INSTITUTIONAL-PRESSURE CONTEXT AND STRUCTURAL ATTENUATION IN THE TWIN TRANSITION: EVIDENCE FROM AN EXPORT-ORIENTED SME ECOSYSTEM IN TÜRKIYE

Abstract:

This article examines green-transition maturity, digital-transformation capacity, and their organizational articulation within export-oriented SMEs, using institutional pressure as an interpretative context rather than as a directly measured causal variable. Drawing on survey data from 73 manufacturing firms in an export-oriented ecosystem in Türkiye, the study treats the case as a bounded yet analytically revealing setting rather than as a statistical proxy for the country. Item-level maturity scores, normalized indices, dispersion measures, low-maturity concentration ratios, and attenuation metrics are used to assess awareness-, implementation-, and integration-intensive indicator classes. The findings show uneven progress across the green and digital domains, with the single-item integration signal descriptively lower than the two multi-item domain scores. Carbon accounting awareness, CBAM knowledge, digital strategy, and cybersecurity perform relatively better, whereas life-cycle analysis, green finance utilization, Digital Product Passport readiness, and digital investment return measurement remain fragile. The study interprets the observed cross-sectional maturity gradient as structural attenuation in an institutional-pressure context and argues that the central challenge lies in SMEs’ limited ability to convert compliance pressure into integrated organizational transformation.

Keywords: twin transition, SMEs, institutional pressure, green transition, digital transformation