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

University of California Center for Responsible Business Working Paper

48 Pages Posted: 16 Aug 2005

See all articles by Magali A. Delmas

Magali A. Delmas

UCLA; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Michael W. Toffel

Harvard Business School

Date Written: August 2, 2005

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Institutional theory, ISO 14001, voluntary programs, strategy, survey, structural equation model, empirical

JEL Classification: M10, M14, Q20, Q28

Suggested Citation

Delmas, Magali A. and Delmas, Magali A. and Toffel, Michael W., Organizational Receptivity to Institutional Pressure: The Adoption of Environmental Management Practices (August 2, 2005). University of California Center for Responsible Business Working Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=777027 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.777027

Magali A. Delmas

UCLA ( email )

Los Angeles, CA 90095
United States
(805) 893-7185 (Phone)
(805) 893-7612 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/delmas

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) ( email )

405 Hilgard Avenue
Box 951361
Los Angeles, CA 90095
United States

Michael W. Toffel (Contact Author)

Harvard Business School ( email )

Boston, MA 02163
United States
617.384.8043 (Phone)

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