainability beyond economic prosperity
An Attention-Based View on Environmental Management
The microlevel actions undertaken by owner‐managers in improving the sustainability practices of cultural and creative small and medium enterprises
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |