Adoption Of Environmental Management Practices Research Articles

Managerial Commitment and the Relationship between Controversy and Environmental Practice Adoption

The adoption of environmental management practices (EMP) intended to reduce a firm’s environmental footprint has increased steadily over the years. Given that EMP adoption is positively associated ...

Environmental management maturity of local and multinational high-technology corporations located in Brazil: the role of business internationalization in pollution prevention

This paper identifies and characterizes the environmental maturity level of local and multinational high-technology corporations located in Brazil. This characterization is achieved by discussing the adoption of environmental management practices and considering aspects of the productive process stage. An eight-case study was conducted through data triangulation using interviews with employees in diverse organizational areas, direct observations and secondary data. The results indicate the differences in environmental positioning among the studied corporations with a predominance of preventive practices, i.e., an emphasis on eco-efficiency and compliance with legislation. It was also noted that environmental concerns in the corporations are related to internationalization and, in some cases, to the pressure exerted by corporations that represent the brand of the products produced in Brazil. Moreover, the adoption of environmental practices based on the productive process stage supported the environmental maturity classifications of the studied companies.

The moderating effect of ‘Green’ HRM on the association between proactive environmental management and financial performance in small firms

Research has shown an association between proactive adoption of environmental management practices and firm performance; however little of this research, particularly in the small firm context, has examined the impact of human resources management (HRM) practices on that association. Using data drawn from a sample of 158 small firms in the Australian machinery and equipment-manufacturing sector, this article contributes an empirical test of the moderating effect of HRM on the association between proactive environmental management and firm financial performance. In so doing, we draw on the concept of ‘Green’ HRM; that is to say, practices aligned with environmental sustainability goals and which aim at developing employees' abilities, motivation and commitment, and involvement in support of those goals at the firm level. The findings reveal that Green HRM positively moderates the association between proactive environmental management and financial performance, such that a high level of Green HRM increases the financial benefits of proactive environmental management compared with low levels of Green HRM. The findings show the added value that Green HRM provides when used as an enabler of proactive environmental management; this study should help allay concerns of small firms about the potential cost burden they may face from increasing governmental and social demands for environmental sustainability.

Application of analytical hierarchy process to evaluate pressures to implement green supply chain management

Adoption of environmental management practices is essential in every industry to fulfill the requirement of environmental regulations and customer demands. Globally, developed and developing countries are revising their existing environmental policies to opt for ways to sustain the environment. In this regard, all countries have started to focus on implementing environmental practices like Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) in all types of industries. Specifically for the case of India more importance has been given to industries which have a big role to play in the nation's economy. In India, mining and mineral industries like multi-national corporations (MNCs) and small & medium enterprises (SMEs) are important contributors to the nation's economy. Indian industries have initiated moves to adopt GSCM practices in their traditional activities due to added pollution from automobiles and also due to tough market competition for a green image, government regulations, pressures from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), customers' demands and media. Similar pressures have occurred in the mining and mineral industries to adopt GSCM concepts. It is practically hard to respond to all the pressures simultaneously and it is also difficult for managers to make decisions in this regard. This paper helps managers identify the primary pressure among available pressures for GSCM adoption. The objective of the study is to investigate the pressures for GSCM adoption and to rank the pressures based on experts' opinion through an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique in the mining and mineral industry context.

The Green Public Procurement in the midst of the economic crisis: is it a suitable policy tool?

The aim of this paper is to examine the response of managers, in the case where the government incorporates certain environmental criteria into public procurement. Some research hypotheses are statistically tested in order to identify the extent of managers' understanding regarding Green Public Procurement mainly under the severe financial conditions of the current economic crisis, during which time public expenditures should gradually be cut due to the flagship policy of the European Union for severe austerity measures. The data were taken from various pieces of research carried out in Greece and Cyprus, two countries which are suffering from an economic crisis and are operating under economic supervision with severe austerity measures. The study highlights that given the current economic climate, managers consider the Green Public Procurement a very weak tool to encourage the adoption of environmental management practices due to the austerity measures and budgetary cuts. They also claimed that the classical policy tools (e.g. environmental legislation and market-based instruments) might shape an unsustainable environment for their future operations and additional measures would force them out of market.

Hotel Environmental Management Decisions: The Stakeholder Perspective

This study investigates stakeholder perceptions of the factors that are critical to the adoption of environmental management practices in international tourist hotels in Taiwan. The empirical data were based on 26 semistructured interviews with four types of stakeholders. According to the qualitative results, the themes that emerge associated with hotel owners/managers include economic concerns, top management commitment, and operational challenges to environmental practices. Environmental policies, regulations, and support are identified as the themes associated with government agencies. Moreover, the knowledge, consultancy, and professional assistance provided by academics and non-governmental organizations facilitate the acceptability and implementation of hotel environmental initiatives. The research implications highlight the need for communication and collaboration among stakeholders.

Characterization of the adoption of environmental management practices in large Brazilian companies

Abstract Many studies in literature discuss the drivers to implementing environmental management systems and some of them appraise the characteristics of companies that are implementing these systems and related practices. The goal of this paper is to characterize groups of Brazilian companies with similarities in terms of their adopted environmental management practices. To achieve this objective, a cluster analysis was applied to identify and characterize groups of companies with similar environmental management practices. The practices considered for clustering were: organization of environmental management, adopted procedures, information policy, consumption of natural resources, waste treatment, and additional environmental actions (those not classified in the previous categories). Overall results showed that companies with the best environmental performance belong to the group of largest companies and most of them are in the industrial sector. Environmental practices with the best performance in this group comprised the consumption of natural resources and waste treatment. The environmental practices with the worst performance in all groups were in the additional environmental actions category, comprising the use of renewable energy sources, the development of projects to obtain carbon credits, and the adoption of Green Seal certification for neutralizing carbon.

Determinants of proactive environmental management practices in Indian firms: an empirical study

Abstract The present study aims to empirically determine the primary factors that have a major influence on adoption of environmental management practices in Indian firms. For this purpose, a theoretical framework has been proposed based on previous studies and a pilot survey that provides broad and specific variables that might have an impact of these practices. This impact has been investigated by conducting factor analysis and stepwise-regression analysis. In order to collect the primary data a questionnaire has been designed for which 104 valid responses (8.5% response rate) have been obtained. The study reveals that internal (holder ship and employees) and market (commercial buyers and suppliers of goods and services) pressures are the significant drivers who govern the adoption of proactive environmental management practices. However, the external pressures from regulatory and societal stakeholders were not found to be important in the Indian context. The analysis further showed that firm's characteristic also play a significant role in defining the positive behavior of firms, as large firms are more proactively engaged in environmental management initiatives. Moreover, firms in the manufacturing, chemical and agriculture sector are likely to have more comprehensive environmental management practices compared to the service sector.

The barriers to the adoption of environmental management practices in the hotel industry: a study of Malaysian hotels

Purpose – The objective of this study is to investigate if the five barriers, namely, Regulation/Government, Customer Demand, Level of Competition, Greenness at the Organizational Level, and Attitude at the Organizational Level towards Change, greatly impact the costs and potential benefits of environmental management practices (EMPs). Design/methodology/approach – The target population of this research was 208 hotels, which are four- and five-star hotels in Malaysia. Due to small population, questionnaires were sent by mail to all the targeted four- and five-star hotels in Malaysia. Findings – Only Greenness at the Organizational Level was found to have partially supported EMPs. Even though the results show that there is significant impact overall between barriers and EMPs in 40 four- and five-star hotels in Malaysia. In other words, the drivers do influence hotels' application of EMPs but weakly. Research limitations/implications – The limitation that is worth mentioning is regarding the drivers of EMPs chosen in this research. While the result indicated that drivers of EMPs significantly influenced hotels' usage of EMPs, the range of R2 of the five drivers and the two dimensions of EMPs was relatively very low. Originality/value – A definitive conceptual framework of EMPs is essential, which could only be achieved through consensus and close cooperation amongst scholars and practitioners. For that reason, EMPs should not be seen as a mere collection of management systems but more towards management practices that are used within and for hotels' strategic purpose.

Motivations for Proactive Environmental Management

This paper examines the extent to which there are differential incentives that motivate the adoption of environmental management practices (EMPs) and pollution prevention (P2) methods. We analyze the role of internal drivers such as managerial attitudes towards the environment and external pressures using both observed characteristics of facilities and perceived pressures. We estimate a structural equation model using survey data from facilities in Oregon that involves simultaneous estimation of the latent dependent and explanatory variables and the two regression equations explaining adoption behavior of EMPs and P2. We find that perceived regulatory pressures and managerial attitudes have a statistically significant impact on the adoption of both EMPs and P2 practices, while market pressures were significant in influencing the adoption of EMPs but not P2 methods. Furthermore; we find that both external regulatory pressures and internal managerial attitudes had a larger impact in motivating adoption by facilities that did not view environmental issues as being a significant concern as compared to facilities that did.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT OF MANUFACTURING SMES: EVIDENCE FROM LESVOS, GREECE

The current literature on SMEs presents a range of factors that influence their decisions regarding the adoption of environmental management practices. In particular, some common factors are the pressure from stakeholders, the awareness of environmental issues, the level of local authorities support, the benefits arising from the adoption of such practices and the role of environmental regulations. This paper examines some of these factors through a case study research methodology on two Greek manufacturing SMEs with significant local environmental impacts and protests from the local community. The main findings indicate that these manufacturers have adopted a limited number of environmental management practices due to the limited knowledge of managers on their environmental regulation responsibilities and inadequate help from local authorities regarding environmental matters.

Gestão ambiental nas empresas de capital aberto do segmento ‘Novo Mercado’: discutindo a homogeneidade e heterogeneidade de práticas à luz da teoria institucional

The aim of this study was to analyze the behavior of companies of the segment 'New Market' BM&FBovespa, on the adoption of environmental management practices in light of institutional theory. In summary, the specific objectives of the research analyzing the trend toward homogeneity and heterogeneity of environmental practices of firms, their relationship with the approach to environmental management and environmental pressures highlighted, giving particular attention to the construction industry. This is a descriptive, bibliographic and documentary research, from a qualitative approach. Data were obtained from the websites and annual reports of companies in 2009 and 2010. It was found that 66.7% of 123 companies in the 'New Market’ performs environmental management practices. With respect to environmental management approach, 58.5% of these companies are proactive, 28% reactive, and 13.4% preventive. It was found that the more proactive approach to environmental management, environmental pressures are more diverse, and the greater the possibility of isomorphism between the companies regarding the adoption of sustainable practices, as well as heterogeneity. In the analysis of the construction sector, it was found these outstanding opportunities, and the homogeneous and heterogeneous practices in this field and discussed in the detailed study.

"Verdes e competitivas?": a influência da gestão ambiental no desempenho operacional de empresas brasileiras

Argumentos de que a gestão ambiental pode se relacionar positivamente com o desempenho operacional das empresas vêm se propagando pela literatura especializada desde a década de 1990. Esses argumentos ficaram conhecidos como abordagem "verde e competitiva" ou "Hipótese ganha-ganha", de que tanto o Meio Ambiente quanto as empresas se beneficiariam com a adoção de práticas de gestão ambiental. Entretanto, há uma lacuna sobre tal temática, que carece de evidências empíricas que validem ou refutem tais argumentos para a realidade brasileira. Por isso, esta pesquisa tem o objetivo de verificar empiricamente, se a gestão ambiental influencia positivamente o desempenho das operações de empresas do setor automotivo brasileiro, com foco no segmento de autopeças e componentes automotivos. Metodologicamente, realizou-se um survey com 75 empresas do setor mencionado, cujos dados foram analisados por meio de Modelagem de Equações Estruturais, uma análise multivariada de segunda-geração. Os principais resultados indicam que a adoção de práticas de gestão ambiental se relaciona positivamente com o desempenho operacional das empresas analisadas, confirmando a hipótese da pesquisa. Entretanto, a gestão ambiental explica o desempenho operacional com intensidade fraca, o que pode indicar que há outras variáveis de gestão organizacional influenciando o desempenho operacional das empresas, merecendo pesquisas futuras.

Determinants of Environmental Management in the Red Sea Hotels

What motivates firms to adopt environmental management practices is one of the most significant aspects in the contemporary academic debate in which the review of the existing literature yields, with an obvious contextual bias toward developed world, contested theories and inconclusive findings. Providing a unique model that brings together the individual and organizational levels of analysis on firms’ adoption of environmental management practices, this study aims to provide a new insight from the context of developing world. Data from 158 Red Sea hotels reveal two identifiable dimensions of environmental management—planning and organization, and operations—that can be explained as originating from different values. Whereas organizational altruism is a powerful predictor of both dimensions, managers’ personal values and organizational competitive orientation are only relevant to environmental operations. The evidence also indicates that contextual variables such as chain affiliation, hotel star rating, and size are important to explain hotels’ environmental management behaviors.

Organizational responses to environmental demands: opening the black box

AbstractThis article combines new and old institutionalism to explain differences in organizational strategies. We propose that differences in the influence of corporate departments lead their facilities to prioritize different external pressures and thus adopt different management practices. Specifically, we argue that external constituents—including customers, regulators, legislators, local communities, and environmental activist organizations—who interact with influential corporate departments are more likely to affect facility managers' decisions. As a result, managers of facilities that are subjected to comparable institutional pressures adopt distinct sets of management practices that appease different external constituents. We test our framework in the context of the adoption of environmental management practices using an original survey and archival data obtained for nearly 500 facilities. We find support for these hypotheses. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Motivations for Voluntary Environmental Management

This article examines the motivations for firms to participate in voluntary environmental programs and to adopt environmental management practices using data gathered from a survey conducted in 2005 of facilities located in Oregon operating in six industrial sectors. It is one of the first studies of voluntary environmental management to include small‐, medium‐, and large‐sized facilities as well as to include both privately and publicly owned facilities. In particular, we examine the effects of both external factors such as regulatory, consumer, and investor pressures, and internal factors such as technical and resource capacity, in influencing voluntary environmental behavior. The intent is to describe potential influences that have implications for designing and implementing private and public policies that foster effective voluntary environmental management by firms. We find that larger facilities are more likely to participate in more voluntary environmental programs, but are likely to adopt more environmental management practices only if environmental issues are of significant concern to them. Presence of an R&D department stimulates the adoption of more environmental management practices, particularly if environmental issues are of significant concern to the facility, but does not have a statistically significant impact on participation in voluntary programs. We also find that while regulatory pressures are significant in motivating participation in voluntary programs and adoption of environmental management practices, competitive pressures are only important in motivating the former. Pressure from final good consumers or from investors in publicly traded facilities is not found to have a significant influence on voluntary environmental behavior of facilities in this study.

The Adoption of Environmental Management Practices in a Transition Economy

While models of environmental management have been proposed and tested using data from developed economies, less work has been done for transition economies. In this paper, we use 2003 data from manufacturing facilities in Hungary to study the impact that environmental stakeholder pressures (regulatory, community, investor, managerial), export orientation, size, foreign ownership and head office influence have on a facility's decision to adopt specific environmental management practices. Eight environmental management practices are examined both individually and jointly. Our results suggest that there are some significant differences in the factors influencing environmental management practices in Hungary relative to those found for developed economies.

Organizational Receptivity to Institutional Pressure: The Adoption of Environmental Management Practices

When integrated with key organizational characteristics, institutional theory can yield new insights to understand differences between firms' strategies. We propose that a company's functional organization and internal power structure influence its facility managers' sensitivity to and interpretation of institutional pressures. Combining over 500 responses from an original survey with existing data sources, we show how different corporate departments affect how receptive facility managers are to various institutional pressures, and how facilities respond by implementing different environmental management practices depending on the source of these institutional pressures.

Adoption of Environmental Reporting and Management Practices: An Analysis of New South Wales Public Sector Entities

This paper analyses the level of environmental disclosure and the corresponding adoption of environmental management practices by New South Wales public sector entities in 1996. From the analysis of 35 entities, it was found that the development of environmental management practices and the level of environmental disclosure were significantly associated. The results suggest that entities were responding to increased political visibility through higher levels of environmental disclosure, however they were also responding through the development of environmental management practices.

Management practices for environmental innovation and performance

This paper explores whether there are discernible differences in the environmental innovation and performance of US chemical firms that can be explained by differences in the management practices and characteristics of the firms. Using data from a national survey, firm visits, and phone interviews, this research assesses the pervasiveness of the adoption of environmental management practices. It also assesses whether the adoption of these practices is related to leadership in environmental innovation and performance. This paper shows high levels of adoption of several practices for improving environmental innovation and performance. Firms are using practices such as total quality management, certification of suppliers, R&D, and the involvement of employees in innovation and training to integrate environmental management with their production systems. In addition, firms with the highest adoption levels of environmental practices have substituted cleaner materials and changed their production processes for cleaner production, and they are leaders in reducing their generation of chemical waste.