Voluntary Environmental Actions Research Articles

Unlocking the Power of Green HRM: Exploring its Impact on Organizational Citizenship Behavior - An Empirical Investigation

This paper addresses a significant research gap by focusing on the impact of green Human Resource Management (HRM) practices on employees' organizational citizenship behavior in the context of the health industry, particularly within an emerging economy like Pakistan. Despite the increasing recognition of the importance of environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility, there has been a notable dearth of research in this specific domain, especially in regions like Pakistan, which are often overlooked in the existing literature. To bridge this gap, our study employs the well-established Ability, Motivation, and Opportunity (AMO) framework as the theoretical foundation. We aim to investigate both the direct and interactive effects of green HRM practices, including reward systems, training initiatives, employee involvement, and performance management, on employees' organizational citizenship behavior for the environment. To substantiate our hypotheses and gain insights into their managerial implications, we conducted an empirical study employing a comprehensive questionnaire survey methodology. Through rigorous analysis, we utilized a regression model as an econometric technique to validate our research framework. The findings of our study are illuminating. We provide robust evidence of the direct and interactive impacts of these four key GHRM practices on employees' organizational citizenship behavior with a particular focus on their environmental engagement. Notably, our results highlight that green training emerges as a pivotal instrument in fostering employees' voluntary environmental actions. The practical implications of our research are noteworthy. By showcasing the effectiveness of GHRM practices in shaping employees' voluntary behavior, our study offers valuable insights for the development of future policies and practices in organizations. Moreover, our research underscores the broader societal relevance of GHRM practices in contributing to sustainable development, emphasizing their role in influencing employees' organizational citizenship behavior for the environment.

Do citizens provide political rewards to firms engaging in voluntary environmental action?

Existing research offers a nuanced understanding of the conditions under which firms can gain a competitive advantage through environmental business conduct. However, we know quite little about whether such action can also generate benefits for firms induced by political action, such as benefits associated with public procurement, (softer) regulatory enforcement and corporate tax breaks. We argue that citizens are more likely to support such rewards for firms that have a stronger record of environmental business conduct, express stronger commitment to future environmental action and submit such action to independent audits. The empirical analysis focuses on vehicle emissions reduction by car producers and plastic waste reduction by retailers. Choice experiments with 6726 respondents from Germany and the United States support these arguments. Our findings are surprisingly consistent across two different sociocultural and political contexts (Germany, USA), two different environmental policy domains (vehicle emissions, plastic waste) and three forms of political rewards. Whereas studies focusing on narrowly defined economic benefits (competitiveness) of environmental business conduct have become somewhat more sceptical about the magnitude and scope of such benefits, our results provide more room for optimism by pointing to other types of benefits of corporate environmental action.

Eco-labeling and sustainability: A case of textile industry in Pakistan

Abstract Industrial pollution is a big concern in many manufacturing sectors including textile sector. Recently, voluntary actions for environmental protection have gained their importance. Eco-labeling is one of the most important schemes of voluntary environmental actions and has been recognized as an effective measure to reduce industrial pollution. This paper analyzes the effect of eco-labels on the textile firms’ environmental and financial performance. Three stage least squares regression is applied using data from 128 firms listed in Pakistan Stock Exchange. Results reveal that eco-labels have a significant positive effect on textile firms’ environmental and financial performance. This indicates that eco-labels promote the sustainable growth of textile firms. Furthermore, financial performance, material cost, and age have a significant positive effect on the environmental performance of textile firms whereas machinery and size have a significant negative effect on the environmental performance. Likewise, debt-equity ratio and size of the firm have a significant positive effect on the financial performance of the textile firms wheras the environmental performance, machinery, and age of the firms have a significant negative effect on the financial performance.

Environmentally Sustainable Lifestyle Indicators of Travelers and Expectations for Green Festivals: The Case of Canada

Festivals are emerging as one of the most attractive events in the tourism industry as their cultural and social wealth can contribute to the general promotion of a destination. Increased desire by communities to behave more responsibly has encouraged more sustainability-focused strategies on the part of festival organizers and have stimulated other industry stakeholders towards such actions. Accordingly, understanding what ecological behaviors might contribute to encouraging festival attendance can be important to planning a festival. In this regard, the main purpose of this research was to investigate real life environmentally sustainability tendencies of festivalgoers and their attitude towards attending environmentally sustainable festivals. Survey data were collected from 849 Canadian respondents who had attended a festival at least once in 2017. Our findings illustrate that a positive attitude towards attending a green festival is more strongly predicted by the level of intrinsic voluntary environmental actions that reflect personal commitment than by more mechanistic environmental activities such as waste reduction and recycling.

Why do Firms Implement Voluntary Environmental Actions and How Are These Activities Evaluated? An Empirical Investigation in Mexico

Since green sustainability is obviously challenging to all companies, a clearer understanding of the perceptions of industry practitioners will assist those actors—government, industrial and civil associations and non-governmental organizations—interested in supporting green actions to inspire new ways of improving compromise and participation of private firms in the solution of the environmental problem. The objective of this work was to identify specific drivers and potential barriers to green actions perceived by firms operating in a developing economy like Mexico. Multinationals, Mexican firms with international operations, and Mexican firms with local operations were considered for this study in order to contrast their motivations, inhibitors, and indicators of environmental performance. A qualitative approach was used to collect information about 34 firms. The main driver of green practices was social responsibility for the environment while the principal inhibitor was the low environmental consciousness of the market. Differences between the distinct types of firms are discussed.

Motivations for implementing voluntary environmental actions in Argentine forest companies

Several motivations play an important role in the design and implementation of voluntary environmental actions in forestry, which include systems and procedures of production that minimize environmental impacts and satisfy eco-demanding customers. The aim of this study was to explore what motivations inspire forest managers from large landholding companies in the Northeast of Argentina to implement voluntary actions and how these motivations are perceived outside the companies. To achieve the objective we compared the opinion of private foresters and companies’ external consultants who scored motivations based on their importance as driving forces for environmental initiatives. The findings were also compared with motivations described for North American foresters. Multiple factors motivated the companies to participate in voluntary environmental actions following a four driver model with five motivational mechanisms defined as Learning, Signaling, Economic, Legal and Moral. Results showed that of the thirteen analyzed motivations, only two: effective resource management and corporate social responsibility differed significantly between Argentine foresters and consultants and were higher ranked by foresters. Both corresponded to the motivational mechanism Signaling. Our findings confirm that market pressure (via forest production certification) or the enrichment of the company image (through corporate social responsibility) were major motivations but not the only ones. In coincidence with foresters in USA, legal followed by moral motivations were major drivers and were more valued than financial gains. In Argentina bottom up mechanisms influenced by the individual concern for the environment of the decision makers and other workers seemed to be distinctive. Discrepancies between Argentine foresters and consultants highlighted the need to address some improvement in management and communication beyond the company.

Motivating Employees towards Sustainable Behaviour

AbstractWorkers engaging in voluntary and unrewarded environmental actions that go above and beyond their job requirements in an organizational setting can crucially contribute to a reduced environmental impact of organizations. This research investigates some of the factors that may contribute to the emergence of such organizational citizenship behaviour directed towards the environment (OCBE). The hypotheses predicted employees' concern for the environment, employees' perceived organizational support for environmental efforts and organizational commitment as antecedents of OCBE. Employees from two organizations (n = 547) completed an online survey. Controlling for organizational tenure, a significant relationship between (a) employees' concern for their environment and OCBE, (b) perceived organizational support for environment efforts and OCBE and (c) organizational commitment and OCBE were found. Furthermore, organizational commitment mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support for environmental efforts and OCBE, but not environmental concern. This study's insights into the factors that can drive employees' engagement in small, voluntary environmental actions at work can guide organizations wishing to encourage such behaviours. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Market Effects of Voluntary Climate Action by Firms: Evidence from the Chicago Climate Exchange

Are private voluntary environmental actions by firms a sign of mismanagement, or a profitable “win-win” replacement for regulation? Empirical evidence is decidedly mixed. In this study, we use 19 years of monthly stock price returns, from 1991 to 2009, to examine the profitability of participation in CCX, a large voluntary greenhouse gas mitigation program. After controlling for systemic market risk as well as industry-specific shocks, we find statistically significant and positive excess returns for firms that announce their decision to join CCX. In addition, the progress of proposed greenhouse gas legislation (the Waxman–Markey bill) had a positive and large impact on excess returns for CCX member firms, suggesting that a major incentive for firms to join CCX may be to prepare for future regulation. Marginal abatement costs (proxied by the carbon price), on the other hand, were unrelated to excess returns. Our results imply that voluntary approaches should play a role in combating climate change, but that relying on them alone is not enough.

Voluntary Disclosure of Environmental Performance

Public and private differences have been a central topic in public administration research. This study explores electric utilities’ voluntary disclosure of environmental performance and examines if private (investor-owned) and public (government-owned) utilities have different drivers for voluntary disclosure. In particular, this study analyzes the panel data on electric utilities’ participation in the Department of Energy’s Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Registry program (VGGR) from 1995 to 2005 and attempts to explain the different participation patterns between public and private utilities based on two perspectives—public–private distinction and corporate environmentalism—which probes private firms’ voluntary environmental actions in particular. The findings show that private utilities tend to participate in the VGGR program when they have better performance, higher consumer interaction and market pressure, and also when they anticipate further regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. This is consistent with the existing theoretical and empirical studies on corporate environmentalism, which suggests private firms under intensive government regulation and market pressure actively use voluntary disclosure strategy to preempt future regulations and to gain economic benefit or legitimacy. On the other hand, it is found that public utilities tend to participate in the VGGR program when other related mandatory rules exist. This suggests that public utilities’ voluntary disclosure is primarily being driven by other mandatory requirements.

Environmental volunteers: factors influencing their involvement in environmental action

The aim of the present study was to investigate the factors that influence volunteers to become involved in environmental action. The research focused on volunteers undertaking action in summer camps organised by an environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Greece. The results suggest that the environmental issues addressed in volunteer programmes and the standards of volunteer organisations constitute critical predictors of a volunteer’s personal commitment to participation in an organisation. Learning and contact with nature clearly emerged as the most important factors in volunteer motivation. Furthermore, although the participants considered their environmental knowledge was sufficient to stimulate their action, they also recognised the importance of continuing to deepen that knowledge. Most of the volunteers had participated previously in environmental education (EE), but only a few considered this experience to have influenced their intention to undertake action. Finally, volunteers seemed to believe in the power of citizenship and expressed a high internal locus of control. The findings of this study could enhance NGOs’ understanding of what motivates volunteers and help them improve the quality and effectiveness of their volunteer programmes. EE practitioners could also use these findings to provide people with the proper capabilities to become consciously involved in voluntary environmental action.

Voluntary Environmental Programs: Assessing Their Effectiveness

Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) seek to improve the environment by encouraging, rather than mandating, businesses and other organizations to adopt environmentally protective measures. Since the 1990s, VEPs established by industry, government, and nongovernmental organizations have proliferated around the globe, raising the question of how effective these programs are in securing environmental protection, both on their own and in comparison to traditional mandatory regulations. This article reviews the emerging research literature on VEPs, describing the variation in their structures, providing a framework for assessing their impacts, and summarizing what is known about why organizations engage in voluntary environmental action and what effects these programs have on environmental quality.

THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF VOLUNTARY ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE OF FIRMS: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Abstract New trends in studies on the governance of natural assets include substantial consideration of the role of voluntary initiatives. A traditional economic view states that there is a trade‐off between being green and being competitive. According to that view, no voluntary environmental action is expected to occur. To undertake an in‐depth analysis of the scope for voluntary action, this paper reviews empirical literature that analyzes the relationship between manufacturing firms’ environmental initiatives or performance and economic results. This review moves beyond the general test of the ‘pay to be green’ hypothesis, preferring instead to systematize empirical results in more specific research questions. Empirical findings of the reviewed literature generally support that there is no penalty for being green. In addition, the typology of firms, the methods utilized for implementing environmental initiatives, the intensity of abatement efforts and stockholders’ valuation of green firms have all been shown to have a sizeable influence on the actual economic results of environmental action or management. Consequently, the findings of this paper challenge the traditional strategic theory that predicts widespread free‐riding; it holds major implications for environmental policy‐making and environmental business decisions.

Economic incentives for tourism firms to undertake voluntary environmental management

The management of natural assets at tourism destinations has relied strongly on the traditional assumption that agents free ride. Tourism firms are expected to overuse resources for their private interest, and be subject to a trade-off between being green and being competitive. However, there are many examples of voluntary environmental actions undertaken by the tourism industry. The present paper reviews the literature on the economic consequences of voluntary environmental action taken by tourism firms and presents three challenges to the commonly held ‘tragedy’ expectations. These results suggest the viability of alternative environmental policymaking that takes potential voluntary action under consideration.

Contexts and Corporate Voluntary Environmental Behaviors

Why do an increasingly large number of firms choose to spend their own money and resources to protect the environment beyond the extant regulatory requirements? This article addresses this question by examining the EPA's Green Lights (GL) voluntary program in which a firm's policy makers made an early commitment to limiting greenhouse gases through the installation of energy-e ficient lighting technology in its facilities. Two theoretical perspectives—resource-based theory and neo-institutional theory—are adopted to investigate the contexts by which a firm is encouraged to undertake voluntary environmental actions and evaluate environmental strategies associated with them. Accordingly, the authors focus on two major contexts: market contexts in which a firm adopts voluntary actions as a strategic response to market pressures and to advance competitiveness; and institutional contexts in which a firm takes voluntary postures as a strategic response to institutional pressures, to obtain institutional legitimacy and weaken regulatory scrutiny. The research results partially support both contexts and their associated strategic behaviors.

Voluntary Environmental Action and Export Destinations: The Case of Forest Certification

There is an increasing tendency for forest product firms worldwide to adopt sound environmental management practices by voluntarily agreeing to have their forest practices certified by third parties. Using a simple model of profit maximization, we illustrate that the puzzling emergence of this non-state, self-imposed governance structure is compatible with firms' profit motives. An empirical model using firm data from three countries shows firm location and export destinations play a key role in firms' decisions to seek certification, while the nature of forestland ownership has no significant impact on certification decisions.

Corporate Greening of Foreign Transnationals in Singapore

The environmental performance of transnational corporations (TNCs) may need to be updated to include evidence of increased corporate environmental responsibility. This is a challenge to geographical perspectives that have been critical of the environmental performance of TNCs. The paper reports the findings of a survey of TNCs with branches in Singapore. Using the survey evidence, TNCs are classified according to their degree of participation in a range of voluntary environmental initiatives. According to the classification, there is a similar proportion of low and high performers but a dominance of medium level activity that can involve little organisational change. A significant association between organisational size and environmental activity is found. Respondents most frequently report that corporate environmental standards motivate environmental action in Singapore. Overall the survey evidence indicates that few TNCs are significantly changing their environmental behaviour. The absence of citizen, NGO and government pressure on TNCs is reducing the extent of voluntary environmental action in Singapore and expectations of widespread corporate greening overlook organisational differences in their opportunity to benefit from investment in environmental management. It is concluded that voluntary corporate environmentalism does not reduce the need for government regulation.