Navigating climate change: Climate change awareness and strategies in micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in a developing economy

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327165 July 2, 2025 12 / 26 processes level (27.04 percent). Moreover, we found that the SE subsample displayed the lowest awareness (11.02 percent) about strategies related to climate change compared to the other subsamples. These findings, supported by the Pearson chi-square (X2) test of homogeneity (X2 = 32.49; p = 0.00), reveal statistically significant heterogeneity across firms, regard- less of economic sector. These patterns resonate with previous empirical findings [61], which posit that most organizations exhibit a unique combination of strategies at the corporate practice level (i.e., including carbon compensation, reduction, and independence) toward shaping their long-term carbon generation. This variation underscores the importance of tailored strategies depending on the organizational characteristics, size, and economic sector that may influence the organizations’ capacity to adopt and implement effective climate-related initiatives [62]. Furthermore, we examined strategic awareness at the economic sector level. Panel B of Table 4 reveals that ven- tures within the primary economic sector exhibit a higher strategic awareness at the corporate practice level compared to the operational process level. Indeed, a significant proportion of ventures in the primary sector of the economy indicated awareness of corporate practice strategies (62.92 percent), while a smaller proportion mentioned opera- tional process strategies (15.73 percent). Notably, 23.53 percent of MSMEs in the primary sector did not respond,

Table 4. Strategic Awareness. Panel A. All sample (N = 1453) Strategic Awareness SE SBO MSMEs Grand Total At the level of corporate practices 55.91 63.27 54.63 58.71 At the level of operational processes 24.80 20.83 27.04 23.88 No response 8.27 8.02 14.70 10.60 Not aware 11.02 7.87 3.63 6.81 Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 Panel B. Primary sector (N = 89) Strategic Awareness SE SBO MSMEs Grand Total At the level of corporate practices 50.00 70.00 60.78 62.92 At the level of operational processes 25.00 16.67 13.73 15.73 No response 0.00 6.67 23.53 15.73 Not aware 25.00 6.67 1.96 5.62 Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 Panel C. Secondary sector (N = 430) Strategic Awareness SE SBO MSMEs Grand Total At the level of corporate practices 66.67 67.65 58.93 63.02 At the level of operational processes 11.11 15.29 27.23 21.16 No response 11.11 8.82 10.71 10.00 Not aware 11.11 8.24 3.13 5.81 Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 Panel D. Tertiary sector (N = 934) Strategic Awareness SE SBO MSMEs Grand Total At the level of corporate practices 54.29 61.16 50.00 56.32 At the level of operational processes 27.14 23.21 29.35 25.91 No response 8.10 7.81 16.30 10.39 Not aware 10.48 7.81 4.35 7.39 Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 Note. Values in percentages. SBO = Small Business Owners; SE = Self-Employed; MSMEs = Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327165.t004