Evolving sustainability communication in small and medium-sized enterprises toward community-oriented engagement

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) occupy a central position in the sustainable development trajectory, despite their comparatively smaller individual environmental impact. Due to their widespread presence across sectors, SMEs are uniquely positioned to engage local communities through sustainability communication. This study explores how SMEs in Latvia understand and implement sustainability communication and how these practices contribute to sustainable community development. The study employed a mixed–methods design. The primary data collection involved a survey of 200 SME representatives in Latvia, along with four semi-structured interviews with SME representatives and two in-depth interviews with sustainability experts. Cluster analysis was applied to the survey data along four dimensions (strategic management, values-based communication, professional commitment in sustainability communication, and regulation-driven communication) to identify SME communication profiles. Findings show that SMEs focus on sustainability communication primarily to increase sales, strengthen branding, and improve reputation. Cluster analysis identified three SME types corresponding to maturity progression: Active Communicators mature across all four dimensions, Moderate Communicators at a development stage, and Passive Communicators at an initial stage. The theoretical contribution is an empirically grounded model of sustainability communication maturity progression for the SME context. The three empirically derived profiles map onto successive maturity stages: from instrumental, sales and reputation-driven to dialogic, community-embedded communication, providing an analytically usable framework linking SME’s organisational orientation to their communicative practice, and offering a diagnostic basis for future research and policy interventions.