The Dynamic of Corporate Self-Regulation: ISO 14001, Environmental Commitment and Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Law & Society Review, Forthcoming
51 Pages Posted: 24 May 2009 Last revised: 23 Jun 2009
Date Written: May 1, 2009
Abstract
This article examines the institutional impact of environmental management systems (EMSs), focusing on ISO 14001. It develops a pluralistic framework for thinking about the dynamic of corporate self-regulation that we term the polyphonic model. It argues that the adoption of ISO 14001 can move the firm into a new equilibrium trajectory, which enmeshes together environmental and economic goals and reflects greater sensitivity to ecological concerns. There is a positive reciprocal cycle between the pro-environmental structural changes induced by ISO 14001 and the employees' attitudes toward the firm and the environment. In order to examine ISO 14001 institutional impact, we conducted a series of interviews with managers, and administered questionnaires to employees in 24 Israeli firms with and without certification. The findings indicate that the perceived environmental commitment of certified firms was higher than that of non-certified firms and was higher among employees that perceived the EMS as more highly integrated in the firm. Perceptions of the standard's integration were also found to be positively correlated with personal environmental commitment. The results also indicate that the increase in the firm's environmental commitment was positively associated with employees' organizational citizenship behavior within certified firms. Further indications of the pro-environmental dynamic induced by ISO 14001 were found in the in-depth interviews.
Keywords: self-regulation, ISO 14001, corporate social responsibility, environmental commitment, organizational citizenship behavior
JEL Classification: K32
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Corporate Social Responsibility Through an Economic Lens
By Robert N. Stavins, Forest L. Reinhardt, ...
-
Corporate Social Responsibility Through an Economic Lens
By Forest L. Reinhardt, Robert N. Stavins, ...
-
Is Earnings Quality Associated with Corporate Social Responsibility?
By Yongtae Kim, Myung Seok Park, ...
-
Measuring Efficiency in Corporate Law: The Role of Shareholder Primacy
-
Socially Responsible Investment Law: Regulating the Unseen Polluters
-
Corporate Social Responsibility Movement and Law's Empire: Is There a Conflict?
-
Efficiency and Ethics in the Debate About Shareholder Primacy
By Ian B. Lee
-
Efficiency and Ethics in the Debate About Shareholder Primacy
By Ian B. Lee
-
Evaluating the Social Effects of Environmental Leadership Programs
By Jonathan C. Borck, Cary Coglianese, ...