Beyond Certification: Vernacular Eco‐Branding and Environmental Legitimacy in Post‐Mining Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Dominant frameworks of green innovation often associate environmental responsibility with certification, metrics, formal compliance, and standardized sustainability indicators. These frameworks are less able to explain how environmental legitimacy is constructed by micro and small enterprises operating in peripheral and post‐extractive settings where formal certification systems are absent or inaccessible. This study examines how micro and small enterprises in post‐mining Bangka Belitung, Indonesia, construct environmental legitimacy through vernacular eco‐branding. Drawing on thematic analysis of 32 semi‐structured interviews, field observations, and documentary materials, the study shows that legitimacy is produced through material practices, symbolic communication, audience recognition, and institutional mediation. Enterprises use locally sourced and repurposed materials, community narratives, and reclaimed post‐mining landscapes as visible signals of environmental responsibility. Community recognition and repeated observation function as vernacular accountability, whereas government agencies, CSR programs, exhibitions, and PT Timah‐related support expand visibility but also shape which recovery narratives become publicly recognizable. Vernacular eco‐branding differs from greenwashing when claims are grounded in observable practices, community recognition, and sustained ecological care but becomes vulnerable to symbolic legitimation when selectively amplified. The article contributes to business and society scholarship by showing how small enterprises mediate environmental legitimacy, institutional power, community recovery, and ecological responsibility in post‐extractive economies.