Mainstreaming corporate environmental strategy in management research

Abstract

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current status of corporate environmental strategy (CES) in mainstream business and management literature, and to provide new insights on current studies and future directions for this field of study.Design/methodology/approach– This study performs a systematic literature review of 19,839 papers in selected mainstream management journals and takes 48 CES-focused papers into account for in-depth analysis in the period between 1990 and 2013.Findings– This study shows that the majority of studies have been conducted using data from the USA, focused on a single country, utilized a resource-based view (RBV), and analysed mixed industries. The most popular issue in CES studies is the examination of causality between environmental strategy and a firm’s performance. Second, the stakeholder theory and institutional theory are most frequently used to explain a firm’s motivation to develop CES. A RBV theory is commonly used to explain a firm’s sources in initiating CES. Finally, the results show a lack of comparative studies in mainstream management research.Research limitations/implications– Due to the limited focus of this study, the findings of this paper can be generalized only to the specific group of databases selected for this research for a given period of time.Originality/value– This paper fulfils the need for a comprehensive review of CES literature. It provides a literature review and bibliography for the period between 1990 and 2013 for use by both academics and practitioners.