Environmental Sustainability, Digitalisation, and the Entrepreneurial Perception of Distances as Drivers of SMEs’ Internationalisation

Abstract

The complex relationship between sustainability, digitalization, entrepreneurship and internationalization has received less academic attention, although each of these topics is an important research area on its own. Thus, our research aims to understand the effect of environmental sustainability, the usage of digital systems, and the entrepreneurial perception of distances on the intention to export in the case of SMEs. The authors have developed a survey to examine three main hypotheses. Based on the answers of 315 SMEs, the article highlights that the communication of environmental sustainability, the usage of ERP systems, and the perception of cultural distance as opportunities to foster internationalisation.