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Construction organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the impacts of their operations, from both an environmental and, more recently, a social viewpoint. Sustainability standards can enable an organisation to evidence a benchmarked level of performance against a particular issue. To date, research on standards has largely focused on the operational and administrative aspects of their enactment, rather than how they might affect – and be appropriated by – organisational actors. The purpose of this paper is to examine how capacity for learning can affect the success of implementing standards within two construction SMEs.

Taking an organisational learning and absorptive capacity (ACAP) perspective, this research uses the case study approach and abductive logic to understand what role learning plays with regard to sustainability standard implementation.

The results reveal that strong communication channels and commitment to training programmes increase the capacity for implementing standards, but that SMEs tend only to approach standards if they see immediate financial benefits stemming from their implementation.

SMEs provide a challenging context for the implementation of sustainability standards unless there are significant external levers and extrinsic motivation for them to be embraced. Care should be taken in incorporating these aspects into the future design of standards that are more aligned with SME needs.

Stakeholders should seek to apply pressure to firms to positively influence engagement with sustainability standards.

The role and importance of ACAP is an underdeveloped debate in the certification field. This study is the first that links the process of implementing a standard with the ACAP of an organisation.

Sustainable innovation began to be addressed in academic circles in the early 2000s. However, there is still a gap in the adoption of innovative sustainable practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) context. Therefore, this study aims to identify the specific challenges and benefits that SMEs face when adopting innovative sustainable practices.

To fulfil this objective, a qualitative methodology was used, specifically a single case study in a wine SME. For data collection, the interview, based on the informal conversation method, was carried out personally with the firm’s entrepreneur-manager.

From the content analysis, the empirical evidence shows that by integrating sustainable innovation into their operations, SMEs can contribute to reducing their environmental impact and promoting sustainability at a local and global level.

This empirical study shows that SMEs do not face unique challenges, such as responding to the limited resources they have and competitive pressures, with the use of innovative sustainable practices in their operations being one of the most promising responses.

This study is innovative because it shows the importance of SMEs recognising and integrating social responsibility associated with environmental awareness into their business strategies and that innovation is an essential requirement for implementing sustainable practices. A framework about sustainable innovation practices within SME is also proposed.