Environmental Firms’ Better Attitude towards Nature in the Context of Corporate Compliance

Rafael Ramírez,Pedro Palos-Sánchez

doi:10.3390/su10093321

Rafael Ramírez, Pedro Palos-Sánchez

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093321

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Abstract

The recent publishing of the Criminal Code Reform, known as the Corporate Governance Code and by which companies are prosecuted for the crimes they have committed, is contributing towards improving the management of companies involved in using natural resources. This study explores the disposition of environmental companies towards respect for nature in the context of the new Spanish Criminal Code 1/2015. Over 916 companies, including 104 environmental companies, have been asked about their knowledge of the code and the consequences it has for them through a survey. The paper explores the influence of regulatory compliance, coercive enforcement and cooperative actions on environmental companies to develop better attitudes towards nature. Partial Least Squares (PLS) Path Modelling was used to build an interaction model among variables. The results of the research reveal how environmental companies are more inclined to developing organizational standards (Cooperative Environmental Protocols) and to improving compliance with environmental law (coercive regulation). The model has a moderate predictive effect, explaining 54.1% of environmental companies’ Better Attitude towards Nature. The findings may have important implications for environmental authorities when deterring environmental crimes.

Highlights

Environmental crimes have gradually increased despite the robust environmental policies implemented in the past two decades [1,2]
This paper examines how environmental companies develop Better Attitudes towards Nature (BAN) either by following coercive procedures (Coercive Environmental Enforcement (COER)) or collaborative procedures (Cooperative Environmental Enforcement (COOP))
At a theoretical level, this research shows that the implementation of Corporate Compliance in Spain has an important effect as a coercive measure

Summary

Introduction

Environmental crimes have gradually increased despite the robust environmental policies implemented in the past two decades [1,2]. Administrative sanctions handed down by environmental agencies have lost their effectiveness [3]. The reasons behind this could be twofold. Policies are rapidly updated to include many new items, making it difficult for companies to follow [4], and on the other, organizations and individuals have been driven to avoid complying with these regulations due to the lack of clarity in the environmental regulations, low economic sanctions and an absence of regular inspections and a sound legal policy to revert to in case of recidivism, etc. Environmental entrepreneurs emerged quite rapidly as new companies in the environmental sector [8]. The sustainable research in the field of entrepreneurship has become crucial to deter threats to nature [9]

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Discussion

Conclusion