Enterprises are increasingly required to improve their environmental performances. The adoption of environmental innovations (EIs) is believed a way to achieve this goal. So a flourishing debate about the determinants supporting investment in EIs arose. Researchers have thus far paid attention mainly to established manufacturing firms operating in traditional sectors. Hence, scientific literature recommends deepening the behavior of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) because of the role they play in the productive systems in many Western countries. With this in mind, this study investigates a probabilistic sample of 222 innovative SMEs using the partial least squares and importance–performance map analysis in order to identify the factors affecting their propensity to invest in EIs. Findings show that the propensity results are affected by the firms' environmental awareness, company staff, and capabilities, among the internal factors, whereas among the external ones, the propensity is affected by norms and regulations. An important role is also played by the hope to improve their economic and environmental performances. Monetary and fiscal incentives reveal not to be significant. Consequently, policies should firstly propose an appropriate mix of regulations and stimuli following two directions: a compliance direction to more stringent regulations and rules to be followed through the imposition of penalties and a cultural direction aiming at improving environmental awareness of SMEs about the desirability of pursuing EIs for both ethical and economic reasons, given the potential benefits associated with such innovations.

中文翻译：

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支持中小企业可持续发展的环境创新决定因素

企业越来越需要改善其环境绩效。环境创新 (EI) 的采用被认为是实现这一目标的一种方式。于是，一场关于支持 EI 投资的决定因素的激烈辩论出现了。迄今为止，研究人员主要关注在传统部门运营的成熟制造企业。因此，科学文献建议深化中小企业 (SME) 的行为，因为它们在许多西方国家的生产系统中发挥着作用。考虑到这一点，本研究使用偏最小二乘法和重要性-绩效图分析调查了 222 家创新型中小企业的概率样本，以确定影响其投资 EI 倾向的因素。研究结果表明，倾向结果受企业环境意识、公司员工和能力的影响，在内部因素中，而在外部因素中，倾向受规范和法规的影响。改善经济和环境绩效的希望也发挥了重要作用。货币和财政激励措施并不显着。因此，政策应首先提出以下两个方向的适当的法规和刺激组合：通过施加惩罚来遵守更严格的法规和规则的合规方向和旨在提高中小企业的环境意识的文化方向追求追求的可取性考虑到与此类创新相关的潜在利益，出于道德和经济原因，EI。