Motivations for Participating in a Voluntary Environmental Initiative: The Multi-State Working Group and EPA's EMS Pilot Program

RESEARCH IN CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY, Chapter 5, pp. 123-154, Sharma S. & Starik M. (eds.), Edward Elgar Publishing, Boston, 2003

47 Pages Posted: 25 Aug 2007

See all articles by Nicole Darnall

Nicole Darnall

School of Sustainability, Arizona State University; Sustainable Purchasing Research Initiative, Arizona State University

Abstract

While many different types of organizations in the United States (U.S.) are better managing their environmental activities, a relatively small proportion of them are also choosing to participate in voluntary environmental initiatives. This study addresses why organizations participate in these programs and examines how motivations vary for different types of enterprises. It emphasizes the importance of external and internal factors that influenced three types of facilities' (publicly traded, privately owned and government) decisions to participate in the Multi-State Working Group and the Environmental Protection Agency's EMS Pilot Program. The results show that despite the vast differences among these enterprises, a common theme in their motivation was the importance of regulatory pressures, which supports the idea that these pressures encourage all organizations to behave similarly. The results also support the suggestions posited by the 'natural' resource-based view of the firm and show that continuous innovation and basic environmental management proficiencies are embedded in publicly traded facilities' more advanced types of environmental management capabilities. Privately owned and government facilities, however, are lacking in these prior proficiencies, but appear to be fortifying their internal capacities by seeking external assistance from regulators, thus enabling them to participate in the voluntary environmental initiative.

Keywords: firm motivations, voluntary environmental initiative, institutional theory, resource-based view, ownership structure

JEL Classification: L21, L60, L33, M14, M10

Suggested Citation

Darnall, Nicole, Motivations for Participating in a Voluntary Environmental Initiative: The Multi-State Working Group and EPA's EMS Pilot Program. RESEARCH IN CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY, Chapter 5, pp. 123-154, Sharma S. & Starik M. (eds.), Edward Elgar Publishing, Boston, 2003, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1009757

Nicole Darnall (Contact Author)

School of Sustainability, Arizona State University ( email )

PO Box 875502
Tempe, AZ 85287-5502
United States

HOME PAGE: http://isearch.asu.edu/profile/1811617

Sustainable Purchasing Research Initiative, Arizona State University ( email )

PO Box 875502
Tempe, AZ 85287-5502
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/spri/