ESG has become particularly relevant and widespread among a growing number of firms. This dynamic is the consequence of different solicitations to which companies are subject, mainly by stakeholders. To pursue ESG usually requires the implementation of eco-innovations (EI). Until now, literature about the effects of EI on ESG has been predominantly focused on large corporations, while little attention has been paid to SME, particularly to innovative SMEs. Within the ESG framework, this paper investigates how stakeholders influence innovative SME decisions to adopt EIs. To reach this aim, we investigate a probabilistic sample of 222 SMEs using the Partial Least Squares method. Results highlight that contractual stakeholders exert a higher influence than community stakeholders on EI. Among the single stakeholders belonging to the mentioned categories, only investors/lenders do not exert influence.

中文翻译：

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利益相关者如何影响对环境、社会和治理的追求。来自创新型中小企业的证据

ESG 在越来越多的公司中变得尤为重要和普遍。这种动态是公司受到不同征求的结果，主要是利益相关者。追求 ESG 通常需要实施生态创新 (EI)。迄今为止，关于 EI 对 ESG 影响的文献主要集中在大公司，而很少关注中小企业，尤其是创新型中小企业。在 ESG 框架内，本文调查了利益相关者如何影响采用 EI 的创新型中小企业决策。为了实现这一目标，我们使用偏最小二乘法调查了 222 家 SME 的概率样本。结果突出表明，合同利益相关者比社区利益相关者对 EI 的影响更大。