IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i16p7239-d1721758.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Institutional and Entrepreneurial Drivers of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises’ Circular Economy Practices in Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Marija Alfirević

    (Department of Business and Entrepreneurship, University of Applied Sciences “Marko Marulić”, 22300 Knin, Croatia)

  • Maja Mihaljević Kosor

    (Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Nikša Alfirević

    (Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia)

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of institutional quality, stakeholder networks, entrepreneurial ecosystems, and policies on the adoption of circular economy practices by SMEs in twelve Central–Eastern European and Western Balkan countries. Using the Flash Eurobarometer 549 data, we first cluster countries by the level of circular economy adoption and find that they are highly interdependent. We apply cross-validated LASSO regression to identify two circular economy practices with the highest leverage (minimizing waste and saving materials). We also show that EU membership benefits appear when national administrations can effectively absorb and deploy EU incentives, helping firms transition from basic resource efficiency towards more advanced circular strategies. A two-pillar policy agenda is recommended: building targeted capability bundles inside firms (green-skills training and support for eco-design and production) and strengthening institutions and entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Marija Alfirević & Maja Mihaljević Kosor & Nikša Alfirević, 2025. "Institutional and Entrepreneurial Drivers of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises’ Circular Economy Practices in Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-12, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:16:p:7239-:d:1721758
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7239/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7239/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:16:p:7239-:d:1721758. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.