Leaders' sustainability competences and small and medium‐sized enterprises outcomes: The role of social entrepreneurial orientation

Abstract

The market for socially conscious products and services has grown exponentially in the last years. Consequently, adding social value is among the great challenges that companies have to face nowadays. In view of this, companies need leaders with a specific skill set that prepares them to act and compete in this new environment. This is especially true for small and medium‐size enterprises (SMEs), which rely even more on their leaders' competences. The aim of this article is to analyse the influence of leaders' sustainability competences on SMEs social entrepreneurial orientation, as well as the influence of this strategy on the firm's outcomes. Results show that sustainability competences positively affect social entrepreneurial orientation; specifically, the social risk-taking and proactivity competence has a positive influence on the economic and social performance of SMEs, and notably on their green innovation performance. These results highlight the key role that leaders' competences have in SMEs social orientation and thus, the importance of training in competences for sustainable development.