11815746
How Is Environmental Proactivity Accomplished? Drivers and Barriers in Firms’ Pro-Environmental Change Process
The contaminating effects of economic activity and the scarcity of natural resources has led firms to a situation in which corporate strategy has been compromised by environmental issues. The objective of this paper is to analyse some of the factors determining the pro-environmental change process by considering the drivers encouraging firms to progress in environmental protection and the barriers that curb this progress. Using a structural equation model implemented on a sample of 303 firms, our results confirm a direct and positive effect of stakeholder pressure and of the expectations of obtaining competitive advantages from the pro-environmental change process. The results also confirmed the indirect effect of stakeholder pressure on pro-environmental change through managers’ expectations of obtaining competitive advantages, which play a mediating role in the firm’s response. Although managers interpret the barriers we have studied as obstacles to adopting environmental protection measures, they do not prevent any firm from reaching advanced levels of pro-environmental change.
167358584
A Natural-Resource-Based View of the Firm
Historically, management theory has ignored the constraints imposed by the biophysical (natural) environment. Building upon resource-based theory, this article attempts to fill this void by proposing a natural-resource-based view of the firm—a theory of competitive advantage based upon the firm's relationship to the natural environment. It is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. Propositions are advanced for each of these strategies regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.
113589077
Green and Competitive: Ending the Stalemate
The need for regulation to protect the environment gets widespread but grudging acceptance: widespread because everyone wants a livable planet, grudging because of the lingering belief that environmental regulations erode competitiveness. The prevailing view is that there is an inherent and fixed trade-off: ecology versus the economy. On one side of the trade-off are the social benefits that arise from strict environmental standards. On the other are industry's private costs for prevention and cleanup -- costs that lead to higher prices and reduced competitiveness. With the argument framed this way, progress on environmental quality has become a kind of arm-wrestling match. One side pushes for tougher standards; the other tries to roll them back. The balance of power shifts one way or the other depending on the prevailing political winds. This static view of environmental regulation, in which everything except regulation is held constant, is incorrect. If technology, products, processes, and customer needs were all fixed, the conclusion that regulation must raise costs would be inevitable. But companies operate in the real world of dynamic competition, not in the static world of much economic theory. They are constantly finding innovative solutions to pressures of all sorts -- from competitors, customers, and regulators. Properly designed environmental standards can trigger innovations that lower the total cost of a product or improve its value. Such innovations allow companies to use a range of inputs more productively -- from raw materials to energy to labor -- thus offsetting the costs of improving environmental impact and ending the stalemate. Ultimately, this enhanced resource productivity makes companies more competitive, not less. Consider how the Dutch flower industry has responded to its environmental problems. Intense cultivation of flowers in small areas was contaminating the soil and groundwater with pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Facing increasingly strict regulation on the release of chemicals, the Dutch understood that the only effective way to address the problem would be to develop a closed-loop system. In advanced Dutch greenhouses, flowers now grow in water and rock wool, not in soil. This lowers the risk of infestation, reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides, which are delivered in water that circulates and is reused. The tightly monitored closed-loop system also reduces variation in growing conditions, thus improving product quality. Handling costs have gone down because the flowers are cultivated on specially designed platforms. In addressing the environmental problem, then, the Dutch have innovated in ways that have raised the productivity with which they use many of the resources involved in growing flowers. The net result is not only dramatically lower environmental impact but also lower costs, better product quality, and enhanced global competitiveness. (See the insert "Innovating to Be Competitive: The Dutch Flower Industry.") This example illustrates why the debate about the relationship between competitiveness and the environment has been framed incorrectly. Policy makers, business leaders, and environmentalists have focused on the static cost impacts of environmental regulation and have ignored the more important offsetting productivity benefits from innovation. As a result, they have acted too often in ways that unnecessarily drive up costs and slow down progress on environmental issues. This static mind-set has thus created a self-fulfilling prophecy leading to ever more costly environmental regulation. Regulators tend to set regulations in ways that deter innovation. Companies, in turn, oppose and delay regulations instead of innovating to address them. The whole process has spawned an industry of litigators and consultants that drains resources away from real solutions. POLLUTION = INEFFICIENCY Are cases like the Dutch flower industry the exception rather than the rule? …
154773348
A review of determinant factors of environmental proactivity
This paper reviews the literature in order to identify the determinant factors of a company’s environmental proactivity. It starts by arguing that environmental proactivity can be manifested through diverse practices and strategies and goes on to comment upon several variables that seem to influence the decision to implement such strategies. Some of these variables depict internal company features and others describe the general environment in which operations are carried out. Stakeholders’ pressure is distinguished as a central determinant factor and it is argued that all the other variables affect either the intensity of this pressure or the company’s capacity to perceive it. All the factors identified herein should be taken into account, at least as control variables, in those studies aiming at explaining and contextualizing environmental strategies. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
167776009
A Holistic Perspective on Corporate Sustainability Drivers
Since company boards are increasingly discussing 'sustainability', it becomes necessary to examine the nature of sustainability drivers. Most approaches to corporate sustainability drivers have focused either on internal or external drivers. This paper is aimed at providing a more holistic perspective on the different corporate sustainability drivers in order to better catalyse change from the unsustainable status quo to a more sustainable-oriented state. Empirical data was collected from experts and company leaders. The findings show that, internally, leadership and the business case are the most important drivers, whilst the most important external drivers are reputation, customer demands and expectations, and regulation and legislation. The paper proposes a corporate sustainability driver model, which considers both internal and external drivers, and complements these with drivers that connect them. This offers a holistic perspective on how companies can be more proactive in their journey to becoming more sustainability orientated.
153823092
GREEN STAKEHOLDERS: INDUSTRY INTERPRETATIONS AND RESPONSE*
This paper argues that industrial responses to ‘green’ pressures may fruitfully be explored using a stakeholder framework. However, the common view of an objective configuration of stakeholders is replaced with one that favours an interpretive perspective. Managers are viewed as crucial mediators of stakeholder influence; how they identify, define and construct stakeholders is an important feature of the meaning of greening and an industry's subsequent response. A qualitative study of managers in four UK industries - supermarkets, automotives, power and chemicals - is reported. the effect of a small number of stakeholders - campaigners and regulators - is examined in some detail, distinguished differentially according to their perceived legitimacy and the threat they pose to industry. Also examined is the large group of traditionally powerful stakeholders - customers, creditors and employees - who fail markedly to impact on industry's greening. the implications of the findings for pro-environmental change and stakeholder theory are discussed.
167983780
Why do patterns of environmental response differ? A stakeholders' pressure approach
The objective of this article is to analyze the strategies or patterns of adaptation of firms for responding to environmental requirements or expectations. We specifically analyze the influence of the different pressure agents or stakeholders on the degree of proactivity of these patterns. We therefore propose and validate four types of environmental response pattern, representing particular configurations of both the scope of environmental objectives and their allocation of internal resources. The analysis, which is focused on a sample of 240 industrial firms, provides empirical evidence enabling us to identify, understand, and evaluate the impact of stakeholders on the choice of environmental response pattern. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
167618929
Proactive environmental strategies: a stakeholder management perspective
This paper includes an empirical analysis of the linkages between environmental strategy and stakeholder management. First, it is shown that several simultaneous improvements in various resource domains are required for firms to shift to an empirically significant, higher level of proactiveness. Second, more proactive environmental strategies are associated with a deeper and broader coverage of stakeholders. Third, environmental leadership is not associated with a rising importance of environmental regulations, thereby suggesting a role for voluntary cooperation between firms and government. Finally, the linkages between environmental strategies and stakeholder management, based on a sample of 197 firms operating in Belgium, appear more limited than expected. Country-specific characteristics may to a large extent account for these results. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
167428289
Why Companies Go Green: A Model of Ecological Responsiveness
The authors conducted a qualitative study of the motivations and contextual factors that induce corporate ecological responsiveness. Analytic induction applied to data collected from 53 firms in the United Kingdom and Japan revealed three motivations: competitiveness, legitimation, and ecological responsibility. These motivations were influenced by three contextual conditions: field cohesion, issue salience, and individual concern. In this article, the authors also identify the conditions that likely lead to high corporate ecological responsiveness.
153340676
The empirical analysis of the determinants for environmental technological change: A research agenda
Abstract Technological change is usually considered a necessary albeit not sufficient condition for a transition to sustainability. However, the empirical analysis of the determinants to environmental technological change has not received too much attention in the environmental/ecological economics literature and many open questions remain in this context. Based on a careful review of the literature, this paper argues that further analysis should address several issues at different levels: i.e., regarding the conceptual framework, the thematic scope of the studies, some methodological issues and other aspects related to the environmental policy variable. First, an integrated conceptual framework which takes into account the interplay between relevant variables influencing environmental technological change (i.e., factors internal and external to the firm and characteristics of the environmental technologies) and all the stages of this process, with a greater emphasis on the invention stage, should be developed. Other aspects should then be tackled, including a focus on several themes (i.e., a greater attention to cross-sectoral technologies, the barriers to different types of environmental technologies, the international dimension of environmental technological change and environmental technological change in small and medium size enterprises), methodological issues (combination of case studies and econometric modelling) and several issues related to the environmental policy variable.
82381
Determinants of Environmental Innovation - New Evidence from German Panel Data Sources
In most cases, empirical analyses of environmental innovations based on firm-level data relied on survey data for one point in time. These surveys, especially designed for the analysis of environmental innovations, are useful because they allow for the inclusion of many explanatory variables such as different policy instruments or the influence of stake-holders and pressure groups. On the other hand, it is not possible to address the dynamic character of the environmental innovation process. This paper uses two German panel data bases, the establishment panel of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and the Mannheim Innovation Panel (MIP) of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), to explore the determinants of environmental innovations. These data bases were not specifically collected to analyze environmental issues, but they contain questions that allow the identification of environmental innovations. We use discrete choice models for each of the data bases to analyze hypotheses derived from the theoretical (environmental) innovation literature. The econometric estimations show that the improvement of the technological capabilities (“knowledge capital”) by R&D or further education measures triggers environmental innovations – this result is confirmed by both data bases and both methods to measure environmental innovation. The hypothesis that “Innovation breeds innovation” is confirmed by the analysis of the MIP data. General and environmental innovative firms in the past are more likely to innovate in the present. Environmental regulation, environmental management tools and general organizational changes and improvements trigger environmental innovation, a result that has also been postulated by the famous Porter-hypothesis. Environmental management tools especially help to detect cost-savings (specifically material and energy savings). Following our econometric results, cost-savings are an important driving force of environmental innovation.
154350379
The determinants of environmental innovation: the impacts of environmental policies on the Nordic pulp, paper and packaging industries
Innovations may have positive societal effects such as improved environmental performance, and they are often portrayed as solutions to environmental problems. However, the mechanisms through which innovations develop and the ways in which public incentives support improved environmental performance of innovations are complex. This paper uses empirical cases to examine how environmental policies, market factors and technological push affect process and product innovations in the Nordic pulp, paper and packaging industries. The results show that environmental improvements in technologies and products are simultaneously driven by all three of these factors. Environmental innovations are often developed in anticipation of future policy or as side-effects of existing policies. However, while environmental policy directly influences process innovations, its connection to product innovations is less clear. The study points towards the importance of gradually tightening and predictable environmental policies that are flexible enough to allow the exploration of new technological developments. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
154868747
Determinants of Green Practice Adoption for Logistics Companies in China
This article aims to analyze the factors influencing the adoption of green practices in Chinese logistics industry. The determinant factors are composed of technological, organizational, and environmental dimensions. A questionnaire survey on the green practice adoption of Chinese logistics companies was conducted, and 322 samples were analyzed. Research results reveal that relative advantage and compatibility of green practices, organizational support, quality of human resources, regulatory pressure, and governmental support have significantly positive influences on the adoption of green practices for Chinese logistics companies. Environmental uncertainty and green practice’s complexity have significantly negative influences on green practice adoption. However, the influence of customer pressure is not significant for Chinese logistics companies. This article also suggests implications and opportunities for future research.
154682555
Analysing the factors influencing clean technology adoption: a study of the Spanish pulp and paper industry
Technological change has a relevant role to play in the transition towards a sustainable industry. However, slow diffusion of clean technologies can be observed in OECD countries. The analysis of the determinants and barriers to clean technology adoption should be a main goal of economists and social scientists. This paper shows that three sets of interrelated factors prevent but also stimulate the widespread adoption and diffusion of clean technology: these are factors external and internal to the firm, conditions of the potential adopters and characteristics of the environmental technology. These factors are included in the so-called ‘triangular model’, which is further applied to the analysis of clean technology adoption in the pulp and paper industry in Spain. The empirical study shows that clean technology adoption decisions are the result of an interaction between these factors, often involving contradictory signals for the potential adopter. The paper closes with some public policy recommendations for the effective and efficient promotion of clean technology diffusion. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
156786857
See What We Want to See? The Effects of Managerial Experience on Corporate Green Investments
How impartial are managerial decisions? This question is particularly concerning when it comes to making green investment decisions in the face of stakeholder pressures. When managers respond to stakeholder pressures, their personal cognition, judgment, and past experiences play a role in determining their responses. The salience of particular stakeholder claims may be determined by deeply rooted individual preferences. This research investigates how a manager’s past experiences can influence green investments. Data are gathered from 247 managers about their past experience and their employer’s performance data. These data are combined with managerial responses to a vignette-based experiment, which required managers to make green investments based on a decision scenario where they are exposed to different types and strength of stakeholder pressure (from consumers and the community). Results suggest that managers’ years of experience, their employers’ financial performance, and their employers’ market performance influence investment decisions even when making decisions under new and different set of circumstances. While the employers’ financial performance influences managers to invest more, the employers’ market performance only influences managers’ investment in the presence of either high consumer or high community pressure. Compared to less-experienced managers, experienced managers invest more in response to consumer pressure but less in response to community pressure. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings in green management are explored.
154936757
What Prevents Firms from Advancing in their Environmental Strategy?
The aim of this paper is to analyze the determinants of the strategic environmental behavior of firms and, more specifically, the external and internal barriers that limit and sometimes even prevent the environmental adaptation. The analysis focuses on a sample of industrial firms that have at least three workers and that are located in Aragón, a region situated in the northeast of Spain. In order to achieve this objective, first the theoretical literature on the topic is reviewed. Subsequently, from the firms which were sampled, the existence of an underlying structure among the totality of barriers is studied. Finally, this structure is analyzed in order to determine if it has any influence on the degree of proactivity of the firm’s environmental strategy.
154562271
Environmental management systems and the smaller enterprise
Abstract Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up the vast majority of businesses in Europe. These enterprises are vitally important for a healthy dynamic market economy. However, the environmental impact of small firms is not known either at national or regional levels. Voluntary self-regulatory initiatives such as the eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) and the international environmental management system (EMS) standard ISO 14001 seek to provide all businesses with the means to develop systematic approaches to improve environmental performance. All purport to be relevant and applicable to small and medium-sized firms; however, their uptake by SMEs has been patchy at best and down right miserable at worst. This paper sheds some light on the barriers, opportunities and drivers for EMS adoption by the SME sector. Drawing on original research investigating EMAS implementation across the European Union and a major detailed review of 33 studies which explore the sector’s use of EMS, this paper estimates the number of SMEs registered to EMAS and ISO 14001 and identifies a range of issues which influence the adoption of formalised EMS. Despite these problems, the paper suggests SMEs do find real benefits from adopting EMS.
153633517
The Effect of Internal Barriers on the Connection Between Stakeholder Integration and Proactive Environmental Strategies
This paper examines the influence of internal barriers on the relationship between the organizational capability of stakeholder integration and proactive environmental strategies. We adopt a moderate hierarchical regression model to test the hypotheses using data from a sample of 73 managers in the business education industry. The paper contributes to stakeholder theory by showing that stakeholder integration positively influences the development of proactive environmental strategies when managers perceive internal barriers to the development of such strategies. This article also explores an ethical dilemma—managers may use the stakeholder integration capability to support their own interests rather than to benefit stakeholders.
153751693
Barriers to the implementation of cleaner production in Chinese SMEs: government, industry and expert stakeholders' perspectives
Abstract This paper applies an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to examine and prioritize underlying barriers to adoption of cleaner production (CP) by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China from the perspectives of government, industry and expert stakeholder groups. First, on the basis of the findings of previous research and literature review, 20 barriers are identified and grouped into four categories: (1) policy and market barriers; (2) financial and economic barriers; (3) technical and information barriers; and (4) managerial and organizational barriers. Second, an AHP model is developed and a survey questionnaire was designed, tested, and refined. Third, the questionnaire was distributed to the representatives of three stakeholders of CP, i.e. enterprise managers, government officials, and experts. The returned questionnaires were validated in terms of consistency and in some cases followed up for verification. Fourth, the 20 barriers were rated by analyzing the valid questionnaires through the AHP model. The top three barriers to CP adoption by Chinese SMEs were found to be: (a) lack of economic incentive policies; (b) lax environmental enforcement, and (c) high initial capital cost. The researches conclude that current governmental policy should give higher priority to lessening those external policy and financial barriers rather than internal technical and managerial barriers. The findings shed some new light on readjusting public policy in order to help to facilitate widespread CP implementation in SMEs in China.
154881673
Barriers to EMS in the hotel industry
Abstract While some hotels have adopted the formal environmental management system (EMS) or the internationally recognised ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard for the sake of the environment—or other claimed benefits—many hotels are still standing at the crossroads in adopting EMS. This exploratory study was conducted with the aim of investigating the barriers to EMS in the hotel industry in Hong Kong SAR. Of the 330 questionnaires mailed, 83 were returned. Using exploratory factor analysis to identify interpretable orthogonal factors, six factors that hinder hotels from adopting formal EMS were identified and interpreted. They are: (1) lack of knowledge and skills; (2) lack of professional advice; (3) uncertainty of outcome; (4) certifiers/verifiers; (5) lack of resources; and (6) implementation and maintenance costs. Independent samples t -test and ANOVA analysis were also conducted to gain a better understanding of the significant differences in the identified six factors on the barriers to adopting and implementing EMS in the hotel industry among different hotel demographic variables. Implications of the findings are discussed, while recommendations are made to reduce the barriers inhibiting the adoption of EMS in the hotel industry.
154644634
Barriers to the adoption of proactive environmental strategies
This study contributes to the knowledge of the difficulties or barriers found by firms when adopting proactive environmental strategies, providing empirical evidence from 240 Spanish industrial firms. A set of 25 barriers are initially evaluated by the managers of the sample firms and are grouped into four types of difficulties facing firms: external barriers, endemic limitations of the firm, limited environmental motivation and limited preparation of employees and operational inertia. The estimation of a structural equation model leads us to conclude that only the barriers identified as endemic limitations of the firm can be characterized as “effective barriers”, defined as problems preventing firms from progressing toward proactive environmental behavior.
144501952
Managing the Environmental Change Process: Barriers and Opportunities
Organizations face formidable obstacles to the institutionalization of environmental management programmes. Longitudinal studies show that companies face two major types of barriers to change: industry‐specific barriers, which affect all organizations in a line of business; and organizational barriers, which are not specific to environmental problems, but may impede a company′s capacity to deal with any form of change. Evidence shows that these barriers can be overcome through effective environmental management programmes. Argues that by overcoming these barriers, organizations can move along an environmental performance curve, consisting of phases involving adjustment to regulatory and market realities; adaptation and anticipation of emerging issues; and innovation in achieving economically and environmentally sustainable performance through change programmes involving internal and external elements.
167698485
Strategic proactivity and firm approach to the natural environment
In a sample of 105 firms in Spain, a relationship was found between strategic proactivity and approaches to the natural environment. The firms with the most proactive business strategies (“prospect...
11953127
Proactive corporate environmental strategy and the development of competitively valuable organizational capabilities
This article presents the results of a study conducted in two phases within a single industry context. The first phase involved comparative case studies to ground the applicability of the resource-based view of the firm within the domain of environmental responsiveness. The second phase involved testing the relationships observed during the case studies through a mail survey. It was found that strategies of proactive responsiveness to the uncertainties inherent at the interface between the business and ecological issues were associated with the emergence of unique organizational capabilities. These capabilities, in turn, were seen to have implications for firm competitiveness. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
154479620
Environmental strategies in spanish hotels: contextual factors and performance
This article is a study of the environmental strategies adopted in the service industry and their impact on a firm's performance. More specifically, we define the environmental strategies of 268 Spanish hotels, based on their environmental protection activities and the use of these as an argument for competition. They have been categorised into four groups. We observed the difference between each of these environmental strategies as regards certain contextual variables and performance. Our findings suggest that firms in the groups with more developed environmental strategies are associated with a higher level of environmental performance but not necessarily with economic performance.
154955344
Environmental proactivity and business performance: an empirical analysis
This paper analyses the relationship between environmental proactivity and business performance on a sample of 186 industrial companies. This relationship is approached by studying a bundle of relationships between different dimensions or manifestations of environmental proactivity and different measures of business performance. The analysis in part supports the idea that environmental management can bring about competitive opportunities for companies, although it also reveals that some environmental practices produce negative effects. It is thus concluded that there is no one single response for the question of whether environmental proactivity has positive effects on business performance and that this relationship must be disaggregated into more specific and concrete relationships.
154286458
Stage models of corporate 'greening': a critical evaluation
Corporate ‘greening’, i.e. the process by which companies can become more environmentally responsible in their operations, has attracted considerable interest lately. Largely born out of hands-on consultancy experience, various models have been proposed which describe a series of ‘stages’ by which companies become progressively more environmentally conscious and reduce their impact on the natural environment. The present article critically analyses some of these ‘stage’ models of corporate ‘greening’ from both an empirical and a management theoretical point of view. The empirical analysis is based on four case studies of the ‘greening’ efforts of companies in the UK water and electricity industries. Environmental strategy and management in these companies is found to fit poorly into the stage models of corporate ‘greening’. The article concludes that more comprehensive and interpretative explanations of organizational ‘greening’ are needed, including contextual and process oriented analysis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
145702484
The Relationship Between Environmental Commitment and Managerial Perceptions of Stakeholder Importance
Do firms committed to stewardship of the natural environment differ from less environmentally committed firms in their perceptions of the relative importance of different stakeholders in influencing their environmental practices? Using cluster analysis on six responses to questions describing a firm's practices, we classified 400 firms into four environmental profiles: reactive, defensive, accommodative, and proactive. Results indicate that firms with more proactive profiles do differ from less environmentally committed firms in their perceptions of the relative importance of different stakeholders.
153906530
Encouraging sustainability in the workplace: a survey on the pro-environmental behaviour of university employees
In order to enhance more sustainable behaviour in households, recent research focuses on the identification of factors that have an impact on sustainable or pro-environmental behaviour. The aim of this study is to identify factors that could predict pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace. While many studies focused on the behaviour of households, this study is one of the first that focuses exclusively on pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace. Based on a comprehensive literature review, two groups of factors were identified which could predict pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace: internal factors and external factors. Next, the model was tested among employees of a green university in the Netherlands. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the theory of planned behaviour can explain pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace. At the same time, the results show that there are clear differences between factors influencing pro-environmental behaviour in households and in the workplace. Furthermore, also other factors like leadership support and exemplary pro-environmental behaviour by leaders are at stake in case of pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace, and have a significant positive impact on employee's intention to act pro-environmentally. The findings of this study have various managerial implications for green companies and organizations in general and green universities in particular.
114775903
Who contributed to “corporation green” in China? A view of public- and private-sphere pro-environmental behavior among employees
Abstract Employees’ pro-environmental behavior (PEB) is the key way to promote “corporation green” in China. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were conducted in this study to explore the dimensions of employees’ PEB at work in China. The effects of demographic variables and organizational (work-related) variables on employees’ PEB and its dimensions were investigated using a one-way ANOVA. Our study showed that employees’ PEB in Chinese corporations is a two-dimensional concept, which comprises public-sphere PEB and private-sphere PEB. The global PEB and its dimensions differed significantly with respect to some demographic variables and organizational (work-related) variables. We found that employees with a low PEB score tended to be localized and they were distributed mainly in groups of unmarried employees, employees from the countryside, young employees, employees with an educational level of middle school and below, and employees with lower income satisfaction, as well as both basic-level and high-level employees, and private enterprises and public institutions employees. This study provides practical guidance to improve employees’ PEB and to enhance green corporate management.
111363806
Low carbon energy behaviors in the workplace: A qualitative study in Italy and Spain
Abstract Large organizations are responsible for a significant amount of GHG emissions. This trend will even increase over the next 100 years. An issue for environmental research is the investigation of the factors promoting or hindering the transition to more sustainable energy behaviors in the workplace. This study is part of a larger project, funded under the EU-FP7 program, called “Low Carbon at Work” (LOCAW). We present the results of a qualitative study assessing the existing everyday behaviors in two large-scale organizations: an Italian-based multinational renewable energy producer, and a Spanish public university (The University of A Coruna). Data obtained by interviews with key-informers and focus groups were content analyzed, using ATLAS.ti. Results indicate many commonalities and some differences between the two case studies. Working in a green anergy company leads individuals to be more sensitized about environmental issues, although a core thematic category refers to the concept that energy-related behaviors “rely on individual feeling”. Data from the University of A Coruna suggest this organization has the right values and objectives, but it does not always adequately implement organizational policies to support sustainable energy use among students and employees. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
151669148
Proactive environmental strategy development: from laggard to eco-innovative firms
Purpose 
 
 
 
 
The environmental management literature has focussed on the analysis of the variety of strategic options with regards to environment protection, without providing an interesting detail of the transformation and change process between the different alternatives. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study pro-environmental change processes in firms, focussing on the width and the intensity of environmental measures implemented in a three-year period in different areas (productive process, product, management and supply chains). 
 
 
 
 
Design/methodology/approach 
 
 
 
 
Performing a cluster analysis based on a sample of 303 Spanish firms, the study finds four categories of pro-environmental change. 
 
 
 
 
Findings 
 
 
 
 
The comparative analysis of these categories leads the authors to describe the pro-environmental change process as one with four stages that firms can go through. The first pro-environmental stage focusses on process measures. The second stage focusses on the adoption of management measures together with process measures. In the third stage, the firm moves after including measures in the product and in the supply chains. Companies that wish to advance further in this process, reaching the fourth stage of pro-environmental change, do so by increasing the intensity of the different measures adopted in previous stages, and through eco-innovation. 
 
 
 
 
Research limitations/implications 
 
 
 
 
The main contribution of this paper relative to the previous literature is a more detailed vision of the strategic possibilities in environmental protection, providing information about the process of change and about how firms evolve to more advanced environmental strategy stages. Knowledge of this evolution process, little studied in the previous literature, helps us to understand the complexity and strategic significance of adopting environmental protection measures. This knowledge is useful for academics and for public and private managers responsible for designing and developing environmental strategy. 
 
 
 
 
Originality/value 
 
 
 
 
One of the most original findings of this paper points out that it is possible to identify a pattern of environmental change through which firms can evolve. In this change process, firms start by adopting process measures, while they adopt eco-innovation behaviour only in the most advanced stage of environmental proactivity.
153332998
The Determinants of Corporate Sustainability Performance
This paper investigates the factors that drive high levels of corporate sustainability performance (CSP), as proxied by membership of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. Using a stakeholder framework, we examine the incentives for US firms to invest in sustainability principles and develop a number of hypotheses that relate CSP to firm-specific characteristics. Our results indicate that leading CSP firms are significantly larger, have higher levels of growth and a higher return on equity than conventional firms. Contrary to our predictions, leading CSP firms do not have greater free cash flows or lower leverage than other firms.
54702122
Does it Really Pay to be Green? Determinants and Consequences of Proactive Environmental Strategies
This study examines what factors affect firms' decisions to adopt a proactive environmental strategy and whether pursuing proactive environmental strategies leads to improved financial performance. Using longitudinal data from 1990 to 2003 for the four most polluting industries in the US (Pulp & Paper, Chemical, Oil & Gas, and Metals & Mining), this research empirically models the causal relations between firms' environmental performance and their financial resources and management capability. Our results show that positive (negative) changes in firms' financial resources in the prior periods are followed by significant improvements (declines) in firm's relative environmental performance in the subsequent periods. In addition, we also find that significant improvements (declines) in environmental performance in the prior periods can lead to improvements (declines) in financial performance in the subsequent periods after controlling for the impact of Granger causality. Finally, 3SLS analysis suggests that the positive association between environmental performance and financial performance is robust. Overall, our results are consistent with predictions of the resource-based view of the firm and indicate that although becoming "green" is associated with improvement in firm performance, such a strategy cannot be easily mimicked by all firms.
157820638
Stakeholder Influences on the Design of Firms’ Environmental Practices
While prior literature has emphasized that stakeholders can influence a firm’s decision to adopt environmental practices that lead to competitive advantage, most scholarship has assumed that stakeholders influence the design of firms’ environmental practices similarly. We challenge this notion and suggest that stakeholders affect not only the decision to adopt environmental practices but also managerial decisions about the design of these practices. We consider the case of firms’ strategic decisions about the design of their environmental practices, and in particular their degree of comprehensiveness and visibility. We then develop a classification of four design strategies: movers and shakers, backroom operators, wannabes, and passivists. Using multinomial regression techniques for a sample of more than 1,700 firms worldwide, our research shows that while stakeholders exert pressures on firms, managers’ perceptions of these pressures vary, and these variations appear to influence the design of their environmental practices. These findings offer important evidence that the scope of stakeholders’ influence appears more far-reaching (and nuanced) than previously considered. Managers who respond to these influences may therefore be in a better position to satisfy stakeholder expectations, thus enhancing their organization’s overall credibility.
36143482
Adopting Proactive Environmental Strategy: The Influence of Stakeholders and Firm Size
While smaller firms are less likely to undertake as many environmental practices as larger firms, extant literature suggests that smaller firms may be more responsive to stakeholder pressures. This paper contributes to the development of stakeholder theory by deriving a size moderated stakeholder model and applying it to a firm's adoption of proactive environmental practices. The empirical results show that smaller firms are more responsive to value-chain, internal, and regulatory stakeholder pressures. These findings suggest that researchers evaluating organizations and the natural environment should be cautious about associating stakeholder pressures directly with firms' environmental strategies. Rather, the relationship between stakeholder pressures and environmental strategy tends to vary with size.
153475785
Responding to the environmental challenge
All the players in the environmental game will be forced to change from ad hoc responses to proacfive thinking. " ~ n April 1990, 1 Sony President Akio Morita boldly spoke of the environmental challenge as one of "the central issues of the 21st century." In a McKinsey survey of more than 400 senior executives of major companies worldwide that was conducted one year later (1991), only seven disagreed with him. When Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric, asserted that "only a total commitment of everyone in the company can provide the level of responsibility that will be acceptable to government, employees and customers," more than 80 percent of his peers concurred. Senior managers expect environmental expenditures to increase from the current average of 2.4 percent of sales to 4.3 percent by the year 2000. Because public awareness and sensitivity are growing rapidly, the environment ranks first on the political priority list in many industrialized countries. Value changes among people, both young and old, have added to an increasing unwillingness to accept mishaps. Names such as Seveso, Bhopal, Basel, Valdez, Minimata, and Love Canal still send shivers through various company headquarters. Business leaders recognize that increased societal awareness of environmental problems is exerting pressure on all sectors of industry from four directions (see F igure 1). With some notable exceptions (the energy industry and Japan), a majority of all respondents to the McKinsey survey feel that government regulation aimed at reducing environment related targets by 50 percent, for product and/or process standards that are critical to their industries, is likely by the year 2000. Most executives also agree that consumers will be increasingly critical of a company's behavior vis-gt-vis the environment, and that a negative environmental record represents a definite handicap in attracting and retaining top talent. Finally, environmental legislation that differs among countries has become a decisive factor in plant location and thus can put specific competitors in a favorable position. Faced with such increasing pressures, many companies have taken positive initiatives. However, new thinking is still needed for society to develop solutions that simultaneously satisfy three criteria: effectiveness (contributing to improving the environment); efficiency (improving the environment at the minimum cost); and equity (showing fairness in the burden sharing among players). To achieve these three criteria, the divisions that currently separate the players in the environmental policy-making arena must be bridged. This article will first examine the inadequacy of current approaches in meeting these challenges. It will then outline some frameworks for understanding how and why companies and governments have responded so far that can provide some pointers for future developments. Finally, we will look at some success stories and the barriers companies must overcome in responding to the environmental challenge.
155068232
Impact of environmental regulations on innovation and performance in the UK industrial sector
Purpose – The role of environmental regulations in inducing innovation and improving performance has been studied in the literature. However, there have been no studies in the UK using statistical data. This paper aims to study the links among regulations, innovation and performance in the UK using sector level data.Design/methodology/approach – The paper used structural equation modelling to study the links among the three variables simultaneously.Findings – The analysis indicates that environmental regulations in the UK are significant in improving economic performance of the industrial sectors. They also find that, in the short run, environmental regulations negatively influence innovation, and innovation negatively influences economic performance in these sectors.Practical implications – The results have implications both for policy makers and firms in the UK industrial sector. For policy makers, environmental regulations have generally improved economic performance. For firms, the study shows that su...
156610311
The driving forces of process eco-innovation and its impact on performance: Insights from Slovenia
This study endeavors to explore the driving forces of process eco-innovation and its effect on company performance by adopting an integrative approach. We focus on process eco-innovation, which pertains to technological and non-technological solutions that result in a reduction of material and energy costs for companies. In this regard, the study sheds light on the drivers and outcomes of process eco-innovation adoption, using data collected from 223 Slovenian companies. The results reveal that certain determinants (i.e., competitive pressure, customer demand, managerial environmental concern, command-and-control instrument, and economic incentive instrument) are conducive to the deployment of process eco-innovation. Empirical evidence reveals competitive pressure as the most influential driving force of process eco-innovation, followed by managerial environmental concern and customer demand. Effectiveness in spurring process eco-innovation is also found to be a command-and-control instrument and an economic incentive instrument, while expected benefits do not spur process eco-innovation. Pertaining to the outcomes of process eco-innovation adoption, we can conclude that it pays to be eco; process eco-innovation is worthwhile in terms of company profitability, growth, and competitive benefits. These findings suggest several courses of action for both policy makers and companies. Hence, we conclude by providing implications for both.
11659451
Determinants of Eco-innovations by Type of Environmental Impact: The Role of Regulatory Push/Pull, Technology Push and Market Pull
Empirical analyses of the determinants of environmental innovations were rarely able to distinguish between different areas of environmental impacts. The paper tries to close this gap by employing a new and unique dataset based on the German Community Innovation Survey conducted in 2009. The main purpose of the paper is to test whether different types of eco-innovations (according to their environmental impacts) are driven by different factors. Besides a complex set of different supply, firm specific and demand factors, the literature on the determinants of environmental innovations accentuates the important role of regulation, cost savings and customer benefits. We find that current and expected government regulation is particularly important for pushing firms to reduce air (e.g. CO2, SO2 or NOx) as well as water or noise emissions, avoid hazardous substances and increase recyclability of products. Cost savings are an important motivation for reducing energy and material use, pointing to the role of energy and raw materials prices as well as taxation as drivers for eco-innovation. Customer requirements are another important source for eco-innovations, particularly with regard to products with improved environmental performance and process innovations that increase material efficiency, reduce energy consumption and waste and the use of dangerous substances. Firms confirm a high importance of expected future regulations for all environmental product innovations.
153908980
Analysis of the effectiveness of the first European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER)
The aim of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of the first European Pollution Emissions Register (EPER), a regulatory instrument based on the publication of the environmental performance of firms exceeding specified pollution limits. The Multivariate Regression Model (MVRM) is applied to capture the disciplinary effect of the EPER. So, we first perform an analysis to determine whether the publication of the EPER has a negative effect on the market value of the listed firms. Secondly, we consider the possibility of the publication of the EPER affecting the market value of firms which could be included in the EPER but are not because their emissions do not exceed the specified pollution limits. Finally, we prepare an index to compare the environmental results of the firms and analyse whether the consequences of publishing the EPER are worse for firms with high relative pollution records.
17020705
Preventive Command and Control Regulation: A Case Analysis
The aim of the current study is to evaluate new preventive command-and-control environmental regulation’s competitive effects on automobile manufacturers and their suppliers. The methodology that we have used is a case analysis, and its main aim is to study an unfamiliar situation. Therefore, we have chosen cases from each of the groups: two suppliers and one manufacturer. The new regulation obliges automobile companies to deeply modify their process technologies and their relationships with their suppliers (toughening requirements and strengthening long-term relationships) and to require their workers to train in environmental matters. Complying with regulation by suppliers will be possible if product and process designs are modified. However, only organisational actions, which include workers’ training in environmental and quality matters and activities to recover value in factories, are capable to achieve it. In any case, these factories have already been affected by trade-offs between environmental and other more classic manufacturing objectives, especially quality.
154450714
Case study evidence that direct regulation remains the main driver of industrial pollution avoidance and may benefit operational efficiency
Abstract Environmental regulation is required to reduce industrial pollution to levels that are socially acceptable and economically efficient, but there is debate over the most efficient form of such regulation. Typically, a limited range of environmental and economic parameters are accounted for in the econometric studies that inform that debate. This paper integrates evidence from two separate studies to assess a broad range of parameters related to the efficiency of industrial environmental regulation. Questionnaire responses from 25 Italian manufacturers of building-chemicals and 28 Irish pharmaceutical manufacturers provided evidence on the environmental effectiveness and operational impacts of different regulatory instruments. Combined with extensive emissions data from Irish pharmaceutical manufacturers, survey results enabled a quantitative estimation of pollution avoidance specifically attributable to direct regulation. The monetised social benefit of avoided pollution was found to be equal to direct compliance costs. Chemical manufacturers in Italy and Ireland stated that direct regulation is a more important driver of industrial environmental performance than economic or voluntary regulation, and their responses indicated that direct compliance costs may be countered somewhat by stimulated operational improvements. It was concluded that direct regulation is an effective approach for multi-pollutant control in an industrial context, and that the efficiency of such regulation may be underestimated in studies that do not consider the full range of pollutants and operational effects.
153934845
Motivations and Barriers to Corporate Environmental Management
This paper integrates two conceptual frameworks, utility maximization and institutional theory, to analyze voluntary corporate environmental management. The utility maximization or economic approach centers on motivations to decrease cost, increase revenue and improve manager utility. Institutional theory emphasizes how external pressures from market and non-market constituents shape the firm's environmental efforts. We view the two frameworks as complementary and postulate a model that includes both types of influences. Survey data from six major industries consisting of a diverse set of facilities are used to estimate the effects of economic and institutional factors on a facility's use of environmental practices and pollution-prevention activities. Our results support the hypothesized model, and show that cost barriers, management attitudes toward environmental stewardship, company ownership and external institutional forces, including competitiveness, investor and regulatory pressures, all affect a facility's environmental practices and pollution prevention activities. Findings suggest that a multifaceted policy strategy is needed to advance corporate environmental management across diverse firms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
146242498
Managerial Interpretations and Organizational Context as Predictors of Corporate Choice of Environmental Strategy
Drawing on the strategic issue interpretation literature, this study examined links between managerial interpretations of environmental issues and corporate choice of environmental strategy among 9...
73686706
Evaluation of corporate environmental management approaches: A framework and application
This article proposes a framework to evaluate corporate environmental strategies. In the proposed framework, a company's environmental risks are analyzed on two dimensions, One dimension, the endogenous environmental risks, arises from the internal operations of the company. The other dimension, the exogenous environmental risks, are determined by the company's external world: its location, its ecological setting, and the demographic characteristics of the physical environment in which it operates. Four environmental management approaches are defined as a function of endogenous and exogenous environmental risks: reactive, proactive, strategic, and crisis preventive. The framework was applied in a survey of 141 company representatives in Hungary. A relationship was sought between the a priori defined environmental management approaches based on technology and location and the companies' environmental management characteristics defined by senior managers. Variables that differentiated among the four environmental management approaches were identified and ranked. The study concludes that there is a relatively well-defined relationship between the environmental risks of companies and the nature of their environmental management approaches, Implementing a strategic environmental management approach may not be the best option for all companies - although there is a growing pressure to do so.
167507639
Determinants of green innovation adoption for small and medium-size enterprises (SMES)
The main purpose of this paper is to develop a model that analyzes factors influencing the adoption of green innovations for the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). From the perspective of technical innovation, the determinant factors consist of technological, organizational and environmental dimensions. A questionnaire survey on small and medium-size enterprises was conducted to test proposed research hypotheses. Based on the survey results, we found that technological characteristics of green innovations, organizational characteristics, governmental supports, customer pressure and regulatory pressure have significantly influences on green innovation adoption for SMEs while the influence of environmental uncertainty is not significant. Practical implications of research findings are discussed. 
 
   
 
 Key words: Green innovation adoption, small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), determinants of innovation, technical innovation.
55424230
Corporate Social Responsibility: A Process Model of Sensemaking
In contrast to content-based models of corporate social responsibility (CSR), we propose a process model of organizational sensemaking explaining how managers think, discuss, and act with respect to their key stakeholders and the world at large. We also propose a set of cognitive, linguistic, and conative dimensions to identify such an intrinsic orientation that guides CSR-related activities. Recognizing patterns of interrelationships among these dimensions might lead to a better understanding of a firm's CSR impact and generate a rich research agenda that links key organizational features to CSR character.
53704639
The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications
?The stakeholder theory has been advanced and justified in the management literature on the basis of its descriptive accuracy, instrumental power, and normative validity. These three aspects of the theory, although interrelated, are quite distinct; they involve different types of evidence and argument and have different implications. In this article, we examine these three aspects of the theory and critique and integrate important contributions to the literature related to each. We conclude that the three aspects of stakeholder theory are mutually supportive and that the normative base of the theory-which includes the modern theory of property rights-is fundamental. If the unity of the corporate body is real, then there is reality and not simply legal fiction in the proposition that the managers of the unit are fiduciaries for it and not merely for its individual members, that they are . . . trustees for an institution [with multiple constituents] rather than attorneys for the stockholders.
16092927
Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts
Stakeholder theory has been a popular heuristic for describing the management environment for years, but it has not attained full theoretical status. Our aim in this article is to contribute to a theory of stakeholder identification and salience based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency. By combining these attributes, we generate a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their salience to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.
109746468
Influence of the perception of the external environmental pressures on obtaining the ISO 14001 standard in Spanish industrial companies
The aim of this paper is to analyse the influence of external environmental pressures on the decision to obtain certification to the ISO 14001 standard. An assumption of the authors includes recognizing that certification is one step toward environmental excellence and Total Quality Environmental Management (TQEM). We focus exclusively on the ISO 14001 norm when talking about environmental management systems' certification, since we have detected a predominance of this standard in Spanish industrial companies as compared with registration to 1836/93 Regulations or the EMAS register. We have found that some of the external pressures are a restriction for the companies, but others can become an opportunity in those companies having the intention to improve their environmental control and prevention activities. The results of our studies show that companies that perceive the environmental regulations as restrictions carry out environmental control practices in order to comply with environmental requirements. These practices are not enough to improve the company image or waste reuse. Basically, when managers perceive the influence of external environmental pressures as opportunities, more advanced environmental actions are implemented to obtain ISO certification.
154889970
Managers' Personal Values as Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility
In this theoretical paper, motives for CSR are considered. An underlying assumption is that the commercial imperative is not the sole driver of CSR decision-making in private sector companies, but that the formal adoption and implementation of CSR by corporations could be associated with the changing personal values of individual managers. These values may find expression through the opportunity to exercise discretion, which may arise in various ways. It is suggested that in so far as CSR initiatives represent individuals' values, so the “responsibility” in evidence is less obviously “corporate.” Our emphasis on personal initiative is intended to counter a tendency to view the corporation as the agent, and may serve to remind us that individuals can, indeed, make a difference.
142299966
Mediating effect of managers' environmental concern: Bridge between external pressures and firms' practices of energy conservation in China
This paper extends previous literature of corporate environmental practices by empirically exploring the relationship between external pressures and firm's energy conservation practices with considering the mediating effect of its senior managers' environmental concerns. A questionnaire survey is used to collect data from 187 industrial firms located in the Circum-Bohai Sea Economic Zone of China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling is employed to analyze the survey data collected and test the research hypotheses in the model. The results show that a senior manager's environmental concerns play a significant role in the connection between firms' energy saving practices and the external pressures such as normative and mimetic pressures. However, the environmental concern of senior managers is only positively related to the energy conservation strategy — it shows no direct association with the concrete operations of energy conservation.
167425478
From Issues to Actions: The Importance of Individual Concerns and Organizational Values in Responding to Natural Environmental Issues
In this research, we traced the development of natural environmental issues in two organizations in real time over the period of a year. Participant observations, discussions with organizational members, and corporate documents yielded insights used to develop a model describing issue flows in both organizations. With this model, we identified the factors that influenced the scope, scale, and speed of organizational response to issues. Our methods provided insights into why issues generated organizational responses and also why they did not.Two factors appeared to be critical in explaining organizational responses to issues: individual concerns and organizational values. Individual concerns gave rise to an issue champion or seller. An issue consistent with organizational values was perceived as strategic. These werenecessary conditions; without either condition, the issue would not be resolved. It is argued further that individual discretion and excess resource slack will moderate the relationship between these direct effects and the scope, scale, and speed of organizational response. The framework that emerged from the data is conveyed through a set of four propositions.
40975191
ESG Issues among Fund Managers—Factors and Motives
This paper investigates the motives, behavior, and characteristics shaping mutual fund managers’ willingness to incorporate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues into investment decision making. Using survey evidence from fund managers from five different countries, we demonstrate that this predisposition is the stronger, the shorter their average forecasting horizon and the higher their level of reliance on business risk in portfolio management is. We also find that the propensity to incorporate ESG factors is positively related to an increasing level of risk aversion, an increasing importance of salary change and senior management approval/disapproval as motivating factors as well as length of professional experience in current fund and increasing significance of assessment by superiors in remuneration. Overall, our evidence suggests that ESG diligence among fund managers serves mainly as a method for mitigating risk and is typically motivated by herding; it is much less important as a tool for additional value creation. The prevalent use of ESG criteria in mitigating risk is in contrast with traditional approach, but it is in line with behavioral finance theory. Additionally, our results also show a strong difference in the length of the forecasting horizon between continental European and Anglo-Saxon fund managers.
152716295
Barriers to Proactive Environmental Management in the United Kingdom: Implications for Business and Public Policy
Existing conceptual and empirical contributions emphasise the significant payoffs available to companies who can manage the effect that they have on the environment (Porter and van der Linde, 1995; Christmann, 2000; Hart, 1997; Aragón-Correa et al., 2004). In spite of this, empirical evidence concerning the extent to which companies have embedded environmentally sensitive business practices within their different management functions remains very mixed (Hillary, 2000; Post and Altman; 1994; Ghobadian et al., 1995). In this study we explore this apparent puzzle by investigating corporate perceptions of the main barriers and obstacles to more effective management of their environmental impacts in the context of a sample of over 150 UK companies drawn from six industries. Using a mixed methodological approach incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methods, our findings suggest that both internal and external barriers play important roles in retarding the willingness and ability of British industry to become more proactive in managing its environmental impacts.
153565392
Drivers, barriers and incentives to implementing environmental management systems in the food industry: A case of Lebanon
Abstract The shift in policy towards prevention and towards making producers responsible for the pollution they cause has lead corporations to limit environmental liabilities through the improvement of environmental performance. The implementation of an Environmental Management System integrates the precautionary and polluter pays principles into a firm's operations and demonstrates commitment to sustainable development. This research aims at assessing the factors influencing the implementation of ISO 14001 Environmental Management System in developing countries taking the Food Industry in Lebanon as a case example. For this purpose, primary data were collected using a field survey questionnaire that was administered to a representative sample of facilities. The results revealed that the food industry is generally more concerned with safety and quality issues rather than environmental issues. Following international food sector trend, improving environmental performance and enhancing company image are the most salient drivers to adopt ISO 14001. The lack of government support and stakeholder demand as well as the fact that ISO 14001 is not a legal requirement constitute the most salient factors hindering the adoption of the standard. Economical and organizational factors are the most significant incentives required to motivate the food industry to adopt ISO 14001. The industry is less likely to voluntarily consider adopting ISO 14001 before acquiring a quality management certification or until ISO 14001 certification gain more recognition in the international food sector. The study defines the foundations for developing strategies, policy reforms and incentive schemes to reduce the barriers of implementing ISO 14001.
110726560
Towards cleaner production: barriers and strategies in the base metals producing industry
Abstract The most pressing environmental problems of post-mining base metals production are solid waste production, gaseous emissions, and a high energy use. Most of the present solutions to clean up the post-mining base metals production can be characterised as incremental, end-of-pipe technologies. More sophisticated, radical solutions are scarcely implemented. The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers that impede the implementation of more radical solutions, with the aim to design strategies towards cleaner production in the base metals producing industry. The paper conceptualises the radicalness of a technological innovation, and presents the current base metals production processes, their environmental impact, and cleaner technologies. The most important barriers for radical innovations appear to be the cost of investment, the high risk involved in committing capital to unproven technology, and the intertwinement of the current production system. The paper presents firm-internal, inter-firm and firm-external strategies to overcome these barriers.
168113802
Drivers and barriers to environmental supply chain management practices: lessons from the public and private sectors
This study explores the factors that drive or hinder organisations to implement green supply chain management initiatives. A literature review identifies the main categories of internal and external drivers of green supply chain management practices, including organisational factors, regulation, customers, competitors and society, but there is little indication of suppliers as drivers for green supply chain management. Internal barriers include cost and lack of legitimacy, whereas external barriers include regulation, poor supplier commitment and industry specific barriers. An explorative study is conducted based on interviews from seven different private and public sector organisations. Encouragingly, across the organisations, more drivers than barriers to environmental supply chain management are identified. Organisations seem to be more influenced by external rather than internal drivers. The barriers to environmental supply chain management experienced by organisations tend to be both internal and external.
153453413
Organisational factors determining the implementation of cleaner production measures in the corporate sector
Abstract Empirical research undertaken at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration concentrated on the organisational factors hindering energy related cleaner production measures at several major Hungarian companies. The underlying objective of the research was to analyse the barriers to preventive environmental actions which often impede the implementation of cost effective CP measures at the company level. As a result of this research, organisational barriers to effective implementation of CP measures have been identified at eight enterprises of the Hungarian industry and recommendations have been developed to overcome the barriers for the implementation of the CP options. Although some characteristics of the sample companies are specific to a country in transition, most of the experiences gained can be utilised in more developed regions of the world as well.
153731068
Environmental management system adoption by Australasian organisations: part 1: reasons, benefits and impediments
Abstract The decision to adopt environmental management system (EMS) and to develop effective implementation strategies has engrossed managers at all levels and in all types of organisations in recent years. Some organisations have claimed that environmental issues have been determining their bottom-line and business performance in the market place. This paper is first part in the series focussing on the reasons for EMS implementation and the benefits and impediments associated with the process. Measures commonly practised by organisations to overcome/address the impediments are also presented in this paper. The findings of this paper are based on a questionnaire survey mailed to Australasian organisations on their experiences with ISO 14001 implementation and certification.
73543741
Green chemistry and green engineering in China: drivers, policies and barriers to innovation
With the world’s largest population and consistently rapid rates of economic growth, China faces a choice of whether it will move towards a more sustainable development trajectory. This paper identifies the different factors driving innovation in the fields of green chemistry and green engineering in China, which we find to be largely driven by energy efficiency policy, increasingly strict enforcement of pollution regulations, and national attention to cleaner production concepts, such as “circular economy.” We also identify seven key barriers to the development and implementation of green chemistry and engineering in China. They are (1) competition between economic growth and environmental agendas, (2) regulatory and bureaucratic barriers, (3) availability of research funding, (4) technical barriers, (5)workforce training, (6) industrial engineering capacity, and (7) economic and financial barriers. Our analysis reveals that the most crucial barriers to green chemistry and engineering nnovations in China appear to be those that arise from competing priorities of economic growth and environmental protection as well as the technical challenges that arise from possessing a smaller base of experienced human capital. We find that there is a great deal of potential for both the development of the underlying science, as well as its implementation throughout the chemical enterprise, especially if investment occurs before problems of technological lock-in and sunk costs emerge.
111020506
A multiple stakeholder perspective on barriers to implementing China RoHS regulations
Abstract With increasingly severe environmental risks deriving from electronic and electrical and other products, China has recognized RoHS (the restriction of the use of [certain] hazardous substances [in electrical and electronic equipment]) legislation as a necessity. However, the implementation of China's RoHS has faced a variety of challenges. Some literature has explored the barriers to implementing RoHS in Chinese context. Nevertheless, formal modeling tools to aid a systematic analysis of barriers to implementing China RoHS from a multiple stakeholder perspective can also provide insights. Using the perspectives of three stakeholders: local government, professional associations and a manufacturer in Dalian, China, we acquire multi-faceted managerial inputs to evaluate the barriers to implementing China's RoHS. The managerial inputs further are evaluated by a grey-based DEMATEL with a similarity analysis between the various stakeholders. The contributions include a further understanding of RoHS regulations and responses in China as well as a methodological contribution advancing evaluation and interpretation of DEMATEL. Managerial implications of the presented study and application, limitations and future research directions are also discussed.
154608376
Barriers and stimuli for ecodesign in SMEs
Abstract In order to learn which factors stimulate SMEs towards greening their products and which factors hamper them, an empirical study on the ecodesign behaviour of 77 Dutch SMEs was executed in 1997. This article summarises the main findings of the empirical study. A comparison of the 33 possible solutions distinguished to improve the environmental performance of products showed that the 10 most frequently suggested ecodesign solutions were the most successful ones as well. The four most successful solutions implying their realisation within 3 years were: ‘Recycling of materials’, ‘High reliability/durability’, ‘Recycled materials’ and ‘Low energy consumption’. The article analyses which stimuli and barriers played a role in the success or failure of the various ecodesign solutions. Contrary to prevailing literature on environmental management in SMEs, it is concluded that internal stimuli are a stronger driving force for ecodesign than external stimuli. The most influential internal stimuli were the opportunities for innovation, the expected increase of product quality and the potential market opportunities. The research revealed quite clearly that the most influential external stimuli for ecodesign are ‘Customer demands’, ‘Governmental legislation’ and ‘Industrial sector initiatives’. Furthermore, it can be derived from this study that three of the 11 barriers distinguished must be characterised as ‘no-go’ barriers; their existence obstructs the ecodesign improvement options in question from being implemented. These were the following barriers: ‘No clear environmental benefit’; ‘Not perceived as responsibility’ and ‘No alternative solution is available’. The other eight barriers were only ‘initial’ barriers. In sum, an ecodesign improvement option only stands a chance, if it is supported by stimuli other than the expected environmental benefit alone. Those ecodesign improvement options were most successful that were supported by several strong internal and external stimuli, and not blocked by any no-go barriers. Enhancing ecodesign in SMEs does not only depend on finding alternative solutions for technical problems. Even more important are economical and social factors like the acceptance of environmentally improved products in the market, and the way in which the SMEs studied perceive the market perspectives of these products.
154024746
The Influence of Knowledge and Motivation on Sustainable Label Use
Sustainable labels are considered the best way for consumers to identify brands with environmental or social attributes on the shelves, and therefore promoted as a means to develop the so-called “ethical markets”. However, little is known about how consumers use these brands. This paper tries to offer complementary theoretical insights on the determinants of sustainable label use by drawing on the economic model of information search; in particular, it examines the influence of two factors on the purchase of such labels: motivation and knowledge. Information was gathered through a structured questionnaire in personal interviews with 289 primary buyers. The study found that education influences directly knowledge, while Motivation influences Label use both directly and indirectly, via Label knowledge. This study concludes that Motivation is the most powerful factor to explain Label use; knowledge is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Even more, consumers may not have a good understanding of sustainable labels and still use them in their purchasing decisions. This suggests that there is a dual processing mode of sustainable labels, both systematic and heuristic.
152836206
An integrated theory of corporate environmental compliance and overcompliance
Prior research on corporate environmental behavior has produced myriad factors that explain offending and overcompliance, yet the literature lacks cohesion and would benefit from disentangling corporate- and individual-level explanations. In this study, a cross-level integrated theory of corporate environmental behavior uses Gunningham et al’s. (2003) license framework and Paternoster and Simpson’s (1993; 1996) rational choice theory of corporate crime to portray how individuals within corporations decide to offend or to overcomply with environmental regulations while accounting for the organizational context. Specifically, external pressures (legal, social, and economic) on the corporation, plus internal corporate policies and culture, affect individual-level cost-benefit analyses. In turn, these cost-benefit calculations impact the behavioral decisions made by corporate managers. Four sets of hypotheses based on this integration are tested using an environmental vignette survey of individuals. The results provide mixed support for the integrated theory. It is also noted that predictors of environmental offending are different from those predicting overcompliance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
144152544
Use of Discretionary Environmental Accounting Narratives to Influence Stakeholders: The Case of Jurors’ Award Assessments
This experimental study extends prior capital market and environmental accounting research by utilizing the theoretical underpinnings of legitimation through impression management, source credibility bias, perceived trust, and ideology in assessing the influence of discretionary environmental accounting narratives on jurors’ punitive damage award assessments. We utilize mock jurors as environmental stakeholders and find that: (1) jurors in a court case involving corporate environmental malfeasance assess lower punitive damage awards against a firm that provides discretionary disclosure on its website regarding future abatement and control narratives, (2) environmental sensitivity of the firm’s industry moderates the negative relationship between the discretionary disclosure and jurors’ punitive damage award assessments, and (3) juror’s perceived trust toward firm management mediates the prior moderation effect. Further, juror political ideology is found to affect the punitive damage award assessments, with liberal jurors levying comparatively higher awards than conservative jurors.
186217069
A scaled difference chi-square test statistic for moment structure analysis
A family of scaling corrections aimed to improve the chi-square approximation of goodness-of-fit test statistics in small samples, large models, and nonnormal data was proposed in Satorra and Bentler (1994). For structural equations models, Satorra-Bentler's (SB) scaling corrections are available in standard computer software. Often, however, the interest is not on the overall fit of a model, but on a test of the restrictions that a null model sayM0 implies on a less restricted oneM1. IfT0 andT1 denote the goodness-of-fit test statistics associated toM0 andM1, respectively, then typically the differenceTd=T0−T1 is used as a chi-square test statistic with degrees of freedom equal to the difference on the number of independent parameters estimated under the modelsM0 andM1. As in the case of the goodness-of-fit test, it is of interest to scale the statisticTd in order to improve its chi-square approximation in realistic, that is, nonasymptotic and nonormal, applications. In a recent paper, Satorra (2000) shows that the difference between two SB scaled test statistics for overall model fit does not yield the correct SB scaled difference test statistic. Satorra developed an expression that permits scaling the difference test statistic, but his formula has some practical limitations, since it requires heavy computations that are not available in standard computer software. The purpose of the present paper is to provide an easy way to compute the scaled difference chi-square statistic from the scaled goodness-of-fit test statistics of modelsM0 andM1. A Monte Carlo study is provided to illustrate the performance of the competing statistics.
17170016
Total, Direct, and Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models
Decomposing the total effects of one variable on another into direct and indirect effects has long been of interest to researchers who use path analysis. In this paper, I review the decomposition of effects in general structural equation models with latent and observed variables. I present the two approaches to defining total effects. One is based on sums of powers of coefficient matrices. The other defines total effects as reducedform coefficients. I show the conditions under which these two definitions are equivalent. I also compare the different types of specific indirect effects. These are the influences that are transmitted through particular