The role of institutional pressures and organizational culture in the firm's intention to adopt internet-enabled supply chain management systems

Drawing upon organizational culture and institutional theory, this study investigates how institutional pressures motivate the firm to adopt Internet-enabled Supply Chain Management systems (eSCM) and how such effects are moderated by organizational culture. The results of a survey of 131 firms suggest that the dimensions of institutional pressures (i.e., normative, mimetic, and coercive pressures) have differential effects on eSCM adoption intention. While mimetic pressures are not related to eSCM adoption intention, normative and coercive pressures are positively associated with eSCM adoption intention. In addition, organizational culture (i.e., flexibility orientation and control orientation) plays different roles in the relationships between these three dimensions of institutional pressures and eSCM adoption intention. While flexibility orientation negatively moderates the effects of coercive pressures and positively moderates the effects of mimetic pressures, control orientation positively moderates the effects of coercive and normative pressures and negatively moderates the effects of mimetic pressures. Implications and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Exploring the effects of institutional pressures on the implementation of environmental management accounting: Do top management support and perceived benefit work?

Environmental management accounting (EMA) has been regarded as an effective way to deal with environmental issues and economic performance. On the basis of institutional theory, this research aims to examine the effects of institutional pressures on the implementation of EMA and how such effects are affected by top management support and perceived benefit. Data were collected from the manufacturing firms in the Yangtze River Delta using questionnaire survey method. The results indicated that coercive pressure and normative pressure positively and significantly affect the implementation of EMA whereas mimetic pressure has no significant effect. Furthermore, top management support and perceived benefit play different moderating roles in the relationships between institutional pressures and the implementation of EMA. Top management support and perceived benefit positively moderate the relationships between coercive pressure, normative pressure, and the implementation of EMA although negatively moderate the relationship between mimetic pressure and the implementation of EMA. On the basis of the findings, policy implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Organizational Sustainability Determinants in Different Cultural Settings: A Conceptual Framework

Since the link between organizations’ sustainability initiatives and effects from the societal environment has not been consistently established in the literature, this paper provides a conceptual framework to demonstrate the antecedents to the levels of sustainability initiatives undertaken by firms. Taking insights from institutional theory, it proposes that the relationship between the sustainability determinants and the level of sustainability initiatives is mediated by coercive, mimetic and normative isomorphic pressures. Moreover, it suggests that culture plays a significant role in moderating the extent to which the various types of isomorphic pressure on firms may influence the levels of firms’ sustainability initiatives. The implications of the framework are discussed in the light of encouraging sustainability initiatives and overall sustainable development in various cultural settings as well as undertaking future research to enhance the framework and its applicability. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Contract ineffectiveness in emerging markets: An institutional theory perspective

The effectiveness of contracts is bounded by the institutional environment in which they are designed and enforced. When firms form supply chain partnerships in emerging markets, they may experience contract ineffectiveness, which is defined as a firm's perceived limits of contracts with respect to safeguarding interests and coordinating activities. Specifically, we identify two institutional factors that may give rise to contract ineffectiveness, information transparency and legal enforceability, as they determine how effectively a firm designs and enforces a contract. In addition, we reveal that contract ineffectiveness prompts a firm to seek social ties, including business ties and political ties, to overcome the institutionally induced limits of contracts. These efforts, however, are moderated by the type of predominant pressure a firm bears. While equity pressure strengthens the relationship between contract ineffectiveness and a firm's pursuit of social ties, efficiency pressure weakens this relationship, because seeking social ties imposes an extra burden of efficiency. Tested by data collected from 187 distributors in China, our study reveals the institutional causes and the consequences of contract ineffectiveness, which is a common problem encountered by firms when forming supply chain partnerships in emerging markets.     

Antecedents of work–life involvement in work–life issues: institutional pressures,efficiency gains or both?

This paper contributes to the literature by integrating relevant insights from institutional theory and expected efficiency gains to explain organisational responsiveness to work–life issues. In times of global crisis it seems relevant to explore both the question of whether institutional pressures influence organisational behaviour and the positive and negative consequences implementing work–life practices. We tested the model using survey data from 146 private Spanish firms in two different industries. Hierarchical regression analyses tested the relationship between institutional pressures and organisational responsiveness and the potential moderator effect of the expected efficiency gains. The results reveal that mimetic and particular normative pressures significantly influence work–life practices, while coercive and global normative pressures appear not to do so. The perception of certain negative consequences related to the implementation of work–life practices inhibits this responsiveness. The positive outcomes are only relevant for the moderating effect they have on the relationship between institutional pressures and work–life responsiveness.     

Relationships and resources: the isomorphism of nonprofit organizations’ (NPO) self-regulation

Self-regulation emerges as an option in response to government control of the institutional environment of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). While most research focuses on conceptualizing and arguing for self-regulation, this study examines self-regulation through the lens of the institutional perspective by focusing on a specific institutional domain of NPOs in Lebanon. Results indicate that a certain degree of normative isomorphism, through professionalization, has a positive impact on NPOs’ participation in self-regulation while mimetic practices do not yield the same results; coercive isomorphism is not a significant predictor. The results allude to certain implications both for management practices and for scholarly research.     

Board internationalization and corporate social responsibility

This study examines the association between board internationalization and firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in China during 2009–2019. Using a large dataset of director nationalities and CSR scores, we find that foreign directors promote CSR performance as evidenced by higher CSR scores. We further document that this relationship is more pronounced among government-controlled firms, firms with better corporate governance, and firms operating under stricter institutional environments. These findings remain valid after sequential robustness checks. Overall, our findings imply that foreign directors motivate the board of directors and their firms to actively pursue and practice social responsibility. Our study enriches the literature on the outcomes of board internationalization and determinants of CSR and provides the internationalization of corporate governance mechanisms a reasonable basis.     

How cultural dimensions,legal systems,and industry affect environmental reporting? Empirical evidence from an international perspective

Past research has paid little attention to the impact of stakeholder engagement, cultural, legal, and industrial contexts on environmental disclosure. Thus, the aim of this paper is to explore how these three institutional factors affect the reporting of environmental information by companies in different countries. This research draws on institutional theory: normative isomorphism, coercive isomorphism, and mimetic isomorphism. This study uses the generalised method of moments procedure. The findings show that the legal system and certain cultural dimensions such as individualism, uncertainty avoidance, long‐term orientation, and indulgence are determinants of voluntary disclosure of environmental information (individualism and indulgence—negatively; uncertainty avoidance and long‐term orientation—positively), particularly when companies belong to industries with high environmental risk.     

The effect of institutional pressure on cooperative and coercive ‘green’ supply chain practices

Little is known about buyers׳ decisions to implement ‘green’ supply chain management (GSCM) through either coercive or cooperative approaches. This is an important area of study as buyers are increasingly expected to improve and ensure that their purchasing and supply chain practices are environmentally sound. Pressuring and monitoring suppliers to become more environmentally responsible dominates the coercive approach to GSCM. In contrast, a cooperative approach is associated with training and helping suppliers to become ‘greener’. In this study we draw on institutional theory, and argue that the decision to implement such practices and the choice between them will be contingent upon institutional pressures (mimetic, normative and coercive), and downstream customer requirements for GSCM. Using primary survey data from 198 UK-based companies, we find compelling evidence to suggest that coercive and cooperative GSCM practices are driven by substantially different factors. Institutional pressures significantly determine cooperative approaches to GSCM while coercive practices are, to a larger extent, driven by downstream customer demands. Customer pressure is also found to moderate the influence of institutional factors on cooperative practices; no significant effect was found for coercive practices.     

Strategic stakeholder management,environmental corporate social responsibility engagement,and financial performance of stigmatized firms derived from Chinese special environmental policy

We draw upon the stigma literature and strategic stakeholder management model to develop a framework capable of explaining the link between environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) engagement and financial performance of stigmatized firms, taking stakeholder‐oriented governance and density of local stigmatized firms into consideration. Using a uniquely compiled dataset of Chinese firms specifically monitored by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, we conducted propensity score matching analysis to estimate the impact of stigma on corporate financial performance and corporate environmental responsibility. The result shows that the financial performance of stigmatized firms is negatively affected by the stigma label, spurring them to engage in more ECSR than their peers to improve their legitimacy. Though ECSR engagement of stigmatized firms is found to be negatively associated with their financial performance in current study. Our results also confirm that (a) the financial performance of stigmatized firms is positively affected by two proxies for corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance (i.e., institutional ownership and corporate transparency) and negatively affected by the density of local stigmatized firms; (b) corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance compensates for the negative effect of ECSR engagement; (c) high intensity of local stigmatized firms provides focal firms with an opportunity to improve their financial performance through ECSR engagement; and (d) the positive effects of corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance are diminished by the density of local stigmatized firms.     

Interactive effects of various institutional pressures on corporate environmental responsibility: Institutional theory and multilevel analysis

This study investigates the role of institutional pressures in corporate environmental responsibility (CER) by testing the interacting effects among cognitive, regulative, and normative pressures at cross levels. Specifically, this research decomposes the cognitive dimension of CER into perceived environmental benefit and perceived ethical obligation to differentiate their mechanisms. The sample is obtained from 212 firms within 34 industrial clusters. Results of two‐level regression modeling confirm that regulative and normative pressures play different roles in the positive effects of perceived environmental benefit and perceived ethical obligation on CER. Regulative pressure attenuates the effect of perceived environmental benefit and amplifies the effect of perceived ethical obligation. Meanwhile, normative pressure attenuates the effect of perceived ethical obligation. These findings suggest that heterogeneous interaction effects may reduce the efficiency of institutional pressures during the initial stage of CER diffusion. Implications for future research and policies are discussed.     

Environmentally Sustainable Development through Stakeholder Engagement in Developed and Emerging Countries

This cross‐country study investigates the antecedents and outcomes of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) practices in developed and emerging countries. Based on stakeholder and institutional theory, we conducted an empirical study among firms in Germany, USA, India and China. We found support for a significant positive relationship between regulatory, market and social stakeholder influences, CER practices and business outcomes in the total and individual country samples. Regarding country differences, our data reveal significant similarities and differences between developed and emerging countries. Market stakeholder influences are stronger in developed countries, whereas regulatory and social stakeholder influences do not differ significantly between the two country groups. The relationship between CER practices and positive business outcomes is stronger in emerging than in developed countries. Implications for institutional theory and organizations are outlined. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

CEO hometown identity and firm green innovation

Drawn on the upper echelons theory, this study investigates how chief executive officer (CEO) hometown identity drives firm green innovation. We propose that CEO hometown identity has a positive impact on a firm's green innovation performance. Furthermore, we explore the moderating role of managerial discretion determined by organizational and environmental factors (i.e., institutional ownership and market complexity). We propose that institutional ownership negatively moderates the positive relationship between CEO hometown identity and green innovation, but market complexity plays a positive moderating role. Using Chinese publicly listed firms from 2002 to 2016 in heavily polluting industries, our findings support these hypotheses. Our research contributes to the upper echelons theory and corporate social responsibility literature and has substantial practical implications.     

Investment committees and corporate cash holdings

We investigate the association between the voluntary formation of a board investment committee (IC) and corporate cash holdings for a large sample of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) firms over the 2005–2013 period. We provide evidence that the existence of a specialized IC increases corporate cash holdings. We also find that several IC characteristics, i.e., member experience, independence, number of meetings, and committee size, are associated with an increase in firms’ cash holdings. Furthermore, the local and foreign institutional ownership of GCC firms moderates the IC-cash holdings relationship. These results remain robust to alternative specifications of cash holdings and endogeneity tests. We contribute to the literature on firms’ incentives to hold cash and to the literature on governance in emerging market contexts.     

Can proactive environmental strategy improve Multilatinas' level of internationalization? The moderating role of board independence

This paper explores the relationships between proactive environmental strategy (PES) and internationalization in emerging markets multinationals from Latin America (Multilatinas). Drawing on the resource‐based view and institutional theory and using a sample of 86 listed firms during the period 2013–2017, we find that Multilatinas with higher tiers of PES are associated with higher degrees of geographic international diversification. Because adopting PES is directly conditioned by institutional pressures to comply with stakeholders' regulations and expectations, Multilatinas that implement advanced PES will be able to achieve a higher level of international presence in foreign markets. Our results also reveal that board independence positively moderates the relationship between PES and geographic international diversification. Specifically, board independence provides Multilatinas with the opportunity to integrate valuable knowledge and expertise and thus to take advantage of implementing advanced PES to achieve even greater levels of internationalization. This study expands understanding of how environmental strategies influence internationalization of firms in the Latin American business context.     

The Impact of Board Structure on Corporate Social Responsibility: A Temporal View

Time plays an important role in corporate social responsibility (CSR) decisions. In the context of time and the boardroom, the consideration of CSR can be affected by board structure. For example, because of considerable short‐term pressures, this study posits that insiders on the board are less likely to prioritize the longer‐term time horizons needed to affect CSR. Following this perspective, a hypothesis is put forth that insiders generally have temporal orientations that are more short term in nature and that they therefore have a negative effect on CSR. A study of 300 of Australia's largest firms confirmed this hypothesis. However, when inside director compensation linked to environmental and social metrics and inside director CSR training are introduced as moderating variables, their interactive effects lead to positive results: both positively moderate the negative insider–CSR relationship in environmental and social dimensions. The study contributes to a temporal view of boards of directors, as well as to corporate governance and CSR. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Institutional Pressures and Environmental Management Practices: The Moderating Effects of Environmental Commitment and Resource Availability

With the deterioration of the environment and the shortage of natural resources, firms are facing increasing pressures to implement environmental management practices in their daily operation management. Drawing on institutional theory and environmental management literatures, this research tries to explore how institutional pressures motivate firms to implement environmental management practices, and how such effects are moderated by firms' environmental commitment and resource availability. The results of a survey of 188 Chinese firms suggest that regulatory pressures and normative pressures are positively and significantly related to firms' propensity to implement environmental management practices. Moreover, the results indicate that firms' environmental commitment positively moderates the relationships between institutional pressures and environmental management practices, while firms' resource availability plays different roles depending on the types of pressure (regulatory or normative pressures). Implications and suggestions for future research are provided. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Lost and Found in Translation: How Firms Use Anisomorphism to Manage the Institutional Complexity of CSR

Prior research on the internationalization of firms from emerging countries has fruitfully invoked institutional theory to emphasize the legitimacy benefits that firms that obtain from showing isomorphism with international norms such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Without denying the intuitive appeal for these firms to communicate acceptance of CSR, we suggest that firms face a legitimacy trade-off, where the hoped-for legitimacy benefits of isomorphism must be weighed against other home-country institutional considerations. We advance and test this notion that firms will navigate this institutional complexity by engaging in anisomorphism, i.e., espousing general acceptance with international values but with selective ‘translation’ based on home country differences. We test our predictions by analysing firms' communication of CSR, using a unique dataset comprised of 245 firms observed over the period from 2000 to 2018. Consistent with our predictions, we find that firms from countries more reliant on natural resource extraction (e.g., mining and fossil fuel industries) de-emphasize the environmental component of CSR, and firms from more autocratic countries de-emphasize the human rights component of CSR. Additionally, and consistent with our presumption of firms' weighing the international versus home-country legitimacy trade-off, we find that these main effects are sensitive to changes in firms' levels of internationalization.