Applying the Theory of Planned Behaviour to Predict Investment Intention in Energy Transition by Small Businesses' Owners

ABSTRACT Energy transition (ET) is the core of sustainable development. Therefore, ET is a growing operational imperative for all types of businesses. Until now, the majority of studies focus on the presence of specific factors that should encourage the adoption of ET practices, while little attention has been paid to the factors supporting the emergence of the intention of companies to follow ET practices. Intention is a stage that is upstream of the decision to perform a certain behaviour. This knowledge gap is more evident for small businesses (SBs), although they are the major responsible for pollution and GHG emissions. Hence, while most research focuses on identifying the factors that may encourage SBs to invest in ET without certainty that investments will materialise, this study investigates the process through which the intention to invest in ET emerges among SBs. For this purpose, the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) is applied to a specific population of SBs with a high propensity toward innovative investments. The findings show that the TPB can effectively help to explain investment choices of SBs. Specifically, economic and financial expectations seem to be the best factors that push SBs to invest in ET, even if great importance can be devoted to external requests for sustainability practices that cannot be ignored by any company. Even managers/owners' environmental sensitivity plays a relevant role and is somewhat shaped by the new environmental culture that is widespread around the EU. From this evidence, various implications occur.