Year: 2025
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: This study examines the role of green finance awareness in enhancing sustainable competitiveness among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are vital contributors to economic growth, innovation, and employment but increasingly face pressure to adopt sustainable business practices in response to global climate challenges.Using a quantitative design and survey data from 90 SMEs, analyzed through descriptive, correlation, and regression techniques in SPSS, the results indicate that SMEs possess moderate-to-high awareness of green finance and actively engage in sustainability efforts.A strong positive correlation (r = 0.939, p < 0.01) and regression results showing that green finance awareness explains 88.1% of the variance in sustainable competitiveness (β = 0.939, p < 0.000) confirm that greater awareness significantly enhances SME competitiveness.The findings extend Resource-Based View, Stakeholder Theory, and Institutional Theory by identifying awareness as a strategic intangible capability, while practically emphasizing the need for SME leaders to incorporate green finance understanding into decision-making and for policymakers to strengthen awareness campaigns, financial literacy programs, and accessibility to green funding mechanisms.Aligning with SDG 9, this research advances empirical evidence that green finance awareness is not merely informational but a transformative driver for building resilient and competitive SMEs in the green economy.
Institution: Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
Language: English
Subfield: Finance
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7117111663