Sylwia Słupik

Objective: This article aims to identify and analyse the opinions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) entrepreneurs operating in the Silesian Voivodeship on the prospects of their companies in relation to the need to implement so-called green solutions. The key aim of the study was to identify differences in assessments of future developments in the labour market of the Silesian Voivodeship between two groups of respondents: SME companies with the potential to create green jobs and SMEs in the green sector. Research Design & Methods: We based the analysis on empirical data collected during fieldwork, based on a dedicated interview questionnaire. We used stratified-quota sampling. We conducted the entire study in the form of computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) with a sample of 635 respondents. Key relationships between nominal variables and their categories were tested using a chi-square test to determine the significance of these relationships. For factors significantly influencing interest in companies‘ environmental activities, correspondence analysis was additionally applied. Findings: Most respondents believe employment in SMEs with green job potential will remain stable until 2027. Micro-entrepreneurs tend to foresee unchanged employment, while medium-sized companies plan to increase staff. The study highlights that green jobs are not clearly defined, focusing more on retraining employees to meet new environmental requirements than creating new roles related to green technologies. Entrepreneurs believe that Silesia’s socio-economic infrastructure supports green economy initiatives, while companies already engaged in the green sector effectively create green jobs. Notably, 71.4% of these companies‘ representatives expect strong growth in the sustainable economy by 2027. Implications & Recommendations: The green economy in Silesia has promising prospects but faces challenges. Supporting access to public funding and offering preferential pricing for eco-friendly technologies could boost interest across businesses. Raising public awareness and environmental education is crucial to prepare workers and the public for upcoming economic shifts. Simplifying subsidy procedures for pro-environmental actions and adjusting legal regulations could accelerate the adoption of green solutions, making them more attractive to regional enterprises. Contribution & Value Added: This research enriches prior studies on sustainability and entrepreneurship by addressing the perspectives of SMEs in Poland. The analysis highlights how SME entrepreneurs in Silesia view the green economy. Most companies with green job potential (66.2%) found the region’s socio-economic infrastructure favourable for green economy adoption. Promising areas included renewable energy, clean technologies, and waste management, with photovoltaics and recycling identified as key. Among established green-sector firms, 71.4% expect strong sector growth by 2027, aligning with the sustainable development goals (SDG).

Ongoing climate change and increasing energy consumption are becoming a serious threat to international development efforts. To ensure a secure and sustainable future, local, national and regional authorities, as well as energy companies, need to be involved in improving energy efficiency and promoting rational energy use. The consumer is always at the centre of interest of policy and energy reduction strategies makers. It is their behaviour, motives and beliefs that can lead to optimised and economical energy management. This paper responds to the need to identify the individual preferences of energy consumers. The presented research fills an existing gap in the literature by analysing the strength of the influence of different types of instruments and external stimuli shaping pro-environmental attitudes of consumers of different behavioural types. The analysis presented in this paper is the result of the next stage of the authors’ research on energy consumers modelling, their segmentation and comprehensive characteristics. The analysis was conducted on a representative sample of N = 4332 respondents from 8 European countries (Czech Republic, France, Greece, Spain, Germany, Poland, Romania, and the United Kingdom). The study used multivariate statistical methods, such as: Correspondence Analysis, Factor Analysis and Kruskal-Wallis test. These methods are adequate to the assumptions of the research procedure and allowed for the identification of 4 latent factors that link the incentives into groups, where the motivation to save energy is based on: information (“Information and Knowledge”), social norms (“Social Influence”), investment funding (“Investments”) and energy price changes (“Energy Price”). In addition, the level of effectiveness of the studied incentives and motivators depends on the behavioural type of energy consumers and increases with rising levels of their intrinsic pro-environmental motivation.

Scarcity of resources and their waste, as well as deteriorating quality of life and the environment, are pressing problems of modern civilisations. Rational and efficient energy consumption is one of the possibilities for preventing harmful practices and the degradation of ecosystems. Understanding the consumer’s way of thinking and acting by identifying his needs and preferences are essential for effective efforts for smart, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth. Therefore, the aim of this article was a comprehensive socioeconomic analysis of particular behavioural types of energy consumers, as a continuation of the authors’ previous research. The paper uses statistical methods (chi-square test and correspondence analysis) dedicated to non-metric variables for an effective analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaires. The identification of socioeconomic factors was carried out on a representative sample of n = 4506 respondents from eight European countries (the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Spain, Germany, Poland, Romania, and the United Kingdom). This allowed for distinguishing a typical representative of five consumer segments (EI; AE; DS; O; I), developed on the basis of motivation to save energy. The authors succeeded in combining behavioural segmentation with the socioeconomic characteristics of the created classes. The results indicated that 10 out of 12 examined factors were significantly correlated with the behavioural type. These are (in order of significance): attitude towards saving energy; age; employment status; home country; the ownership status of the premises; the number of people in a household; average monthly income per person in a household; education; gender and place of residence.

Energy consumption impacts the environment, humans’ well-being, comfort and quality of life. The article aimed to develop the original model of energy consumer segmentation, based on behavioural variables, which influence consumer decisions and motivations regardless of demographic, geographic and socio-cultural differences. The innovative contribution is the segmentation procedure, which fills the existing research gap and can be treated as a universal tool serving various groups of stakeholders for creating and implementing sustainable development policies. The methodology used for the segmentation is based on the original algorithm and involves classifying a consumer into the most appropriate group based on the measurement of the distance between the ideal class representative and a particular respondent. Several distance measures (e.g., Sokal–Michener, Goodall, Lin) were used, while the similarity of those classifications was verified using the adjusted Rand index. The segmentation involved adopting—a priori—five basic classes of consumers, varying in terms of motivation to save energy. The validation performed on a sample of 1606 respondents, carried out as part of the eco-bot project, verified both the classification approach adopted in the study and the accuracy of the assumptions. The application of the distance measures chosen for the study allowed for the assignment of 96.1% of the respondents to the appropriate classes, which yielded the following distribution: EI (33.9% of the respondents); DS (33.1%), AE (17.2%), O (7%) and I (4.9%).

The issue of energy behaviour among Polish consumers, and especially the motives and attitudes they manifest, is relatively under-researched. This article attempts to identify individual attitudes and beliefs of energy consumers using the example of the residents of the province of Silesia (Poland). The authors conducted the expert segmentation of respondents in terms of their motivation for saving energy, based on the results of their proprietary survey. The second stage of the study involved using a classification model that allowed for the characterisation of the obtained groups. Psychological and financial factors were of greatest significance, which is confirmed by the results of other studies. Nonetheless, the obtained results explicitly indicate the specificity of the region, which requires transformation towards a low-emission economy. Despite the initial stage of changes both in the awareness of the consumers and the public interventions of the authorities, it should be emphasized that a majority of the respondents—at least to a basic extent—declared taking energy-saving measures. Financial motives are predominant among the respondents, although pro-environmental motives can also be noticed, which might translate into increased involvement and concern for the environment and climate.

Streszczenie W artykule przestawiono rolę gospodarki energetycznej w zrównoważonym rozwoju gminy. Poddano analizie lokalne uwarunkowania planowania zrównoważonej gospodarki energetycznej w województwie śląskim oraz dokonano oceny działań gmin województwa w zakresie wdrażania zrównoważonego rozwoju energetycznego na ich terenie. W artykule wykorzystano wyniki badań ankietowych dotyczących rozwoju rynku dóbr i usług ekologicznych w województwie, przeprowadzonych w 2012 roku, a także dane uzyskane w trakcie badania polityki wdrażania zrównoważonego rozwoju na szczeblu: krajowym, regionalnym i lokalnym w roku 2015. Podstawowym wnioskiem, jaki nasuwa się po analizie, jest fakt, iż niewiele gmin województwa śląskiego prowadzi kompleksową politykę energetyczną, co powoduje, że polityka rozwoju prowadzona przez władze nie zawsze jest w stanie sprostać potrzebom gospodarki i zaspokajać potrzeby mieszkańców.