University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

Diagram 2: Conceptual Framework – Force Field showing driving and resisting
Forces to accepting free Sustainable Development Training.
Driving Forces
OM attitude
Legislation
ISO 14001
Increased financial performance
Benefits of training
Competitive advantage
Stakeholder pressure
The
Small
Firm
OM attitude
Legislation
ISO 14001
742
Resistant Forces
Costs of investment/training
Do not seek advice on training
Lack of awareness of
Environment/Environment a low
priority
Lack of resources
It is important to note that the Forces do not show the weighting or importance of
each Force. Nor does the fact that there are numerically more Barriers than Drivers
mean that the latter can never overcome the former. Although the literature may lead
one to believe that Legislation may be the most important driver, it may not be the
most important barrier. One of the aims of the later Research within the DBA will be
to attempt to rank each Force in order to assess its importance to the SME.
In developing the Conceptual Framework, the Author has tried to be aware of the
three major pitfalls (Fisher, 2007). The first is over-complexity. This is avoided
through the simplicity of the Force Field used. The second is the failure to specify
what the relationships between the concepts are. Again the directional forces of the
Drivers and Barriers and the logical juxtaposition of the various pairs of Forces
avoids this pitfall. The third is that the Conceptual Framework is too general. This,
at first sight, could be levelled at the Conceptual Framework, however using the
information behind the Forces (the sixty-six individual themes) avoids this pitfall.
Further Research
This will be to consider the effectiveness of the author’s Conceptual Framework in
encapsulating the current situation regarding SMEs and their uptake of free
environmental training.
In line with the requirements of the DBA, the author is required to undertake further
pieces of research in order to understand fully the barriers to imparting free
environmental knowledge to SMEs in the UK’s East midlands region. This will be
done by testing the Conceptual Framework through research. The first piece will be
interpretive, non-survey-based research. The Author’s intention is to interview a
number of SME OMs in the East Midlands on the database of the ISDB. The
intention is to interview OMs from organisations which are currently receiving free