Institutions and environmental governance: A reconceptualization

This article presents the conceptual revisions needed to extend the new institutional approach to environmental governance from its current local and international domains of application to all governance solutions, including national environmental and natural resource use policies and multi-level governance solutions that are increasingly used to address global environmental change. The article suggests that environmental governance is best understood as the establishment, reaffirmation or change of institutions to resolve conflicts over environmental resources. It also explains why the choice of these institutions is a matter of social justice rather than of efficiency. The article suggests a way to understand formal and state-centered governance solutions as forms of collective ownership not unlike common property. The article demonstrates how institutional analysis can gain resolution by looking at the functional and structural tiers, organization of governance functions, and formulation of key institutional rules as key aspects of the design of governance institutions.     

The effect of pro-environmental attitudes and eco-labelling information on green purchasing decisions in Australia

The main purpose of this study is to measure the effects of pro-environmental attitudes, knowledge, and eco-labeling information on green purchasing decisions. Data were collected from 400 undergraduate students studying at an Australian University. The findings suggest that pro-environmental attitude and eco-labeling information significantly affect green purchasing decisions. Eco-labeling, however, plays a more significant role in influencing green purchasing decisions. Finally, implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

环境信息透明度与企业信用评级——基于债券评级市场的经验证据

基于2008至2015年期间公司债券发行主体的信用评级数据和手工收集的上市公司环境信息数据,本文研究了环境信息透明度对企业信用评级的影响。研究结果显示,公司获得高信用评级的概率与其环境信息透明度显著正相关;环境信息传递出公司的特质风险、盈余持续性以及盈余质量等信息,从而影响评级决策。进一步研究发现,环境信息透明度与企业信用评级之间的正相关关系在内部控制质量高、具有高质量外部审计的公司中更显著。采用工具变量两阶段回归方法、公司固定效应模型以及倾向得分配对方法控制内生性后,上述结论依然成立。此外,本文发现环境信息透明度可通过影响企业信用评级降低公司的债券融资成本,环境信息透明度对企业信用评级和债券融资成本的影响在污染行业中显著更强。上述研究发现有助于拓展环境信息披露对市场中介行为影响的相关研究,对认识非财务信息在资本市场中的作用和推进节能减排提供了重要参考。     

Why do consumers purchase biodegradable plastic? The impact of hedonics and environmental motivations on switching intention from synthetic to biodegradable plastic among the young consumers

Human concern for the environment has grown in tandem with recent economic development, particularly in emerging nations. This paradigm change has led Malaysians to pay more attention to synthetic plastics challenges, particularly in Malaysia. This study aims to determine the attitudes of young Malaysian consumers on the usage of biodegradable plastics to minimize the use of synthetic plastic in the country. Generally, two motivations—hedonic and environmental motivations toward switching intention from synthetic to biodegradable plastic among the young consumers were examined in the study. Environmental motivations (environmental concern, environmental knowledge), as well as hedonic motivations (adventurous spirit, novelty-seeking), are used in this study to broaden the theory of consumption value (TCV) into four additional factors that may positively impact the young consumer's attitude and increase switching intention towards biodegradable plastics. The data was collected utilizing an online survey approach and a standardized questionnaire. The data of 386 young Malaysian customers were analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM) using SmartPLS 3. The study's significant findings indicated that hedonic motivations, environmental motivations, and attitudes all impact switching intentions toward biodegradable plastics. This study also found that attitude is a mediator between hedonic and environmental motivations regarding switching intentions. These findings might aid the government in developing a new policy that encourages residents to adopt biodegradable plastics while also lowering pollution.     

环境规制、技术距离与异质性企业研发选择

文章从技术异质性角度,指出环境规制产生的利润削弱效应和摆脱规制效应下,异质性企业有不同的研发选择。环境规制一方面会削弱企业研发的边际收益,不利于企业研发;另一方面也会刺激企业增加研发以摆脱环境规制成本。这两种效应在不同技术企业中的差异会导致异质性企业截然不同的研发选择。为此,文章首先构建一个理论模型,推导出环境规制产生的利润削弱效应和摆脱规制效应下,不同技术企业的研发选择。发现对于高生产率企业,环境规制产生的摆脱规制效应超过利润削弱效应,环境规制力度增加会刺激企业增加研发;而对于低生产率企业,环境规制产生的利润削弱效应起主导作用,环境规制力度增加反而阻碍企业研发。进一步利用环境规制的政策实验和工业企业微观数据,对以上观点进行实证检验。发现环境规制对企业研发的影响取决于其所处的技术水平,这不仅体现在集约边际企业的研发投入上,也体现在广延边际企业是否研发的选择上。集约边际上,环境规制增加了高生产率企业的研发投入,但这种作用随着企业与技术前沿的距离增加而递减,最终逆转为减少低生产率企业研发投入。广延边际上,环境规制使低生产率企业相对高生产率企业进入研发的概率更低,而退出研发的概率却更高。     

The impact of environmental corruption on green consumption: A quantitative analysis based on China's Judicial Document Network and Baidu Index

In developing countries, green consumption is still in its infancy, and the institutional environment is very important for it. In the implementation of environmental policies to stimulate green consumption, environmental corruption may affect production cost or residents' environmental responsibility. This paper aims to reveal the impact of environmental corruption on green consumption, quantify environmental corruption by collecting the cases of China's Judicial Document Network, and quantify green consumption by constructing an evaluation index system based on Baidu Index. First, baseline results show that environmental corruption is negatively correlated with green consumption. Second, impact path test is carried out from production side, sales side and consumption side. In the production side, environmental corruption inhibits green consumption by weakening green products quality and environmental investment. In the sales side, environmental corruption suppresses green consumption by weakening sales expenses and market share of green products. In the consumption side, environmental corruption inhibits green consumption by reducing government information disclosure and environmental responsibility. Third, threshold effect test is carried out from the perspective of economic basis and human capital basis. The impact of environmental corruption on green consumption is not significant as per capita GDP is lower than 9600 yuan. As the per capita GDP is higher than 13000 yuan, the inhibition of environmental corruption on green consumption is weakened. As the average education is more than 8.14 years, the inhibition effect is significantly weakened. Fourth, this paper compares the spatial impact of different types of environmental corruption on surrounding green consumption by building a spatial Durbin model. Environmental bribery has a higher inhibition on local green consumption, and environmental malfeasance has a higher negative impact on surrounding green consumption.     

Hotels’ environmentally-framed eWOM. The moderating role of environmental culture

Consumers are increasingly concerned about sustainable development. This study investigates the impact of environmentally-framed reviews on review rating scores considering the moderation of the reviewer's country's environmental performance. We use ordered logistic and linear regression analysis on a dataset of 45k TripAdvisor reviews of green hotels posted by reviewers from 150 countries. The findings reveal that environmentally-framed reviews are associated with higher rating scores, and the reviewer's country's environmental performance positively moderates this impact. This indicates that the environmental ranking of the reviewer's country of origin influences environmentally-framed eWOM about green and non-green services.     

Making the invisible,visible: Overcoming barriers to ESG performance with an ESG mindset

Improving corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance starts with recognizing that not every dollar of earnings is created equally, as some profit may be earned at the cost of damaging the environment or of harming stakeholder relationships. These costs are often invisible to corporate employees, as they are not recorded. To earn corporate profits that are environmentally and socially responsible, boards and CEOs must overcome two barriers: (1) the ESG issue-assessment barrier, which reflects an organization’s inability to fairly assess, prioritize, scope, and plan ESG initiatives that address the invisible environmental and social damage corporations cause, and (2) the shareholder-value barrier, which recognizes that corporate employees may resist implementing ESG initiatives owing to their entrenched belief that corporations must maximize shareholder returns. To overcome these two barriers, we propose an ESG mindset model that highlights the pitfalls relating to ESG issue assessment and to the common belief in maximizing shareholder value and then suggests tactics to overcome them. The benefits to corporations that successfully overcome the barriers and improve their corporate ESG performance are threefold: They (1) will be perceived as positively contributing to environmental and societal issues, and thereby (2) avoid accusations of greenwashing and (3) improve their standing with stakeholders.     

Green supplier development: What’s in it for you,the buyer?

Greening suppliers, or cultivating environmental responsibility throughout the supply chain, has become an important strategic issue for firms. While various approaches exist, green supplier development—that is, helping and collaborating with your suppliers to reduce their negative environmental impact—is a key method that can produce significant gains for both parties at multiple levels. Yet the benefits have not been sufficiently discussed and may therefore appear nebulous for managers. Focusing particularly on “What’s in it for you, the buyer?” this article describes benefits at the intrafirm, interfirm, and market levels. Barriers to the realization of the benefits are also discussed, providing managerial guidance on supplier prioritization for green supplier development.     

Reducing waste management challenges: Empirical assessment of waste sorting intention among corporate employees in Ghana

Waste sorting is seen as an effective and efficient step in annihilating the challenges of solid waste generation, promoting a circular economy, public health, and environmental sustainability. For total public acceptance and participation, it is crucial to understand what motivates and compels consumers to separate waste. Consequently, this study investigates corporate employees’ intention to sort waste in Ghana. The study augmented the theory of reasoned action with convenience, environmental consciousness, hedonic motivations, and awareness of benefits. 401 valid survey responses were statistically assessed using structural equation modeling. Results showed that the conceptual framework accounted for 65.4% of the variance. Attitude, subjective norm, environmental consciousness, awareness of benefits, convenience, and hedonic motivations were positive and significant toward waste sorting intention. Awareness of benefits influenced attitude but not convenience. Also, subjective norms positively and significantly influenced environmental consciousness and hedonic motivation. An ANOVA analysis confirmed the effect of gender, age and education on the inclination to sort waste. Hospitality and Educational sector employees had a higher inclination and intention to sort waste. The study advances literature and understanding on waste sorting among corporate employees and suggests practical solutions for ensuring total embrace and participation in sorting waste.