Improving sustainable marketing performance for export-oriented MSMEs of forest products through sustainability practices and entrepreneurial marketing

Amidst Indonesia’s success as one of the world’s largest forest product exporters, pressure to implement sustainability practices continues to arise, which have the potential to become barriers in international trade. Efforts to turn barriers into opportunities require unique, agile, and distinctive capabilities. This study aimed to examine the influence of three dimensions of sustainability: economic sustainability practices (EconSP), social sustainability practices (SociSP), and environmental sustainability practices (EnviSP) on sustainability entrepreneurial marketing (SustEM); and to examine the influence of SustEM on sustainable export marketing performance (SEMP). The method used was quantitative, tested with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. Valid data of 206 managers/owners of export-oriented MSMEs charcoal producers. The results of the study revealed that EconSP, SociSP and EnviSP had a significant positive effect on SustEM; furthermore, SustEM had a significant positive effect on SEMP. The novelty of this study was a sustainability-based marketing model by building an entrepreneurial marketing construct that was driven by economic, social, and environmental sustainability practices to leverage the sustainable export performance of MSMEs forest product producers. It is beneficial for stakeholders, especially in the forestry sector, including researchers, academics, export-oriented MSMEs, and governments, in encouraging transformation towards forest sustainability-based economic development.