**1. Introduction**

Increased industrial energy e fficiency has been a highlighted objective in political agendas in Europe, aiming at productivity gains and ecological sustainability. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) hold a special position in this context and they are often considered the backbone of the European industrial structure [1]. In Germany in 2017, 184,667 SMEs represented about 96.9% of industrial enterprises [2]. Despite strong political e fforts in Europe, SMEs seem to be neglecting to adopt e ffective measures for energy saving and e fficiency. Thollander et al. [3] estimate the energy efficiency potential of manufacturing SMEs in the European Union at more than 25%. Why this potential remains untapped has kept policy makers and scientists occupied since the notion of the "energy e fficiency gap" [4,5] emerged; academia struggles with another empirical phenomenon often referred to as the energy "e fficiency-paradox" [6]. Despite high profitability, energy e fficiency measures are often not implemented.

The question of what constrains and drives decisions for energy e fficiency in industrial organizations represents a vast research field in energy literature [7–10]. Barriers and drivers can be defined as all factors that hamper or foster the adoption of cost-effective, energy-efficient technologies and their diffusion [11,12]. Accounting for the fact that measures representing high rates of return, or requiring no capital investment, are often not undertaken by SMEs [13,14]. A perspective solely focusing on economically rational decisions appears insufficient for a thorough understanding of the situation of SMEs.

Studies on the adoption and implementation of energy-efficient practices represent an overlapping key area of research on industrial energy efficiency [15]. Recent analyses emphasize the benefits and characteristics of measures [16], the potentials of particular technical processes [17], or beneficial intersections to other managemen<sup>t</sup> aspects such as supply chain managemen<sup>t</sup> [18]. Despite the theoretical importance and practical value of these approaches, a one-sided view of technical measures has been increasingly criticized in recent publications [19–23] on the barriers and adoption of energy efficiency measures. To date, practices other than technical measures have received inadequate attention in empirical studies [24], neglecting the material, social, cultural, and institutional aspects framing the decision-making processes [25,26].

Rejecting an atomistic perspective on decision making and technology, scholars of sociology, ethnology, and anthropology have drawn increasing attention to the cultural aspects of energy-related behavior in enterprises. By looking at the values, norms, laws, and everyday practices, these approaches emphasize the embeddedness of organizational decisions on energy efficiency in cultural, social, and material contexts [27–31]. Ethnographic case studies have since shown the significance of SME owners' and managers' personal values in terms of environmental decision making [32] and how energy managemen<sup>t</sup> practices are influenced by organizational cultures, team dynamics, and individual's aspirations [33]. Despite these efforts, Andrews and Johnson [34] call for an increase in studies addressing the rules, norms, beliefs, and logics embedded in the organization's context. Fawcett and Hampton similarly argue that a "more complex understanding of SMEs, as organizations operating in a socio-technical landscape, and with varied capabilities, objectives and values" could provide a more effective policy design [35] (p. 3).

By adopting a cultural perspective [36], this empirical study on German manufacturing SMEs examined the energy efficiency climate, the energy efficiency practices, and the intersections between the enterprises and their members and their institutional environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the establishment of energy efficiency within the SMEs and identify general drivers in promoting energy efficiency decisions, energy-saving behavior, and the general establishment of energy efficiency in SMEs. The study followed a mixed-methods approach and utilized qualitative (single case studies) and quantitative (survey) data of SMEs situated in the federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, southern Germany.

The study indicates the importance of everyday employee behavior in achieving energy savings. The studied enterprises value behavior-related measures as similarly important as technical measures. Raising awareness for energy issues within the organization, therefore, constitutes an essential leadership task, which is oftentimes perceived as challenging and frustrating. The results sugges<sup>t</sup> the embedding of energy efficiency in corporate strategy, the use of a broad spectrum of different practices, and the empowerment and involvement of employees as major drivers in establishing energy efficiency within SMEs. Furthermore, the findings reveal external influences on shaping the meanings of energy efficiency for the SMEs by raising attention for energy efficiency in the enterprises and making energy efficiency decisions more likely.

The remainder of this study is organized as follows: The next section sets out the theoretical background and research focus. Section 3 provides a brief overview of the research strategy and the methods used. Section 4 is devoted to the main results of the study. The following section presents the discussion of the results and Section 6 provides the conclusions and implications of the study.

#### **2. Theoretical Background and Focus**

#### *2.1. The Concept of Culture in the Context of Energy E*ffi*ciency Research*

Culture is frequently explained as a constraining soft factor from an organizational perspective [37,38]. Culture can be roughly defined as the mix of knowledge, ideology, norms, values, laws, and everyday rituals that characterize a social system [39]. Sorrell et al. [40] presume that environmental values embedded in organizational cultures and practices have an essential effect on organizational decisions and behavior. However, they do not view culture to be a barrier, "but an important explanatory variable" [40] (p. 15). Although a cultural perspective on industrial energy e fficiency promises useful findings for science and politics, only a few researchers have transferred this complex to a strategy for empirical inquiry. Criticizing that "within the energy literature, the concept of culture has generally been more implied than overt", Stephenson et al. [41] (p. 6123) developed a conceptual framework of energy cultures. The so-called Energy Cultures Framework (EFC) is based on sociological theory [42,43] and represents a heuristic approach to investigate influences on energy-related behaviors in social systems to identify the "levers for change towards more energy-e fficient behaviors" [41] (p. 6123). According to the ECF, the energy cultures are constituted via the interactions between material culture, practices, and norms, all of which are affected by external influences and embedded in wider cultural spheres [44]. Since its development, the ECF has been applied to di fferent contexts, ranging from household energy-related behavior [45] to industrial sectors such as the timber processing industry [46].

König [36] introduced a similar framework addressing specifically industrial organizations. Taking a sociological perspective, he views organizations as cultural systems embedded in wider social contexts and he developed a theoretical framework addressing individual organizational and institutional dimensions, shaping decisions on energy e fficiency. The framework combines multidisciplinary concepts and theoretical approaches of organizational theory. It integrates concepts of sociological neo-institutional theory [47,48], the translation perspective on di ffusion [49], the attention-based view of the firm [50], and organizational [51] and energy culture research [41,44]. The energy e fficiency culture of an industrial organization is defined as unconscious, shared understandings, which are mutually dependent from the organizational structures, practices, environment, and individual members. Decisions on energy e fficiency in industrial enterprises are, therefore, based on a multilevel process shaped by individuals, organizations, and the environment. Referring to the attention-based view of the firm [50], the organization structures the situational context of, distributes the attention to, and shapes the focus of attention on energy e fficiency issues. This framework supports the identification of drivers and served as an anchor in conceptualizing the research design of the study.

#### *2.2. Theoretical Perspective of the Study*

The data collection and analysis were structured by the theoretical concept developed by König (Figure 1), which assumes that decisions and actions on energy e fficiency emerge at the intersection between three levels.


crucial factor of decision making. Following Denison's concept of organizational climate [57], the energy e fficiency climate represents the interpretation of the situations related to energy efficiency within the organization. The energy e fficiency practices are understood as the totality of all practices toward energy e fficiency and energy conservation by an enterprise and represent outcomes as well as inputs to decisions on energy e fficiency measures. Referring to Fiedler and Mircea [58], who view energy managemen<sup>t</sup> as "the sum of all measures and activities which are planned or executed in order to minimize the energy consumption of a company", the energy e fficiency practices synonymously represent the energy managemen<sup>t</sup> of an enterprise. Following Schein's concept of organizational culture [51], the basic energy assumptions and beliefs within an industrial organization are mutually dependent from the organizational structures, practices, environment, and individual members.

3. The Micro level incorporates the decision makers and members of the organization with their individual characteristics (e.g., attitudes, interests, competencies). These characteristics are mutually dependent of the positioning and socialization of individuals within the organization.

**Figure 1.** Energy e fficiency culture framework following König [36].

Decisions on energy e fficiency represent processes of theorization and problematization, linking together the issue-field (1. Macro level), the organization (2. Meso level), and the members (3. Micro level). In this sense, decision makers are not considered as atomistic units; they are members of professional groups, work groups, milieus, or families in the case of family businesses [34] (p. 198).

#### *2.3. Research Focus and Research Questions*

The research focused on manufacturing SMEs in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. This federal state constitutes the most industrial area in Germany, with about 1.3 million employees in the industry sector and around 7500 manufacturing SMEs with around 505,833 employees [59] representing the industrial backbone. Baden-Württemberg is ahead of all G-10 states (a group of the 11 leading industrial countries) with a share of manufacturing industry in the gross value added and exceeds the benchmark for industry defined by the EU for 2020 (20% share of industry in gross value added) by around 60% with 32.5% [60,61].

Referring to the framework described above, the research concentrated on four areas that were derived as crucial in answering the overarching research question: What drives the establishment of energy e fficiency in SMEs in everyday work life? The study focused on examining the energy e fficiency climate, the energy e fficiency practices, the intersection between the enterprises and their members, and the intersection to its relevant environment. These four areas were assigned the guiding research questions, which structured the data collection and analysis.

1. Energy efficiency climate:

According to the theoretical perspective taken, the energy efficiency climate reflects the interpretation of the situations related to energy efficiency within the organization, which structure the attention of its members. Correspondingly, the investigation concentrated on the following research questions:


As outlined in the introduction, the study should not only take technical measures into account. Following the classification of energy efficiency practices by König [36] (p.6), six different forms of energy efficiency practices were investigated: Technology investment-related practices (e.g., the purchase and implementation of energy-efficient technical equipment), technology organization-related practices (e.g., the enhancement and optimization of existing support or process technology), organization-related practices (e.g., corporate energy strategy, the implementation of an energy managemen<sup>t</sup> system), information-related practices (e.g., energy monitoring, internal technical meetings), competence-related practices (e.g., workshops, trainings), and behavior-related practices (e.g., raising awareness for energy saving by personal encouragemen<sup>t</sup> and explicit behavior guidelines). The following research questions were focused on:


Organizational procedures and structures potentially regulate the energy-related behavior of their members and subunits [34]. Aiming at everyday work life in the enterprises, the following research questions were targeted:


As described above, it was assumed that external actors and organizations potentially exert regulative, economic–financial, normative, and cognitive–cultural influences on the SMEs regarding energy efficiency practices and decisions. Accordingly, the study focused on these questions:

