Antecedents and Consequences of Firms’ Climate Change Management Practices: Stakeholder and Synergistic Approach

Su-Yol Lee,Young-Hoon Kim

doi:10.3390/su71114521

Abstract

There is a growing pressure for firms to address global warming issues, but firms differ in adopting and implementing management practices in response to climate change. The aim of this study is to assess stakeholder pressure and firms’ responses to climate change, and their effect on emission reduction and operational performance. A survey was conducted and then empirically analyzed using regression analysis. This study shows that financial investors and regulatory agencies are the most influential stakeholders for adopting and implementing climate change management practices. Process efficiency and low-carbon product development are the most adopted carbon management practices while organizational engagement and carbon offsetting are not preferred. This article provides evidence that some firms’ climate change management practices lead to improved operational performance such as cost reduction and enhanced delivery and flexibility, as well as improved climate change performance including carbon emission and energy consumption reductions. This study provides guidance for policy makers and firm managers on how to identify, design and manage global warming issues within the business arena.

Highlights

The last decade has witnessed climate change emerging as one of the most important and legitimate business concerns
Previous studies have been limited in the following ways: First, firms’ external stakeholders have been addressed as the strongest influencers for firms to take measures to mitigate global warming; the levels of environmental pressure by various stakeholders such as government, customers, competitors and the public on firms to respond to climate change that managers perceive and their actual effects on the adoption/implementation of climate change management practices have not been quantified
This result confirms that regulatory agencies, including central and local governments, are the most influential stakeholders and firms are sensitive to their policies, especially when it comes to environmental issues [13]

Summary

Introduction

The last decade has witnessed climate change emerging as one of the most important and legitimate business concerns. Previous studies have been limited in the following ways: First, firms’ external stakeholders have been addressed as the strongest influencers for firms to take measures to mitigate global warming; the levels of environmental pressure by various stakeholders such as government, customers, competitors and the public on firms to respond to climate change that managers perceive and their actual effects on the adoption/implementation of climate change management practices have not been quantified. This study assesses how the pressure exerted by each stakeholder affects the adoption and implementation of climate change management practices. This article provides evidence that a firm’s practices in response to climate change contribute to sustainability performance, including operational performance as well as carbon reduction performance

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion