Sustainability standards in rural entrepreneurships

What is it about?

This research aims to assess the role of Sustainability Standards (SS) criteria in safeguarding the social dimension of Corporate Sustainability (CS) within rural entrepreneurial settings, with a specific focus on banana agribusinesses in Magdalena, Colombia. Employing a quantitative, explanatory, and cross-sectional approach, we selected a sample of banana producers from Magdalena, Colombia. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was constructed to test the hypotheses, and the SEM's goodness-of-fit and fit indices all demonstrated satisfactory results. Our study unveils a robust and statistically significant correlation between SS criteria and the social dimension of CS. Notably, local development emerges as the predominant factor influencing CS within the context of banana agribusinesses operating as rural entrepreneurships in Magdalena, Colombia. In contrast, working conditions and human rights exhibit moderate effects, whereas labor rights do not appear to exert a noticeable impact. This study exclusively considers SS criteria in assuring the social dimension of CS within banana agribusinesses in Magdalena, Colombia. It is crucial to acknowledge that other variables may also contribute to CS assurance. We recommend future research endeavors to identify and explore these potential variables. Our findings offer significant contributions by addressing a research gap, as there is limited scholarly exploration of the variables examined in the context of developing countries like Colombia, particularly within the realm of rural entrepreneurship. This underscores the importance of devising strategies to enhance the CS performance of such organizations.

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Photo by rafael albornoz on Unsplash

Photo by rafael albornoz on Unsplash