Abstract
This paper analyzes organizational environmental performance and environmental management approaches in German hospitals. Based on data from an online survey and a subsequent cluster analysis, three groups of hospitals are identified: traditionalists, pragmatists, and environmentalists. The clusters differ regarding their organizational environmental performance, i.e., the environmental management elements adopted (policy, goals, structures, processes, and monitoring) and the environmental issues addressed (energy, water, material consumption, waste, emissions into water and air). The environmental management approaches hospitals adopt range from least to most active. Despite perceived stakeholder pressure being generally low, differences between the clusters can be observed. The most relevant stakeholders are internal ones, i.e., management and owners, rather than external ones. Furthermore, some organizational characteristics distinguish the clusters. This paper adds knowledge in the under-researched setting of hospitals and discusses managerial possibilities for the types of hospitals to increase their organizational environmental performance and to pursue a more holistic environmental approach.
Highlights
Due to the fact that environmental issues rank increasingly higher on the public and political agenda, as witnessed by social movements such as Fridays for Future or international treaties such as the Paris Agreement, organizations in most sectors are facing more and more pressures to reduce their environmental footprint
Studies considering more than one environmental aspect are rare and, conclusions regarding the environmental performance of hospitals remain unclear
The results from the survey are presented. It starts with a summary of the descriptive results regarding organizational environmental performance (OEP) and environmental management (EM) elements grouped along the considered environmental aspects
Summary
Due to the fact that environmental issues rank increasingly higher on the public and political agenda, as witnessed by social movements such as Fridays for Future or international treaties such as the Paris Agreement, organizations in most sectors are facing more and more pressures to reduce their environmental footprint. In health care sciences, it has been discussed whether management in general is relevant for the sector and which practices matter for performance [27] Whether this applies to environmental issues and what influences hospitals regarding their adoption of a certain EM approach remains unclear. It presents an overview of scientific literature on organizational EM, displays existing typologies of EM approaches, highlights some relevant influencing factors for organizational activities, and describes the practical context of this study. It describes the methodology for data collection and analysis, followed by the results and their discussion.
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