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.     

Sustainability,performance and organizational strategy: an empirical analysis of public organizations

This paper presents a first time empirical analysis of sustainable management and performance in public organizations. Prior evidence from private firms on the relationship between sustainable management and performance indicates that the benefits of adopting social responsibility practices accrue across a number of dimensions of performance. Empirical analysis of English local government suggests that sustainable management is related to sustainability performance but not to other measures of organizational performance. These conclusions raise questions about the nature of sustainable management in public agencies and the measurement of performance. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Determinants of employee training: impact on organizational legitimacy and organizational performance

Employee training is one of the most studied human resource practices, as it is considered critical for organizational success. However, employee training and its impact on organizational performance have usually been studied from an economic-rational perspective, in terms of the economic and competitive advantages that companies can achieve by training employees. This study goes beyond the economic-rational approach and draws on institutional theory. We introduce contextual factors in the analysis of the determinants of employee training to complement the variables of competitive advantage and explain the relationship between employee training and organizational outcomes. Data were collected from 374 organizations using a questionnaire administered in Spain. The findings support the idea that both economic-rational and institutional determinants influence employee training. There are also two different kinds of outcome from training employees: organizational legitimacy improves at the same time as organizational performance.     

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.     

A study of environmental policies and regulations,governance structures,and environmental performance: The role of female directors

This paper seeks to contribute to the existing business strategy and the environment literature by examining the effect of governance structures on environmental performance within a unique context of improving environmental governance, policies, regulations, and management. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which corporate board gender diversity, including the proportion, age, and level of education of female directors, affects environmental performance of Chinese publicly listed corporations. Using one of the largest Chinese data sets to date, consisting of a sample of 383 listed A‐shares from 2011 to 2015 (i.e., observations of 1,674), our findings are threefold. First, we find that the proportion and age of female directors have a positive effect on the overall corporate environmental performance. Second, our findings indicate that the proportion and age of female directors also have a positive effect on the three individual environmental performance components, namely, environmental (a) strategy, (b) implementation, and (c) disclosure. Finally, and by contrast, we do not find any evidence that suggests that the level of education of female directors has any impact on environmental performance, neither the overall environmental performance measure nor its individual components. Our findings have important implication for regulators and policymakers. Our evidence is robust to controlling for alternative measures, other governance and firm‐level control variables, and possible endogeneities. We interpret our findings within a multitheoretical framework that draws insights from agency, legitimacy, neo‐institutional, resource dependence, stakeholder, and tokenism theoretical perspectives.     

Turning corporate environmental ethics into firm performance: The role of green marketing programs

In this study, we develop a better understanding of the mechanisms by which corporate environmental ethics influences performance through the adoption of substantive actions. The empirical results of a moderated mediating analysis show that firms with higher environmental ethics are more likely to implement green marketing programs, consisting of the green production, pricing, distribution, and promotion programs and then improve firm performance. It is also observed that closure mechanism negatively moderates the mediation effect of green marketing programs because it leads to low trust and unwillingness to internal cooperation. These findings indicate that the value of corporate environmental ethics could not be determined in a vacuum, both strategy and people do matter when pursuing environmentally driven performance.     

Corporate environmental performance,environmental management and firm risk

Using a sample of 1,632 U.K. firm‐year observations from 2002 to 2013, this paper investigates the impact of multidimensional corporate environmental performance (CEP) on firm risk. Considering two dimensions of CEP, namely environmental management performance (EMP) and environmental operational performance (EOP), we find that EMP serves as an effective mechanism in reducing firm risk, and such an effect is mainly driven by the manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, there is no clear association between EOP and firm risk. However, our findings highlight a moderating effect of EOP on the relationship between negative EMP and firm risk. This provides new insights into the value of multidimensional CEP and suggests that the complex relationship between outcome‐ and process‐based environmental performance is important for understanding the real effects of CEP on firm risk. Our results have important implications for managerial decision‐making in strategy and risk management, as well as for policymaking in environmental regulation.     

Environmental proactivity,competitive strategy,and market performance: The mediating role of environmental reputation

This article examines the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) proactive environmental strategy on market performance through the mediating mechanism of environmental reputation. In addition, we investigate the potential moderating role of competitive strategies on the environmental reputation-market performance nexus. Data were collected from 223 SMEs. Using the hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the results show that a proactive environmental strategy positively enhances environmental reputation. Also, the influence of proactively environmental strategy on market performance is mediated by environmental reputation. In addition, our findings show the relationship between environmental reputation and market performance is greater for firms that adopt the differentiation strategy but not significant for firms adopting the low-cost and integrated strategies. Our study offers several theoretical and practical implications.     

Environmental management practices and financial performance using data envelopment analysis in Japan: The mediating role of environmental performance

This study investigates the relationship between environmental management practices (EMPs) and financial performance (FP) and consequently ascertains whether environmental performance (EP) can mediate the EMPs–FP nexus. Distinctly using data envelopment analysis and generalised method of moments techniques to analyse a comprehensive dataset of Nikkei 225 listed firms from 2007 to 2018 (1920 firm-year observations), our findings first suggest that EMPs have a positive effect on FP. Second, the desired EP can be achieved through the adoption of comprehensive EMPs. Third, improved EP has a substantial impact on shaping the EMPs' effect on FP. These findings are consistent with the predictions of resource-based view and institutional theories. The results are robust to controlling for different types of alternative measures and endogeneities. The findings have important implications for academics, investors, managers, policymakers and regulators.     

Family-friendly management,organizational performance and social legitimacy

Research on family-friendly practices has concentrated on the predictors of their use, particularly from the perspective of either institutional theory or the high involvement or commitment management vogue. This paper first shows how such perspectives can be used to generate hypotheses about the link between family-friendly management and organizational performance. Second, the paper reports research designed to test these, using data from a national representative sample of workplaces across the British economy, the Workplace Employment Relations Survey of 2004 (WERS2004). The results support the high commitment thesis that family-friendly management will strengthen the relationship between commitment and key economic outcomes, as the relationships between workforce commitment and productivity or quality are stronger in organizations when friendly management is high, which is consistent with social exchange theory. Family-friendly management is not, however, related to the human resource outcomes of labour turnover and absenteeism. Nor does the study find support for the argument that its use in conjunction with high involvement management enhances the performance effects of both. Equally, there is no support for the hypothesis from the institutional thesis that family-friendly management has positive effects on the legitimacy of the organization.     

The role of project management maturity and organizational culture in perceived performance

This study investigates whether project management maturity (PMM) relates to perceived organizational performance and how an organization's cultural orientation is a contributing factor. Perceived organizational performance is defined as project effectiveness and efficiency followed by resulting business performance. A survey‐based research was conducted with 86 project professionals from various U.S. service and manufacturing organizations. The study revealed that PMM is significantly related to business performance but not to project performance. Furthermore, while clan organizational culture is a sole contributing factor for project and business performances, PMM interacts with market culture in improving business performance. This study shows that in order to deal with project time, budget, and expectations issues, an organizational culture change toward sharing, collaboration, and empowerment is a must. Furthermore, an increasing project management maturity along with a results‐oriented organizational culture improves an organization's competitiveness, resulting in cost savings and increased sales. PMM efforts are therefore crucial. PMM accompanied by an understanding of cultural orientation is a best strategy for today's project‐based organizations.     

Green process innovation and operational performance: The role of proactive environment strategy,technological capabilities,and organizational learning

With increase in the focus on environmental protection, firms are integrating sustainability issues in process and product innovations. Firms can contribute toward sustainability and also improve operational performance through green innovation practices. However, the adoption of green innovation practices depends on the proactivity of top managers toward environment management. In this paper, we study the relationships between proactive environment strategy, green process innovation (GPRI), and operational performance. Further, we examine the mediating effect of dynamic capabilities (DCs) (technological capabilities and organizational learning) between GPRI and operational performance. The proposed framework is tested by data collected from the Indian manufacturing industries and using partial least squares (PLS) technique. The findings demonstrate proactive environment strategy as an important antecedent for GPRI practices. Second, technological capabilities and organizational learning mediate between GPRI and operational performance. The results of the study are useful for managers in the manufacturing firms, who are interested to implement GPRI practices or who are in the early stage of implementing the GPRI practices.     

It is merely a matter of time: A meta‐analysis of the causality between environmental performance and financial performance

Research on the relationship between corporate environmental performance (CEP) and financial performance (CFP) continuously receives high attention in both general media and academic publications. One central issue concerns the causal effects between the two constructs. Because existing primary literature is characterized by its heterogeneous study designs and mixed empirical evidence, the aim of this paper is to explicitly shed light on the causality effects between CEP and CFP by means of a meta‐analysis of 893 empirical estimates from 142 CEP–CFP studies. Our findings suggest that in the short run (1 year), financial resources can increase a firm's environmental performance as proposed by the slack resources hypothesis; however, the effects disappear in the long run (after more than 1 year). Conversely, increasing environmental performance has no short‐term effect on a corporate financial performance, whereas a firm significantly benefits in the long term, which is in accordance with the Porter hypothesis. Overall, our results show that the causality between environmental performance and financial performance depends on the time horizon.     

Toward sustainable development: Board characteristics,country governance quality,and environmental performance

The objective of this study is to examine the effects of board characteristics and country governance quality on both individual aspects and the overall level of environmental performance through the lens of agency, resource dependency, and institutional theories. The study is based on a sample of 3023 firm-year observations from European companies operating in 22 countries between 2009 and 2016. Data on the resources, emissions, and innovation dimensions of environmental performance and board governance data were collected from the Refinitiv database, whereas financial data were extracted from the Worldscope database. The study employs a multilevel modeling analysis and the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique to analyze the data. The findings suggest that board gender diversity and the presence of a corporate social responsibility and sustainability committee have a positive impact on environmental performance. The results also show that country governance quality is positively related to environmental performance. The findings have important implications for practitioners, regulators, and policymakers with respect to the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms and country governance systems in determining corporate environmental practices.     

High‐performance organizing,environmental management,and organizational performance: An evolutionary economics perspective

This study applies evolutionary economics reasoning to the green HRM context and examines whether and how environmental management routinization relates to organizational performance. In doing so, we introduce the concept of ecological routines, defined as deeply embedded, firm‐specific rules and procedures associated with organizing and practicing corporate environmental management that do not change very much from one iteration, period, or functional unit to another. We examine the extent to which ecological routines that encompass organizing (high‐performance organizing [HPO]) and practice routines of environmental sustainability relate to green decisions, green behaviors, and organizational performance. In a sample of 229 managers from 33 organizations in the environment‐sensitive industries of the United States, we find support for multilevel mediation of green decisions and green behaviors as well as interaction of HPO and environmental management practice routines. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Exploring external and internal pressures on the environmental behavior of paper enterprises in China: A qualitative study

As one of the typical high‐polluting and high‐energy‐consuming industries in China, the paper industry's environmental behavior has become the focus of a range of stakeholders, policy makers, and the whole society because the industry's business activities are a main source of environmental pollution and contribute to massive energy consumption. This study used a qualitative approach to examine the relative importance of external and internal pressures (EP and IP) in driving the environmental behavior of paper enterprises in China. Based on grounded theory, this study aimed to examine the EP and IP on the environmental behavior of paper enterprises to create a comprehensive theoretical model based on grounded theory code analysis. It was found that government pressure, economic pressure, social pressure, and IP have direct and significant positive effects on the corporate environmental behavior (CEB) of paper enterprises in China. Furthermore, government, economic, and social pressures have indirect and significant positive effects on CEB through other pressures. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of these four pressures and provides policy implications.     

How environmental innovation influences firm performance: A meta-analytic review

Coupled with the increasing concern toward sustainability and sustainable development issues, environmental innovation practices have been of burgeoning interest among both scholars and practitioners. Building on this, the main purpose of this study is to quantitatively aggregate the extant empirical research on eco-innovation and firm performance and to assess the role of moderating factors in this theoretical relationship by pursuing a meta-analytic approach. To serve this objective, 196 effects based upon 70 studies including more than 25,000 firms (N = 25,412) were meta-analytically examined. Quantitative evidence drawn from the meta-analysis indicates that organizational eco-innovation exerts the strongest influence on firm performance. Moreover, the meta-analytic findings suggest that significant variations in the correlation between eco-innovation and firm performance exist across different performance types, and the magnitude of the eco-innovation–firm performance association is stronger in developing compared with developed countries. This meta-analytic review is expected to considerably contribute to the pertinent literature by means of improving the understanding of the relevance of eco-innovation typology to firm performance.     

Circular economy and sustainability: The role of organizational behaviour in the transition journey

Implementing circular economy (CE) requires complex and dynamic changes in technical and behavioural aspects. Few studies spend efforts to understand the organizational behavioural side of CE transition. Thus, this study proposes a theoretical framework that addresses the requirements for the transition towards CE from the organizational perspective. We conducted a systematic review aiming to identify the relations between CE and organizational culture. As a result, we developed a theoretical framework composed of five building blocks (mindsets, values, behaviours, capabilities and competences) that guide the transition towards a CE-oriented culture aiming to achieve sustainability in business. We also identified several gaps for future researches. We concluded that the framework could enrich the literature discussion in the field and be used by practitioners for the identification of paths to implement CE from the organizational culture perspective. In addition, the use of this framework could lead to the achievement of the sustainable development.