**4. Results**

The presentation of the results concentrates on those four areas that were identified as crucial in constituting decisions on energy efficiency and establishing an effective energy efficiency culture within the SMEs.

## *4.1. Energy E*ffi*ciency Climate*

#### 4.1.1. What Importance Does Energy Efficiency Have for the SMEs?

As part of the questionnaire, the SMEs were queried as to how they assess the current meaning of energy efficiency for the enterprise. The results show that energy efficiency is perceived as an important issue for the SMEs, although equally important with other factors. While there were only minor differences between the enterprises when looking at their energy demand, the answers differed considerably according to the size of the enterprise (Figure 4). The analysis suggests that the size of enterprises influences the perceived importance of energy efficiency—the smaller the SMEs are, the less pronounced the importance of energy efficiency seems to be. In this respect, the energy efficiency climate in micro-enterprises appears less positive than in medium-sized enterprises. Almost one-third of micro-enterprises considers the current importance of energy efficiency to be relatively low.

The SMEs were additionally asked how they assess the importance of energy efficiency and energy saving in day-to-day work for the company's work force. This showed that almost half of the enterprises (46%) rate the meaning of energy saving in everyday working life as high or very high. On the other hand, only 19% rate energy efficiency as low or very low. With regard to the energy demand, hardly any differences were noticeable. However, differences could be observed according to the size of the enterprises. As seen above, a similar pattern was observed, although less pronounced—the larger the enterprises are, the higher the importance of energy efficiency in everyday work life seems to be.

**Figure4.**Currentimportanceof energyefficiencybyenterprisesize.

4.1.2. What Meanings Does Energy Efficiency Have for the SMEs?

In the course of the interviews during the ethnographic fieldwork, it became apparent that the associations of the organizational members with energy efficiency issues are manifold. Subjective and manifest assessments on energy efficiency issues and individual experiences may range from "necessity" to "annoyance" within an enterprise or even within a division. As every enterprise has its own "energy efficiency history", the interview partners provided individual experiences as well as shared collective stories, revealing the meanings associated with energy efficiency issues. For example, the interviewed persons reported on the introduction of a managemen<sup>t</sup> system, reflected on their role in initiating measures, or critically questioned the management's intentions when introducing new work rules. Therefore, personal experiences, corporate values, and motivations as well as realized measures constitute the meaning of energy efficiency. To untangle the bubble of meanings [71], the articulated meanings by the interviewed persons (Table 4) were differentiated by whether they refer to the organizational discourse (meaning for the enterprise) or individual experiences, ideas, and beliefs of individual employees and decision makers (meanings within the enterprise).

**Table 4.** Meanings of energy efficiency for and within the enterprise (energy efficiency climate).


The fieldwork research indicates that the meaning of energy efficiency for the enterprise is not only shaped by internal criteria such as cost reduction, profitability, risk mitigation, and future safety, but also by external criteria. Meanings, such as social or ecological responsibility, modernity, progress, or the desire for a positive external image, are unthinkable without recourse to the expectations of the corporate environment and broader society; the meaning of energy efficiency is a social product. For example, in several cases the general societal discourse on sustainability together with regional energy efficiency programs or initiatives of contractors can have a considerable influence in shaping the attention on energy efficiency issues within an enterprise. On the one hand, this indicates the potential influence of the organizational environment on the enterprises (which will be further elucidated in Section 4.4). Furthermore, those external criteria and expectations represent aspirations for the future and the development of the enterprises.

The meanings for and within the enterprise do not necessarily intersect and have both positive and negative (or rather destructive) connotations. Energy efficiency can, thus, be treated ambivalently by employees despite its positive meanings for an enterprise. Nevertheless, members should not necessarily be accused of lack of understanding, resentment, or bad intentions. On the contrary, the interviews revealed that the employees oftentimes do have much more personal thoughts about issues of increasing energy efficiency than the managemen<sup>t</sup> staff sometimes expects. Nevertheless, the individual frames of references do differ. The case studies strongly indicate that the positioning within the enterprise, individual attitudes, interests, and experiences shape how energy efficiency issues are perceived and evaluated by the individual members. For instance, in the case of a managing director of one studied enterprise, individual experiences with energy efficiency technology (e.g., in private households) and a strong interest in sustainability proved as a strong driver for the implementation and consideration of any measures. In another case, the energy manager similarly expressed a strong individual interest in sustainability as well as in energy-efficient technology and measures in general. However, feeling under-supported by the top managemen<sup>t</sup> and decision makers on the shop floor level, he has become more and more frustrated with the role as an energy manager he initially was eager to fill out in the enterprise. In the context of the enterprise, energy efficiency became a burden loaded with negative associations.

4.1.3. How Is Energy Efficiency Perceived as Being Established within the Enterprises and What Aspects Drive the Establishment of Energy Efficiency within the SMEs?

To what extent energy efficiency is established in the SMEs was one of the key questions of the entire study. With regard to the participating enterprises in the case study research, the establishment appears fairly strong. Although in almost all SMEs potentials for improvement were indicated by the managemen<sup>t</sup> staff, the topic was, nevertheless, considered sufficiently established by most of them. From a critical perspective, this finding could be attributed to a sampling bias (due to the fact that participating in an extensive case study research requires rather unusual high interest for energy efficiency, in general, and a rather strong establishment, after all). This risk is much lower for the survey in which the companies are asked the same question. However, energy efficiency appears to be fairly well established in the surveyed SMEs as well. Rather surprisingly, the energy demand of the enterprises did not seem to have a particular influence on how energy efficiency is established. Conversely, the size of enterprises appeared to have a more significant influence (Figure 5). In the case of micro-enterprises, around 30% perceive energy efficiency to be strongly to very strongly established, compared with around 50% for medium-sized enterprises.

To further validate the interpretation of the descriptive analysis and to investigate potential positive factors, a correlation analysis was carried out (Table 5). Although energy efficiency seems less established in smaller enterprises, the analysis showed only a minor correlation with regard to firm size. The size of the enterprise as well as the energy demand hardly seemed to determine the extent to which energy efficiency was established in the enterprises. In contrast, the embeddedness of energy efficiency in the corporate strategy and the variety of past measures appeared to have a considerably stronger correlation.

**Figure 5.** Establishment of energy efficiency in the SMEs.

**Table 5.** Factors correlating with the establishment of energy efficiency within the SMEs.


Note: *n* = 488; Spearman correlation. \* Correlation significant at *p* < 0.05 (two sided). \*\* Correlation significant at *p* < 0.01 (two sided).
