The Role of Corporate Sustainability Goals in Shaping Organizational Intentions and Adoption of Green Technologies in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

This study investigates green technology adoption (GTA) among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), focusing on the influence of corporate sustainability goals (CSG) and sustainability motivation (SM). Utilizing institutional theory, the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and resource-based view (RBV), the research highlights how SMEs integrate environmental, social, governance (ESG) and economic considerations into their CSG to enhance GTA. Addressing a gap in prior research that has largely emphasized external drivers of adoption while underexploring internal organizational mechanisms, the study conceptualizes CSG as strategic intent and models SM as a second-order construct . Based on survey data collected from SMEs across multiple UAE industries (n = 483) and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) , the results indicate that CSG exert a strong positive effect on SM, which in turn significantly promotes GTA, with organizational intention (OI) serving as a key mediating mechanism . The study offers novel theoretical insight into how sustainability-oriented strategies are translated into technological action in resource-constrained organizations. From a practical perspective, the findings highlight the importance of aligning sustainability goals, internal motivation, and strategic intention to accelerate GTA among SMEs . The findings emphasize the need for SMEs to align their corporate strategies with global sustainability standards, thereby fostering economic and environmental resilience. By integrating strategic, motivational, and intentional mechanisms within a single framework, this research contributes to the understanding of GTA in emerging markets and advances existing adoption models by explaining not only whether SMEs adopt green technologies, but how and through which internal pathways such adoption is strategically enabled.