For green or not for green? The effect of cooperation goals and type on environmental performance

Although many scholars have demonstrated that companies engaged in collaborations achieve better environmental performance than other companies, existing studies have not analyzed in depth whether this effect changes considering the characteristics of cooperation. Our paper aims to explore whether collaboration with other companies always has a positive effect on environmental performance or whether it depends on cooperation goals, collaboration type, or company size. Empirical analysis based on a sample of 773 European companies demonstrated that an external source of knowledge is an important way to foster firms' environmental proactivity, especially when environmental goals are shared at the basis of collaboration. Second, we verified that companies involved in JVs with environmental goals achieve greater environmental performance than companies that use M&As to acquire external knowledge. Finally, we demonstrated that it is more important for small companies to be involved in environmental collaboration than larger ones.     

Do chief information officers matter for sustainable development? Impact of their regulatory focus on green information technology strategies and corporate performance

This study proposes and empirically tests a model delineating the relationships among a chief information officer's (CIO's) dominant regulatory focus, the corporate practice of green information technology (IT) strategies and corporate performance. It also examines the moderating role of regulatory stakeholder influence (RSI) in this model. Findings based on sampled firms operating in China have provided support for all the hypotheses. Specifically, they highlight that CIOs with a dominant promotion focus are more prone to practice green IT strategies than those with a dominant prevention focus. Moreover, RSI is found to positively moderate the impact of dominant regulatory focus on the practice of green IT strategies. This strategic practice is also found to enhance corporate performance. Last, the empirical findings reveal that a CIO's dominant promotion focus exerts a direct and positive influence on corporate performance, which suggests that this focus also serves as a direct driver for corporate performance. In sum, these findings not only enrich the extant literature on environmental management and information systems, but also provide useful insights into fine-tuning firms' CIO selection criteria and policy makers' regulatory measures to advance corporate sustainability.     

Should everybody be in services? The effect of servitization on manufacturing firm performance

The servitization of the manufacturing sector refers to the evolution of manufacturers' capabilities to offer services as complements to or substitutes for the goods that they produce. A vast literature has described these strategies and has shown that this phenomenon is widespread and growing in most developed economies. However, very little systematic evidence of the extent or consequences of servitization based on a comprehensive data set of firms exists. In this paper, we provide such evidence using exhaustive data for French manufacturing firms between 1997 and 2007. We find that the vast majority of French manufacturers sell services in addition to producing goods. The shift toward services is growing steadily but at a slow pace. We also estimate the impact of servitization on firm performance. Controlling for various sources of endogeneity bias, our most conservative results show that firms that start selling services increase their profitability by 0.4%, their employment by 2.1%, and their total sales by 0.6%. For small businesses, we also find a positive impact on the production of goods. We also uncover strong heterogeneity across manufacturing industries.     

How do interregional spillovers influence the distribution of technology? The case of Chinese manufacturing

The Chinese economy displays considerable inequality across regions. In this paper, we analyzed the distribution of intermediate input shares in China. We use regional input–output tables from 2007 and find that regions with higher GDP per capita generally had higher input shares, regardless of sector. Then, using intermediate input shares as a proxy of technology, we analyzed the pattern of regional technology distributions across manufacturing sectors as well as the extent of interregional technology spillovers. Our results indicate that interregional backward spillovers have significantly positive impacts on the shape of the technology distributions in eastern (coastal) regions. By contrast, the vertical spillovers of the central and western regions are largely dominated by intra-regional forward effects. Our results suggest that the shift of Chinese manufacturing from coastal to inland regions with lower production costs cannot reduce the imbalance among regions unless the technology gap is narrowed.     

Do board sustainability committees contribute to corporate environmental and social performance? The mediating role of corporate social responsibility strategy

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of board sustainability committees on environmental and social performance and to examine the mediating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy on the relationship between the presence of board sustainability committees and corporate sustainability performance. Using data of U.K. listed firms for the period of 2009–2016, the study employs panel regression analysis and bootstrapping techniques to test study hypotheses. The results suggest that the presence of a sustainability committee improves the effectiveness of CSR strategies. The results also indicate that firms with effective CSR strategies exhibit better environmental and social performance. Further, the empirical results show that the effectiveness of CSR strategy explains the positive relationship between board sustainability committees and corporate environmental and social performance, thus supporting the theoretical framework of the study. The findings of the study shed new light on this research direction and could be of interest to board members, managers, practitioners, investors, policy makers, and regulators that plan to promote sustainability practices and strategies needed for sustainable development.     

Navigating through firm–environmental groups' relationships: The impact of societal trust on corporate environmental strategy

This study examines the impact of societal trust on corporate environmental strategy with particular reference to the firm–environmental groups' relationship, which has received very little attention in trust literature. Using data on 2332 firms from 16 countries, we find that societal trust exerts a negative effect on the likelihood of ISO 14001 certification. The negative relationship between societal trust and the likelihood of ISO 14001 is more pronounced for firms having intense collaboration with environmental groups. However, this effect appears to be weak in higher market uncertainty. These findings, besides significantly adding to the literature, have practical and managerial implications.     

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.     

Is evil rewarded with evil? The market penalty effect of corporate environmentally irresponsible events

The negative response of the capital market to environmentally irresponsible events is an important governance mechanism that motivates enterprises to assume environmental responsibility. Based on the theory of effective markets and organizational legitimacy, this paper takes corporate environmentally irresponsible events in Chinese environmentally sensitive industries during the period of 2014–2018 as a research sample, and our work uses the event study methodology to explore the penalty effect of the capital market from a mathematical empirical and case empirical dimension. Furthermore, this research discusses the spillover effect of corporate environmentally irresponsible events in the capital markets. The empirical results show that once an irresponsible event is exposed, it causes a significant negative cumulative abnormal return (CAR) in the short term, and the difference between the industry and the ownership type leads to a significant difference in the duration and impact of the penalty effect. More interestingly, the capital market's penalty for corporate environmentally irresponsible events may have a notable industry spillover effect, but there are differences between the penalty effect and the spillover effect in different markets. This paper confirms that the penalty mechanism of the capital market related to an environmentally irresponsible event can effectively restrain the behaviour of the company involved and the industry to which it belongs, and it may also provide a new way for the government to build an eco‐environmental protection system of multisubject “co‐governance” and bring the punitive “forced” mechanism of the capital market to bear on corporate environmentally responsible behaviour.     

Can board environmental orientation improve U.S. firms' carbon performance? The mediating role of carbon strategy

Overwhelming evidence from prior research suggests a positive association between corporate board characteristics and carbon performance; however, very little is known about the mechanisms linking the two variables. This study attempts to fill this gap by developing and empirically testing a conceptual model that highlights the role of carbon strategy in the relationship between board environmental orientation (BEO) and carbon performance. We argue that BEO can directly and indirectly influence carbon performance through carbon strategy. Using structural equation modelling to analyse data consisting of 2,301 U.S. firm‐year observations over the 2005–2015 period, we find that the greater the BEO is, the better its carbon performance (i.e., lower greenhouse gas emissions). The results also provide evidence of the mediating effect of carbon strategy on the relationship between BEO and carbon performance. Splitting the sample into high and low carbon‐intensive industries shows a partial mediation effect in high carbon‐intensive industries and a full mediation effect in low carbon‐intensive industries. The findings of the study and its implications for scholars, policymakers, managers, investors, and environmentalists are discussed.     

Social enterprise push or corporate social responsibility pull? The mainstreaming of fair trade

Social enterprise organizations and activities combine market-oriented approaches with social aspirations, whereas corporate social responsibility strategies seek to integrate social aspects into core business strategies. The rise in social enterprise activity at the business end of the spectrum raises questions about how, where, and why social enterprise and corporate social responsibility might overlap. Through a review of literature, we demonstrate how the mainstreaming or corporatization of fair trade activity provides an example of this overlap. The tensions between the push of social aspirations within fair trade and the pull of commercial imperatives are highlighted. From a marketing viewpoint, a social enterprise push strategy is shown as typically undertaken from an organization perspective, whereas pull strategies in marketing are typically customer driven. We demonstrate that influences from both social enterprise and corporate social responsibility are evident in fair trade mainstreaming processes, although the extent to which each “pushes” or “pulls” varies across circumstances and interpretations.     

Can interfirm trust improve firms' cooperation on environmental innovation? The moderating role of environmental hostility

Based on the logic of “trust‐behavior,” we examined the relationship between interfirm cognitive trust, emotional trust, and firms' cooperation on environmental innovation, as well as the moderating role of environmental hostility on the relationship between two dimensions of interfirm trust and cooperation on environmental innovation. Data for the study were collected from 216 firms in China. The results indicated that both interfirm cognitive trust and emotional trust were positively correlated to firms' cooperation on environmental innovation, and the effect of emotional trust on firms' cooperation on environmental innovation was negatively moderated by environmental hostility. Finally, the results were discussed and future directions put forward.     

Does government funding promote or inhibit the financialization of manufacturing enterprises? Evidence from listed Chinese enterprises

This study examines how government funding type affects the financialization of manufacturing enterprises in China and discusses the different impacts of environmental factors. Funding for production can induce managers to increase expenses and reduce main business income by assigning social objectives, promoting corporate financialization. However, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) may suffer from soft budget constraints and ignore short-term revenue; enterprises in competitive industries tend to hold cash for precautionary motivation. Therefore, their financialization is insensitive to government funding. In addition, funding for interest can inhibit corporate financialization by increasing debts for non-SOEs and those with financial background employees or facing strong financing constraints, because they are lacking in capital or sensitive to financial risks.     

Does advertising the green benefits of products contribute to sustainable development goals? A quasi‐experimental test of the dilution effect

Using two studies, we examine the dilution effect for green products, by testing whether advertising green benefits decreases their perceived instrumentality and thus harms sustainable development. We use a between‐subject design and ask participants to evaluate the efficacy of a pen (Study 1) and a dish detergent (Study 2) with and without environmental attributes. Our results are inconsistent with the predictions of the dilution model because the perceived instrumentality of both products does not decrease when environmental benefits are added. Our findings are relevant for eco‐labeling given anecdotal evidence suggesting that adding green information can harm the perceived quality of products.     

Should I stay or should I go? The effect of gender,education and unemployment on labour market transitions

This paper re-examines the turnover behaviour of men and women using panel data from six European countries. It makes a distinction between job-to-job (JJ) and job-to-non-employment (JNE) transitions, and explores the role that education and unemployment play in gender differences regarding these mobility patterns. Low educated women have lower JJ transition probabilities but are more likely to exit to non-employment compared to the other groups, high-educated women and men of all educational levels. Furthermore, unemployment reduces the JJ turnover of male and female workers of all educational levels. There is a pro-cyclical response in the JNE transitions of the less-educated males and a counter-cyclical response in the JNE transitions of the less-educated females. Finally, there are remarkable similarities in labour market mobility across countries, although there are various institutional and other labour market differences.     

Bridging the gaps or fecklessness? A moderated mediating examination of intermediaries’ effects on corporate innovation

Intermediaries are frequently used as external institutions to bridge knowledge gaps and enlarge innovation search. Although there is a consensus that ties with intermediaries have a significantly positive impact on firms’ innovation performance since external knowledge sources are important to firms’ innovative activities, far less is known about how these intermediaries become effective drivers of corporate innovation. From the capacity-based view, this study proposes that intermediaries facilitate the development of dynamic capability which further causes remarkable innovation. A firm's dynamic capability acts as a mediator in the relationship between intermediaries and innovation performance. It is also observed that organizational structure formalization and strategic conformity negatively moderate the mediation effect. This proposed theoretical framework is proven by empirical results from a moderated mediation analysis using a sample of Chinese manufacturing firms.     

Dressed for success? The effect of school uniforms on student achievement and behavior

Uniform use in public schools is rising, but we know little about how they affect students. Using a unique dataset from a large urban school district in the southwest United States, we assess how uniforms affect behavior, achievement and other outcomes. Each school in the district determines adoption independently, providing variation over schools and time. By including student and school fixed-effects we find evidence that uniform adoption improves attendance in secondary grades, while in elementary schools they generate large increases in teacher retention.     

How do institutional shareholders manipulate corporate environmental strategy to protect their equity value? A study of the adoption of ISO 14001 by Egyptian firms

Theoretical as well as empirical evidence regarding the influence of institutional ownership on corporate environmental strategy not only is inconclusive but also reflects experience from either the Anglo‐American context or other developed countries. The underlying assumption of most of this literature is that institutional shareholders are always ‘active’ or ‘passive’ in their actions towards corporate environmental strategy. However, this study argues that this relationship might be moderated by various motivations such as legitimizing existence and operations, conforming with industry norms or lessening managerial entrenchment. Econometric analysis, using a sample of Egyptian firms, as hypothesized, demonstrated that institutional ownership exerted positive and significant effects on a corporation's tendency to adopt environmental management standards only when financial resources are available and investment opportunities are limited. A possible explanation of this finding is that Egyptian institutional investors are more likely to use corporate environmental responsibility to offset their inability to confront managerial discretionary power. An implication of this finding is that not only will different types of stakeholder ask for different levels of social and environmental responsibility, but also the same type of stakeholder may ask for different levels of social and environmental responsibility in different contexts. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

What is the joint effect of employee satisfaction and customer orientation on the organizational culture in metalworking manufacturing?

It is a known fact that culture is an important element for the organizations. In this context, a research has been carried out in which the main subject is about to investigate the organizational culture depending on the factors of employee satisfaction and customer orientation in metalworking manufacturing firms. To perform the study, we constructed an original model and conducted research with 578 employees of metalworking organizations. After the data analysis, we determined that organizational culture has positive-significant correlation with employee satisfaction and customer orientation (at the 0.000 level). Additionally, the total explained variance of organizational culture – depending on employee satisfaction and customer orientation – has come out as a satisfying value (0.53). According to the results of our research, we are able to conclude that employee satisfaction and customer orientation has a mid-level effect on creating a substantial organizational culture.     

Switch or persevere? The effects of experience and metacognition on persistence decisions

This paper extends the scholarly understanding of entrepreneurial persistence decisions by identifying individual-level constructs that moderate which decision criteria have the most influence on entrepreneurs’ persistence decisions. Prior research demonstrates that contextual factors, such as feedback through adversity and the attractiveness of opportunities in an entrepreneur’s environment, determine whether or not an entrepreneur will persist with their current venture. We contribute to this literature by theoretically proposing and empirically testing how individual differences in entrepreneurial experience, metacognitive experience, and metacognitive knowledge moderate which aspects of environmental information entrepreneurs pay the most attention to when deciding whether or not to persist. We test our proposed model using a conjoint experiment that allows for monitoring actual persistence decisions of 124 entrepreneurs. Results suggest that metacognitive knowledge influences persistence decisions primarily through altering the impact that probability of expected outcomes associated with potential alternatives has on entrepreneurs’ persistence decisions. Furthermore, the results provide evidence that more experienced entrepreneurs weigh financial returns and switching costs more heavily when making persistence decisions.     

The effect of corruption on environmental performance: Does spatial dependence play a role?

Different from previous studies that mainly focused on conventional estimation techniques, this paper explores the role of spatial dependence in the effect of corruption on environmental performance by using a spatial panel data model. Our results show that the direct effects, indirect effects and total effects of corruption on environmental performance are negative and highly significant, implying that corruption is detrimental to environmental performance. More importantly, we find that there is a significant spatial spillover effect between corruption and environmental performance, namely being surrounded by highly corrupt countries has a negative impact on the local country’s environmental performance. Our results also suggest that a larger population density will worsen the environment, while urbanization has a significant positive impact. These results provide some important implications for policymakers seeking to improve their environmental performance.