Drivers, Barriers, and Facilitators of Sustainability in the Indonesian Batik Industry

Abstract

Indonesian batik is the representation of the Indonesian cultural diversity in a form of art. The industry is tightly associated with family business, inherited skills, and feminine qualities. Despite its contribution to the Indonesian economic and cultural sustainability, the production process is unsustainable. This research unfolds the personal drivers, as well as the institutional barriers and facilitators that could encourage and discourage batik entrepreneurs to become more sustainable by taking into account the intersections of the entrepreneur’s identity. The findings suggest that women and men differ in motivations to become more sustainable. For example, a male entrepreneur can be motivated by feminine values i.e., living in harmony with people and the environment, while a female entrepreneur can be motivated by economic profit to improve her personal wealth. In addition, the institutional barriers that hinders the batik entrepreneurs to become more sustainable are mainly due to lacking of regulations such as inconsistency in supporting sustainable batik SMEs and different cultural perspectives among younger and older generations in the batik industry such as mindset shift towards sustainability. Finally, this study enhances the repertoire of knowledge in the ecopreneurship and craft industry studies