Environmental Sustainability, Governance, National Culture and COVID-19 Impact: International Evidence and Implications

Abstract

Purpose – This study examines the association of environmental sustainability, governance factors and national culture with COVID-19 impact. We seek to draw implications for thinking and researching environmental accountability at the higher level than the organisation.

Methodology/Approach/Theory – We draw on the conceptual lens of deep ecology. Using a sample of 44 countries, we employ ordinary-least-squares (OLS) regression to determine the association of environmental sustainability with COVID-19 impact proxied by total COVID-19 death and infection numbers. We collected data on country-level variables, namely, carbon emissions (as a proxy for national environmental sustainability), cultural orientations (individualism/collectivism, long-term orientation and environmental value focus), and ratings of countries on some governance variables.

Findings – The results show that countries with a higher level of corporate carbon emissions suffered from higher COVID-19 impact. Further, countries with higher accountability and government effectiveness are associated with lower COVID-19 impact, which implies productive policy responses to the pandemic in such settings. The study also finds that the positive association between carbon emissions and COVID-19 impact is less pronounced for countries with individualism culture, suggesting that policy responses such as social distancing may have yielded better results in such cultures. Further, it is found that the positive impact of carbon emissions on COVID-19 impact is lower for countries having long-term orientation culture and environmental value orientation culture.

Originality/Value – This study offers empirical insights that extend the literature on methodological thinking about the role of the corporation in environmental sustainability. It provides support to a holistic perspective to the thinking and researching environmental sustainability that transcends the organisation level.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Climate change; Carbon emissions; Deep ecology; Governance effectiveness, National culture

JEL Classification: G32; I10; M14; M40; M41; M49