The Impact of Safety Culture, Risk Mitigation, and Sustainability on Business Performance: The Mediating Role of Employee Engagement in Palestinian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thanks for the opportunity to review this article, please note the followings:

1.      The article is interesting as it tackles one of the most trending topic in some status these days such as Palestine characterized as highly unstable economy and state. Hence, I believe that the article will provide key finding and relevant recommendations for policymakers and organisational development.

2.      Please enlarge the section of the research method by elaborating more on why you have selected purposive sampling, I think you have selected also convenience sampling taking into consideration the current situation in Palestine.

3.      Please enrich your article with this recently published work “Surviving the Storm: The Vital Role of Entrepreneurs’ Network Ties and Recovering Capabilities in Supporting the Intention to Sustain Micro and Small Enterprises” 2024. It shares similar features of Palestine these days hence the recommendations should be similar.

4.      Does the sample include micro enterprises, please specify.

5.      Please specify the classification of micro, small and medium sized enterprises in Palestine.

6.      In table 1, you have mentioned that data was collected from “business owners, senior managers, and employees”, I am not sure if this is right or not. I guess you should have collected data only from business owners or responsible people of the business as people who are responsible about the business who make much contribution to the business performance. Please revise or offer more clarification.

7.      2.1. Section should be named Theoretical background or basis.

8.      I think it is better employing one theory in the study instead of focusing on two.

9.      Please elaborate more on the discussion and when comparing your results with previous studies.

10.  Please acknowledge that purposive sample as a limitation as it is non probability sampling.

 

All the best

Author Response

We attached all the comments in the file.  

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I had the pleasure of reviewing the manuscript titled “The Impact of Safety Culture, Risk Mitigation, and Sustainability on Business Performance: Mediating Role of Employee Engagement in Palestinian SMEs” to be considered for publishing in "Sustainability". The research seems sound and provides fairly interesting findings, yet it requires some improvements. Specifics are below:

1- The title: the title is okey.

1- The abstract: abstract looks okay.

2- The introduction: The introduction is good, but I think it can be summarized with a focus on the study variables shown in the study model and the relationships between them that will be examined.

3- Literature: the literature looks sufficient:

·       The authors successfully adapted the Stakeholder Theory and Resource-Based View (RBV) theories to serve the idea of ​​the research paper.

·       The hypothesis development section is well designed but very long and could be shortened a bit.

·       The study is applied to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the occupied territories (Palestine), which presents a unique context. The authors can leverage this distinct nature to strengthen the research gap by elaborating on the constraints imposed on these enterprises by the occupying power.

·       It is preferable to delete the title 2.4. Conceptual Framework

4- Methodology: seem to be thorough.

·       • Authors can simply identify the source of the measurement scale for each variable because the questionnaire is attached to the study.

·       Authors often mention relationships between study variables, so titles 3.2 and 3.2.1 can be combined with the abbreviation.

·       Please review the numbering of the tables and their use in explaining the results.

·       The authors could have limited the results section to only the essential tests that fulfill the purpose, without elaborating extensively on the number of tests presented.

·       How did the authors deal with Common Method Bias (CMB) and Normality?

5- discussion and Implications:

·       The discussion and theoretical and practical applications were well organized and presented.

·       The practical applications are very good, but I advise you to always keep in mind (how) the application.

Author Response

We attached all the comments in the file.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This research paper is well-structured and clearly expounded on, providing empirical evidence on how Palestinian SMEs can improve business performance through safety culture, risk mitigation, and sustainable development practices. However, the real-world issues and research implications are not clearly articulated, which raises doubts about the research value and practical significance of the paper.

Three independent variables were selected for study in this paper. What is the relationship between these three variables? Why are they studying together? This cannot be just because the empirical results are important; the selection of these three variables should not be arbitrary.

Author Response

We attached the responses in the file.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Satisfied 

Author Response

Thank you so much.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Based on the author's introduction of the independent variables and their interrelationships: "This study examines three independent variables: safety culture, risk mitigation, and sustainability—due to their complementary roles in fostering long-term resilience and performance in SMEs, particularly in volatile environments like Palestine. Safety culture influences operational efficiency and risk exposure, risk mitigation strategies enhance the firm’s ability to respond to uncertainties, and sustainability practices balance economic, environmental, and social objectives." This nicely explains the interconnection between safety culture and risk mitigation, but there is still a lack of explanation regarding the interrelationship and mutual influence between safety culture, risk mitigation, and sustainability. This is where the problem lies—the logical interrelationship between these three variables is too weak, and they do not form a unified research system that justifies their inclusion in the same paper.

Therefore, my suggestion is that if the above issues cannot be clearly explained, it may be advisable to remove "sustainability" as an independent variable from the study. Instead, the focus should be placed on a theoretical system composed of "safety culture, risk mitigation, business resilience, and business performance," which forms a closed-loop framework. This approach would be more aligned with the context of regions like Palestine, where external conditions are unstable, and would carry academic value in systematic research and practical implications for similar regions globally.

Author Response

We attached with in the following file. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 3

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

• Expand the concept of "sustainability" to encompass not just environmental sustainability, but also economic and social sustainability. This serves as a breakthrough in linking the two variables, "safety culture" and "risk mitigation," and represents an important and correct improvement in the revised manuscript. However, the discussion of this aspect in the paper, including examples and references, still needs further refinement.
• The abstract needs to be reorganized. Some parts mention all three variables, while other statements refer to only two, resulting in inconsistencies.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

It's ok.

Author Response

We Attached the response 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf