Digitization as a sustainability factor a study on SMEs

Sustainable Development is a concept that started to become widespread after the 1970s and means providing the needs of today without making concessions the needs of the future. Parallel to the developments in the world, the state and the private sector have also started to take steps for development and shape their business processes accordingly, by addressing sustainable development with its economic, social and environmental dimensions. In this process it is important for SMEs, which provide prosperity in their region, have a great impact on the Turkish economy and keep the social structure in balance, take a role in development and open themselves to development. With the acceleration of digitalization, competition in the market has increased in recent years and business models have digitalized. The public and businesses have begun to be affected by this digitalization and to transform their business models in order to participate in the competition. In this period, while large enterprises adapt to the digitalization faster due to their structure, this digitalization is more challenging due to the structure of SMEs. SMEs are very important for the continuation of Turkey's economic, social and environmental development but studies on SMEs and their awareness of these concepts are limited in our country. Therefore, it is foreseen that this study with SMEs will provide both scientific and socioeconomic contributions. The aim of this study is to determine the level of awareness of SMEs on sustainability, to indetify the obstacles of sustainable practices and to determine the relationship between the level of digitalization and sustainability activities. The data were collected with a questionnaire, which is a quantitative analysis method and analyzed using the SPSS 21 package program. Within the scope of the study, analysis was carried out with frequency factor and multiple regression methods. The results show that sustainable implementations, individual awareness, digitalization and government support affect the awareness of SMEs for sustainable development. However, it was seen that the perceived need for sustainable development and ecological benefit did not have a significant effect on this awareness.