ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: EVIDENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES AND ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR IN MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES

Environmental sustainability has assumed increasing relevance in the organizational context. Despite this prominence, the incorporation of environmental sustainability in micro and small enterprises (MSEs) occurs unevenly, marked by structural, operational, and managerial limitations that hinder the consolidation of systematic environmental practices. In MSEs, the engagement with environmental practices tends to occur in a fragmented manner, indicating the need for empirical approaches that consider learning processes, organizational routines, and structural capacities within the organizational process of internalization. In this context, the objective of this study is to analyze the environmental practices adopted by Brazilian MSEs, considering the articulation between organizational culture, environmental engagement, and environmental behavior as a process of incorporating environmental sustainability. Methodologically, the research is characterized as empirical, quantitative, and descriptive, with a cross-sectional design, operationalized through a survey applied to 225 Brazilian MSEs. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire with Likert-scale items and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation. The results indicate greater consolidation of practices associated with organizational culture and environmental engagement, while practices of a strategic nature show lower integration and greater heterogeneity among firms. The associations observed among the analyzed dimensions were predominantly weak and non-linear, indicating that advances in operational practices do not necessarily imply strategic institutionalization. These findings demonstrate that the incorporation of environmental sustainability in MSEs occurs gradually and incrementally, reinforcing its understanding as an organizational process conditioned by learning, routines, and structural capacities.