Barriers to Green Innovation Adoption in Smes and Large Companies: Evidence from Central Europe

The transition towards a low-carbon and resource-efficient economy presents both opportunities and challenges for enterprises of different sizes. Green innovation can enhance environmental performance, improve resource efficiency, and strengthen long-term competitiveness; however, its adoption is often constrained by internal and external barriers. This paper examines barriers to green innovation adoption in manufacturing enterprises in Central Europe, with particular attention to differences among micro, small, medium-sized, and large enterprises. The study is based on a questionnaire survey conducted among 304 managers of manufacturing companies. The analysis covers fourteen perceived barriers related to finance, regulation, technology, human resources, market conditions, innovation priorities, access to knowledge, and cooperation with external partners. As the data were ordinal and did not meet the assumption of normality, the Kruskal–Wallis test was applied, followed by the Dwass–Steel–Critchlow–Fligner post-hoc test. The results reveal statistically significant differences among enterprise-size categories in three areas: lack of internal financial resources, the perception of material consumption reduction as a low innovation priority, and insufficient cooperation with research institutions and universities. The findings suggest that company size influences the perception of selected barriers to green innovation adoption. The paper highlights the need for differentiated support mechanisms, improved access to finance, stronger knowledge transfer, and closer collaboration between enterprises and research institutions.