Testing a sustainability model for Philippine small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through values-driven agripreneurship: Perspectives from a major agrifeeds producer in Bulacan Province, Philippines

• Main Authors: Paderna, Raymond Disomito, Bravo, Philip Gabriel C., Ramirez, Alfonzo Gabriel H., Reyes, Randy Alejandro A., Villanueva, Joyce V.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2020
• Subjects: Agricultural industries—Philippines—Bulacan; Sustainable agriculture—Philippines—Bulacan; Agribusiness
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/10347
• Institution: De La Salle University

Scholarly discourse on business sustainability suggests that certain individual values held by employees can bolster a firm’s efforts to maximize wealth for all its stakeholders while managing the company’s social and environmental footprint. This study is an attempt to further galvanize the role of individual values in fostering small business sustainability using employee demographics as a moderator. To perform this task, 152 employees of a rapidly expanding agribusiness firm in San Ildefonso, Bulacan were polled and 4 expert respondents were thereafter invited to cross-validate observed data. Survey results subsequently confirmed a priori knowledge on the significant influence of all individual value dimensions on sustainability. But of the four demographic variables used as moderators, only age and educational attainment altered the dynamics between the values-sustainability linkage. Expert respondents invited to reflect on the survey results were by and large unsurprised at the outcome, suggesting that data obtained a posteriori corroborated with most of their perspectives on sustainability. Key recommendations included (a) hiring more females primarily for their values which are known to be sustainability drivers, and (b) using an expanded, multiple-bottom line approach to assess business sustainability as the firm expands.