There are a number of ethical issues that require due attention in any research. General ethical guidelines for social science researchers include: ‘not harming the participants,
158 gaining informed consent, protecting anonymity, respecting dignity, protecting privacy, ensuring confidentiality, avoiding deception, honesty and transparency in communication, declaring possible conflicts of interests, and avoiding misleading and false reporting of results’ (Easterby-Smith et al., 2008, p. 134). Many others, such as Blaxter et al. (2011, p. 160-169), Hammersley and Atkinson (2007, p. 209-229) and Saunders et al. (2004, p. 129- 142), have also proposed almost similar ethical principles for researchers to adhere to.
In this study, no vulnerable informants were to be approached for data collection. Therefore no significant ethical issues arise during the fieldwork, but gaining informed consent. This was gained by communicating the purpose of research, giving assurance for using the information only for academic purposes and reassuring informants that the study would not bring any harm to them (Appendix-VI). Moreover, ethical parameters as outlined in the Open University’s ‘Ethics Principles for Research Involving Human Participants’12
were observed. In this regard, ethical approval was also sought from the Open University Human Research Ethics Committee (Appendix-XI). However, need for gaining ethical approval from any authorities within Pakistan did not arise.
Regarding communicating findings honestly, the concept of ‘data structure’ (Gioia et al., 2013) has been operationalised effectively confirming that the findings of this study are surely rooted in data gathered from study participants. As agreed with the study participants, data has been used purely for academic purposes. The dissemination of data has happened in the form of this thesis, submission of a couple of journal articles, such as to International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research (IJEBR), and presentations made on academic forums such as ESRC seminars series on green innovation
12http://www.open.ac.uk/research/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.research.main/files/files/OU%20Ethics%20
159 2015. Moreover, the use of ‘soft language’, avoidance from ‘threatening language’13
(Buchanan et al., 1988) and considering the cultural aspects of Pakistan dressing up informally so that the researcher didn’t look like a tax officer, from whom SME owner- managers generally try to remain at a distance, also served as useful strategies for remaining congenial to study participants.
3.5 Chapter summary
In summary, this chapter has discussed the methodological considerations of this study. The study is rooted in the social constructionist philosophical tradition but at a ‘mild’ level, and a qualitative research approach supported by multiple-case study research design is considered appropriate for it. Considering the socio-cultural environment of Pakistan, purposive and snowball sampling strategies have been used to recruit informants. Semi- structured interviews have been used for probing issues in-depth, drawing on ‘laddering technique’ (Easterby-Smith et al., 2008). The chapter has also demonstrated that for analysing data, grounded analysis coupled with inductive approach to concept development (Gioia et al., 2013) has been operationalised allowing the researcher to achieve trustworthiness, rigor and validity in findings and analysis of this qualitative study (Symon and Cassell, 2012; Tracy, 2010; Pratt, 2008; Easterby-Smith et al., 2008; Schwandt et al., 2007; Krefting, 1991; Lincoln and Guba, 1985). The practical challenges faced and strategies adopted to address these have been discussed as well. Finally, reflections have been made on ethical aspects of the study.
13 Buchanan et al., (1988) have proposed that the use of words like; ‘research’, ‘interview’ and ‘publish’ should
be avoided. Less threatening wording will be more appropriate, for example, I want to ‘learn from your experience’, I want to have a ‘conversation’ with you, and I want to ‘write an account’.
160 The next four chapters report on findings of this research.
Chapter 4 presents the within-case and cross-case analysis of the environmental behaviour of sample firms and classifies them into three categories: (a) environmentally progressive, (b) environmentally moderate and (c) environmentally distanced SMEs. This classification of firms then informs the analysis and discussion in the remainder of this thesis. While Chapter 5 examines environmental drivers and Chapter 6 investigates enabling factors of environmental improvement in environmentally progressive and moderate SMEs, Chapter 7 looks into environmental barriers in these two categories of firms. It is noteworthy that these three chapters do not focus on environmentally distanced SMEs because these firms are not environmentally driven and do not advance the resources and capabilities needed for environmental improvement. The reasons for them to have remained environmental distanced are discussed at length in Chapter 4 (Section 4.2.3).
161
Within-case and cross-case analysis of leatherworking
SMEs in Pakistan
4.1 Introduction
The previous chapter presented the methodological approach adopted in this study. This chapter reports on findings about the environmental behaviour of leatherworking SMEs in Pakistan. It draws on the within-case and cross-case analysis (Section 3.3.2) for offering an in-depth understanding of the environmental initiatives and behaviour of sample firms. Having analysed the nature and scale of and the similarities and variations in environmental actions of the sample firms, these are classified into three categories: (a) environmentally progressive, (b) environmentally moderate and (c) environmentally distanced SMEs (Table 4.1). This categorisation of SMEs informs the analysis and discussion in the remainder of this thesis. Environmentally progressive SMEs display a higher level of environmental commitment. They proactively acquire ecological knowledge, innovate their production processes and adopt advanced cleaner technologies. Environmentally moderate SMEs also display a higher level of environmental commitment and proactively adopt various cleaner production practices. However, they struggle to achieve the similar level of environmental improvement as their environmentally progressive counterparts do. This is largely due to resource scarcity, which constrains these firms, for instance, from acquiring and diffusing the latest cleaner technologies. In contrast to both these categories, environmentally distanced SMEs display a lower level of environmental commitment and do not proactively take environmental protection measures. This is not only due to their internal capacity constraints and a stronger focus on economic imperatives, but also because of the limited interest of their owner-managers in addressing environmental issues.
162
Table 4.1: Three categories of sample firms as per their environmental behaviour
Source: Developed by the researcher informed by the interview data, fieldwork journal and photographs of field visits.
Key features
Environmentally progressive SMEs Environmentally moderate SMEs Environmentally distanced SMEs
Environmental orientation of owner- managers
SME owners and managers regard environmental issues as serious and pro-actively take considerable measures to address these issues.
SME owners and managers regard environmental issues as serious and proactively adopt cleaner production practices. They, however, cannot take all the required measures mainly because of the financial constraints.
SME owners and managers concentrate only on economic imperatives. They do not regard environmental issues as serious and/or are least interested in addressing these.
Markets of operation Only export-oriented or predominantly export-oriented firms.
Some firms only export and some operate in domestic market only. However, some operate both in domestic and international markets.
Predominantly, these firms operate in the domestic market, with some of these also having partial export concerns. Those who export they do not sell to environmentally sensitive customers.
Environmental learning
Strongly embedded in ecological learning networks (locally as well as internationally) and regularly advance ecological knowledge resources through knowledge exploitation and exploration processes.
Embedded in ecological learning networks (generally locally), but do not acquire ecological knowledge as regularly as environmentally progressive SMEs do. Do not engage or get limitedly engaged with knowledge exploration initiatives.
Do not embed in ecological learning networks.
In-house R&D arrangements
Formal R&D arrangements for sustainability- oriented process innovations.
Generally, less formal R&D arrangements for sustainability-oriented process innovations. Often rely on external partners’ support for this.
No R&D arrangements for sustainability-oriented process innovations.
Developing eco-literacy amongst human resources
Proactively advance ‘eco-literacy’ amongst labour- force - both at the internal level as well as with the support from intermediary organisations.
Regular environmental training of labour-force, but mainly with the help of intermediary organisations, and only limited internal arrangements.
No environmental training of employees.
Adoption of cleaner technologies Proactively invest in (expensive) advanced cleaner technologies.
Proactively adopt cleaner technologies but these are not much advanced/expensive.
Do not adopt cleaner technologies.
However, they have access to the combined effluent treatment plants because they are situated in larger tannery clusters which provide this common facility.
Demographic features Medium sized firms.
Labour-force: > 150 but < 250
Mostly medium sized firms. Few are also of small size. Labour-force: generally <150
Generally, these are smaller size firms, with few exceptions operating as medium sized units. Labour-force: generally <20
163 The remainder of this chapter is structured in two sections. Section 4.2 starts with presenting a summary of each sample firm’s environmental initiatives, which form the basis for classifying the firms as environmentally progressive, moderate and distanced SMEs. The three subsections of this section (subsections 4.2.1, 4.2.2 and 4.2.3), drawing on the key evidence from interview data, then present within-case and cross-case findings about the environmental practices of sample firms in each category respectively. Finally, the chapter concludes with a summary in Section 4.3.