["Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThis research study recognized the crucial role of SMEs in global economic and social development; the research explored how the implementation of the Anti‐Bribery Management Systems (ABMS) can contribute to Sustainable Development (SD). The research employed an empirical methodology through qualitative survey. Data for this research was collected through structured interviews with 119 SMEs managers across 17 EU countries. The findings revealed that while the majority of European managers are aware of the advantages of ABMS, their understanding of its broader sustainability impacts remains largely underplayed. Three hypotheses were tested: awareness of ABMS's contribution to SD, the ability to link ABMS benefits to SDGs, and the inclusion of sustainability threats in bribery risk analysis. Findings confirm the first two hypotheses, highlighting a moderate correlation between ABMS experience and SDG awareness, but reject the third, indicating that bribery risk analysis alone is an insufficient tool to identify sustainability threats. The findings of this research proved that ABMS has the potential to be not only a compliance tool but also a catalyst for ethical and sustainable entrepreneurship. Strategic recommendations for enhancing SME preparedness through targeted training, capacity building, and technological innovations implementation were developed based on the findings of this research.\n"]