Environmental proactivity and performance

Abstract

Conceptually, management control of an organization requires managers to link decision making to strategic objectives and to link performance outcomes to the implementation of these decisions. However, it is often difficult to determine what management decision processes and actions are most effective in translating strategic objectives into achieved performance. Using data from a cross-section of industrial firms that have an explicit interest in environmental management, we present and test a model of environmental management control and performance that evaluates the associations between specific managerial actions, environmental proactivity, and environmental performance. Our results demonstrate a positive relationship between five specific management control actions and environmental proactivity, which is in turn positively associated with environmental performance. This study helps to define the concept of proactive environmental management through the identification of discrete managerial actions that link to proactivity and environmental performance outcomes.