A study of determinant factors of stakeholder environmental pressure perceived by industrial companies

Although several articles have studied the effect that stakeholder pressure has on the environmental behavior of firms, little research has attempted to identify the contingencies that explain such pressure. This article investigates the effects of six relevant variables on stakeholder environmental pressure perceived by industrial companies: size, internationalization, location of manufacturing activities, position in the supply chain, industrial sector, and managerial values and attitudes. The effect is theoretically determined by distinguishing between pressure intensity and perception capacity and empirically tested with a sample of 186 Spanish manufacturers. The analyses reveal two dimensions of stakeholder pressure, governmental and nongovernmental, and show that variables such as environmental awareness among managers, internationalization, industrial sector and company size play important roles in determining both dimensions. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.