Green Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice as Drivers of SME Performance in Oman: The Mediating Role of Organisational Culture

Abstract

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) underpin Oman's Vision 2040 diversification agenda, yet little empirical work has examined how green marketing knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) translate into measurable performance gains for Omani SMEs, or the role organisational culture plays in that translation. This study surveyed 575 SME owners and managers across Oman's nine governorates, retaining 406 valid responses after data screening, to test a KAP-based model in which green knowledge, green attitude, and green practice predict SME performance directly and indirectly through organisational culture. Data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4, following a two-step assessment of the measurement and structural models with 5,000-sample bootstrapping. All three KAP dimensions significantly predicted SME performance directly (β = 0.206–0.243, p < .05). Green practice was by far the strongest predictor of organisational culture (β = 0.548, p < .001), green knowledge a moderate predictor (β = 0.230, p < .001), and green attitude a marginal predictor (β = 0.074, p = .064). Bootstrapped indirect effects confirmed that organisational culture carried the effects of green practice (β = 0.166, p = .019) and green attitude (β = 0.215, p = .043) through to performance, but not the effect of green knowledge (β = 0.020, p = .430). The findings indicate that sustained green practice, more than green awareness alone, is what builds the organisational culture Omani SMEs need to convert green orientation into measurable performance — with direct implications for how Vision 2040 sustainability initiatives are designed and sequenced at the SME level.