How Is Environmental Proactivity Accomplished? Drivers and Barriers in Firms’ Pro-Environmental Change Process

The contaminating effects of economic activity and the scarcity of natural resources has led firms to a situation in which corporate strategy has been compromised by environmental issues. The objective of this paper is to analyse some of the factors determining the pro-environmental change process by considering the drivers encouraging firms to progress in environmental protection and the barriers that curb this progress. Using a structural equation model implemented on a sample of 303 firms, our results confirm a direct and positive effect of stakeholder pressure and of the expectations of obtaining competitive advantages from the pro-environmental change process. The results also confirmed the indirect effect of stakeholder pressure on pro-environmental change through managers’ expectations of obtaining competitive advantages, which play a mediating role in the firm’s response. Although managers interpret the barriers we have studied as obstacles to adopting environmental protection measures, they do not prevent any firm from reaching advanced levels of pro-environmental change.

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Performing a cluster analysis based on a sample of 303 Spanish firms, the study finds four categories of pro-environmental change. 
 
 
 
 
The comparative analysis of these categories leads the authors to describe the pro-environmental change process as one with four stages that firms can go through. The first pro-environmental stage focusses on process measures. The second stage focusses on the adoption of management measures together with process measures. In the third stage, the firm moves after including measures in the product and in the supply chains. Companies that wish to advance further in this process, reaching the fourth stage of pro-environmental change, do so by increasing the intensity of the different measures adopted in previous stages, and through eco-innovation. 
 
 
 
 
The main contribution of this paper relative to the previous literature is a more detailed vision of the strategic possibilities in environmental protection, providing information about the process of change and about how firms evolve to more advanced environmental strategy stages. Knowledge of this evolution process, little studied in the previous literature, helps us to understand the complexity and strategic significance of adopting environmental protection measures. This knowledge is useful for academics and for public and private managers responsible for designing and developing environmental strategy. 
 
 
 
 
One of the most original findings of this paper points out that it is possible to identify a pattern of environmental change through which firms can evolve. In this change process, firms start by adopting process measures, while they adopt eco-innovation behaviour only in the most advanced stage of environmental proactivity.

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abstract: While smaller firms are less likely to undertake as many environmental practices as larger firms, extant literature suggests that smaller firms may be more responsive to stakeholder pressures. This paper contributes to the development of stakeholder theory by deriving a size moderated stakeholder model and applying it to a firm's adoption of proactive environmental practices. The empirical results show that smaller firms are more responsive to value-chain, internal, and regulatory stakeholder pressures. These findings suggest that researchers evaluating organizations and the natural environment should be cautious about associating stakeholder pressures directly with firms' environmental strategies. Rather, the relationship between stakeholder pressures and environmental strategy tends to vary with size.

title: Responding to the environmental challenge
abstract: All the players in the environmental game will be forced to change from ad hoc responses to proacfive thinking. " ~ n April 1990, 1 Sony President Akio Morita boldly spoke of the environmental challenge as one of "the central issues of the 21st century." In a McKinsey survey of more than 400 senior executives of major companies worldwide that was conducted one year later (1991), only seven disagreed with him. When Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric, asserted that "only a total commitment of everyone in the company can provide the level of responsibility that will be acceptable to government, employees and customers," more than 80 percent of his peers concurred. Senior managers expect environmental expenditures to increase from the current average of 2.4 percent of sales to 4.3 percent by the year 2000. Because public awareness and sensitivity are growing rapidly, the environment ranks first on the political priority list in many industrialized countries. Value changes among people, both young and old, have added to an increasing unwillingness to accept mishaps. Names such as Seveso, Bhopal, Basel, Valdez, Minimata, and Love Canal still send shivers through various company headquarters. Business leaders recognize that increased societal awareness of environmental problems is exerting pressure on all sectors of industry from four directions (see F igure 1). With some notable exceptions (the energy industry and Japan), a majority of all respondents to the McKinsey survey feel that government regulation aimed at reducing environment related targets by 50 percent, for product and/or process standards that are critical to their industries, is likely by the year 2000. Most executives also agree that consumers will be increasingly critical of a company's behavior vis-gt-vis the environment, and that a negative environmental record represents a definite handicap in attracting and retaining top talent. Finally, environmental legislation that differs among countries has become a decisive factor in plant location and thus can put specific competitors in a favorable position. Faced with such increasing pressures, many companies have taken positive initiatives. However, new thinking is still needed for society to develop solutions that simultaneously satisfy three criteria: effectiveness (contributing to improving the environment); efficiency (improving the environment at the minimum cost); and equity (showing fairness in the burden sharing among players). To achieve these three criteria, the divisions that currently separate the players in the environmental policy-making arena must be bridged. This article will first examine the inadequacy of current approaches in meeting these challenges. It will then outline some frameworks for understanding how and why companies and governments have responded so far that can provide some pointers for future developments. Finally, we will look at some success stories and the barriers companies must overcome in responding to the environmental challenge.

title: Impact of environmental regulations on innovation and performance in the UK industrial sector
abstract: The role of environmental regulations in inducing innovation and improving performance has been studied in the literature. However, there have been no studies in the UK using statistical data. This paper aims to study the links among regulations, innovation and performance in the UK using sector level data. The paper used structural equation modelling to study the links among the three variables simultaneously. The analysis indicates that environmental regulations in the UK are significant in improving economic performance of the industrial sectors. They also find that, in the short run, environmental regulations negatively influence innovation, and innovation negatively influences economic performance in these sectors. The results have implications both for policy makers and firms in the UK industrial sector. For policy makers, environmental regulations have generally improved economic performance. For firms, the study shows that su...

title: The driving forces of process eco-innovation and its impact on performance: Insights from Slovenia
abstract: This study endeavors to explore the driving forces of process eco-innovation and its effect on company performance by adopting an integrative approach. We focus on process eco-innovation, which pertains to technological and non-technological solutions that result in a reduction of material and energy costs for companies. In this regard, the study sheds light on the drivers and outcomes of process eco-innovation adoption, using data collected from 223 Slovenian companies. The results reveal that certain determinants (i.e., competitive pressure, customer demand, managerial environmental concern, command-and-control instrument, and economic incentive instrument) are conducive to the deployment of process eco-innovation. Empirical evidence reveals competitive pressure as the most influential driving force of process eco-innovation, followed by managerial environmental concern and customer demand. Effectiveness in spurring process eco-innovation is also found to be a command-and-control instrument and an economic incentive instrument, while expected benefits do not spur process eco-innovation. Pertaining to the outcomes of process eco-innovation adoption, we can conclude that it pays to be eco; process eco-innovation is worthwhile in terms of company profitability, growth, and competitive benefits. These findings suggest several courses of action for both policy makers and companies. Hence, we conclude by providing implications for both.

title: Determinants of Eco-innovations by Type of Environmental Impact: The Role of Regulatory Push/Pull, Technology Push and Market Pull
abstract: Empirical analyses of the determinants of environmental innovations were rarely able to distinguish between different areas of environmental impacts. The paper tries to close this gap by employing a new and unique dataset based on the German Community Innovation Survey conducted in 2009. The main purpose of the paper is to test whether different types of eco-innovations (according to their environmental impacts) are driven by different factors. Besides a complex set of different supply, firm specific and demand factors, the literature on the determinants of environmental innovations accentuates the important role of regulation, cost savings and customer benefits. We find that current and expected government regulation is particularly important for pushing firms to reduce air (e.g. CO2, SO2 or NOx) as well as water or noise emissions, avoid hazardous substances and increase recyclability of products. Cost savings are an important motivation for reducing energy and material use, pointing to the role of energy and raw materials prices as well as taxation as drivers for eco-innovation. Customer requirements are another important source for eco-innovations, particularly with regard to products with improved environmental performance and process innovations that increase material efficiency, reduce energy consumption and waste and the use of dangerous substances. Firms confirm a high importance of expected future regulations for all environmental product innovations.

title: Analysis of the effectiveness of the first European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER)
abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of the first European Pollution Emissions Register (EPER), a regulatory instrument based on the publication of the environmental performance of firms exceeding specified pollution limits. The Multivariate Regression Model (MVRM) is applied to capture the disciplinary effect of the EPER. So, we first perform an analysis to determine whether the publication of the EPER has a negative effect on the market value of the listed firms. Secondly, we consider the possibility of the publication of the EPER affecting the market value of firms which could be included in the EPER but are not because their emissions do not exceed the specified pollution limits. Finally, we prepare an index to compare the environmental results of the firms and analyse whether the consequences of publishing the EPER are worse for firms with high relative pollution records.

title: Preventive Command and Control Regulation: A Case Analysis
abstract: The aim of the current study is to evaluate new preventive command-and-control environmental regulation’s competitive effects on automobile manufacturers and their suppliers. The methodology that we have used is a case analysis, and its main aim is to study an unfamiliar situation. Therefore, we have chosen cases from each of the groups: two suppliers and one manufacturer. The new regulation obliges automobile companies to deeply modify their process technologies and their relationships with their suppliers (toughening requirements and strengthening long-term relationships) and to require their workers to train in environmental matters. Complying with regulation by suppliers will be possible if product and process designs are modified. However, only organisational actions, which include workers’ training in environmental and quality matters and activities to recover value in factories, are capable to achieve it. In any case, these factories have already been affected by trade-offs between environmental and other more classic manufacturing objectives, especially quality.

title: Case study evidence that direct regulation remains the main driver of industrial pollution avoidance and may benefit operational efficiency
abstract: Environmental regulation is required to reduce industrial pollution to levels that are socially acceptable and economically efficient, but there is debate over the most efficient form of such regulation. Typically, a limited range of environmental and economic parameters are accounted for in the econometric studies that inform that debate. This paper integrates evidence from two separate studies to assess a broad range of parameters related to the efficiency of industrial environmental regulation. Questionnaire responses from 25 Italian manufacturers of building-chemicals and 28 Irish pharmaceutical manufacturers provided evidence on the environmental effectiveness and operational impacts of different regulatory instruments. Combined with extensive emissions data from Irish pharmaceutical manufacturers, survey results enabled a quantitative estimation of pollution avoidance specifically attributable to direct regulation. The monetised social benefit of avoided pollution was found to be equal to direct compliance costs. Chemical manufacturers in Italy and Ireland stated that direct regulation is a more important driver of industrial environmental performance than economic or voluntary regulation, and their responses indicated that direct compliance costs may be countered somewhat by stimulated operational improvements. It was concluded that direct regulation is an effective approach for multi-pollutant control in an industrial context, and that the efficiency of such regulation may be underestimated in studies that do not consider the full range of pollutants and operational effects.

title: Motivations and Barriers to Corporate Environmental Management
abstract: This paper integrates two conceptual frameworks, utility maximization and institutional theory, to analyze voluntary corporate environmental management. The utility maximization or economic approach centers on motivations to decrease cost, increase revenue and improve manager utility. Institutional theory emphasizes how external pressures from market and non-market constituents shape the firm's environmental efforts. We view the two frameworks as complementary and postulate a model that includes both types of influences. Survey data from six major industries consisting of a diverse set of facilities are used to estimate the effects of economic and institutional factors on a facility's use of environmental practices and pollution-prevention activities. Our results support the hypothesized model, and show that cost barriers, management attitudes toward environmental stewardship, company ownership and external institutional forces, including competitiveness, investor and regulatory pressures, all affect a facility's environmental practices and pollution prevention activities. Findings suggest that a multifaceted policy strategy is needed to advance corporate environmental management across diverse firms.

title: Managerial Interpretations and Organizational Context as Predictors of Corporate Choice of Environmental Strategy
abstract: Drawing on the strategic issue interpretation literature, this study examined links between managerial interpretations of environmental issues and corporate choice of environmental strategy among 9...

title: Evaluation of corporate environmental management approaches: A framework and application
abstract: This article proposes a framework to evaluate corporate environmental strategies. In the proposed framework, a company's environmental risks are analyzed on two dimensions, One dimension, the endogenous environmental risks, arises from the internal operations of the company. The other dimension, the exogenous environmental risks, are determined by the company's external world: its location, its ecological setting, and the demographic characteristics of the physical environment in which it operates. Four environmental management approaches are defined as a function of endogenous and exogenous environmental risks: reactive, proactive, strategic, and crisis preventive. The framework was applied in a survey of 141 company representatives in Hungary. A relationship was sought between the a priori defined environmental management approaches based on technology and location and the companies' environmental management characteristics defined by senior managers. Variables that differentiated among the four environmental management approaches were identified and ranked. The study concludes that there is a relatively well-defined relationship between the environmental risks of companies and the nature of their environmental management approaches, Implementing a strategic environmental management approach may not be the best option for all companies - although there is a growing pressure to do so.

title: Determinants of green innovation adoption for small and medium-size enterprises (SMES)
abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to develop a model that analyzes factors influencing the adoption of green innovations for the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). From the perspective of technical innovation, the determinant factors consist of technological, organizational and environmental dimensions. A questionnaire survey on small and medium-size enterprises was conducted to test proposed research hypotheses. Based on the survey results, we found that technological characteristics of green innovations, organizational characteristics, governmental supports, customer pressure and regulatory pressure have significantly influences on green innovation adoption for SMEs while the influence of environmental uncertainty is not significant. Practical implications of research findings are discussed. 
 
   
 
  Green innovation adoption, small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), determinants of innovation, technical innovation.

title: Corporate Social Responsibility: A Process Model of Sensemaking
abstract: In contrast to content-based models of corporate social responsibility (CSR), we propose a process model of organizational sensemaking explaining how managers think, discuss, and act with respect to their key stakeholders and the world at large. We also propose a set of cognitive, linguistic, and conative dimensions to identify such an intrinsic orientation that guides CSR-related activities. Recognizing patterns of interrelationships among these dimensions might lead to a better understanding of a firm's CSR impact and generate a rich research agenda that links key organizational features to CSR character.

title: The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications
abstract: ?The stakeholder theory has been advanced and justified in the management literature on the basis of its descriptive accuracy, instrumental power, and normative validity. These three aspects of the theory, although interrelated, are quite distinct; they involve different types of evidence and argument and have different implications. In this article, we examine these three aspects of the theory and critique and integrate important contributions to the literature related to each. We conclude that the three aspects of stakeholder theory are mutually supportive and that the normative base of the theory-which includes the modern theory of property rights-is fundamental. If the unity of the corporate body is real, then there is reality and not simply legal fiction in the proposition that the managers of the unit are fiduciaries for it and not merely for its individual members, that they are . . . trustees for an institution [with multiple constituents] rather than attorneys for the stockholders.

title: Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts
abstract: Stakeholder theory has been a popular heuristic for describing the management environment for years, but it has not attained full theoretical status. Our aim in this article is to contribute to a theory of stakeholder identification and salience based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency. By combining these attributes, we generate a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their salience to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.

title: Influence of the perception of the external environmental pressures on obtaining the ISO 14001 standard in Spanish industrial companies
abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyse the influence of external environmental pressures on the decision to obtain certification to the ISO 14001 standard. An assumption of the authors includes recognizing that certification is one step toward environmental excellence and Total Quality Environmental Management (TQEM). We focus exclusively on the ISO 14001 norm when talking about environmental management systems' certification, since we have detected a predominance of this standard in Spanish industrial companies as compared with registration to 1836/93 Regulations or the EMAS register. We have found that some of the external pressures are a restriction for the companies, but others can become an opportunity in those companies having the intention to improve their environmental control and prevention activities. The results of our studies show that companies that perceive the environmental regulations as restrictions carry out environmental control practices in order to comply with environmental requirements. These practices are not enough to improve the company image or waste reuse. Basically, when managers perceive the influence of external environmental pressures as opportunities, more advanced environmental actions are implemented to obtain ISO certification.

title: Managers' Personal Values as Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility
abstract: In this theoretical paper, motives for CSR are considered. An underlying assumption is that the commercial imperative is not the sole driver of CSR decision-making in private sector companies, but that the formal adoption and implementation of CSR by corporations could be associated with the changing personal values of individual managers. These values may find expression through the opportunity to exercise discretion, which may arise in various ways. It is suggested that in so far as CSR initiatives represent individuals' values, so the “responsibility” in evidence is less obviously “corporate.” Our emphasis on personal initiative is intended to counter a tendency to view the corporation as the agent, and may serve to remind us that individuals can, indeed, make a difference.

title: Mediating effect of managers' environmental concern: Bridge between external pressures and firms' practices of energy conservation in China
abstract: This paper extends previous literature of corporate environmental practices by empirically exploring the relationship between external pressures and firm's energy conservation practices with considering the mediating effect of its senior managers' environmental concerns. A questionnaire survey is used to collect data from 187 industrial firms located in the Circum-Bohai Sea Economic Zone of China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling is employed to analyze the survey data collected and test the research hypotheses in the model. The results show that a senior manager's environmental concerns play a significant role in the connection between firms' energy saving practices and the external pressures such as normative and mimetic pressures. However, the environmental concern of senior managers is only positively related to the energy conservation strategy — it shows no direct association with the concrete operations of energy conservation.

title: From Issues to Actions: The Importance of Individual Concerns and Organizational Values in Responding to Natural Environmental Issues
abstract: In this research, we traced the development of natural environmental issues in two organizations in real time over the period of a year. Participant observations, discussions with organizational members, and corporate documents yielded insights used to develop a model describing issue flows in both organizations. With this model, we identified the factors that influenced the scope, scale, and speed of organizational response to issues. Our methods provided insights into why issues generated organizational responses and also why they did not.Two factors appeared to be critical in explaining organizational responses to issues: individual concerns and organizational values. Individual concerns gave rise to an issue champion or seller. An issue consistent with organizational values was perceived as strategic. These werenecessary conditions; without either condition, the issue would not be resolved. It is argued further that individual discretion and excess resource slack will moderate the relationship between these direct effects and the scope, scale, and speed of organizational response. The framework that emerged from the data is conveyed through a set of four propositions.

title: ESG Issues among Fund Managers—Factors and Motives
abstract: This paper investigates the motives, behavior, and characteristics shaping mutual fund managers’ willingness to incorporate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues into investment decision making. Using survey evidence from fund managers from five different countries, we demonstrate that this predisposition is the stronger, the shorter their average forecasting horizon and the higher their level of reliance on business risk in portfolio management is. We also find that the propensity to incorporate ESG factors is positively related to an increasing level of risk aversion, an increasing importance of salary change and senior management approval/disapproval as motivating factors as well as length of professional experience in current fund and increasing significance of assessment by superiors in remuneration. Overall, our evidence suggests that ESG diligence among fund managers serves mainly as a method for mitigating risk and is typically motivated by herding; it is much less important as a tool for additional value creation. The prevalent use of ESG criteria in mitigating risk is in contrast with traditional approach, but it is in line with behavioral finance theory. Additionally, our results also show a strong difference in the length of the forecasting horizon between continental European and Anglo-Saxon fund managers.

title: Barriers to Proactive Environmental Management in the United Kingdom: Implications for Business and Public Policy
abstract: Existing conceptual and empirical contributions emphasise the significant payoffs available to companies who can manage the effect that they have on the environment (Porter and van der Linde, 1995; Christmann, 2000; Hart, 1997; Aragón-Correa et al., 2004). In spite of this, empirical evidence concerning the extent to which companies have embedded environmentally sensitive business practices within their different management functions remains very mixed (Hillary, 2000; Post and Altman; 1994; Ghobadian et al., 1995). In this study we explore this apparent puzzle by investigating corporate perceptions of the main barriers and obstacles to more effective management of their environmental impacts in the context of a sample of over 150 UK companies drawn from six industries. Using a mixed methodological approach incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methods, our findings suggest that both internal and external barriers play important roles in retarding the willingness and ability of British industry to become more proactive in managing its environmental impacts.

title: Drivers, barriers and incentives to implementing environmental management systems in the food industry: A case of Lebanon
abstract: The shift in policy towards prevention and towards making producers responsible for the pollution they cause has lead corporations to limit environmental liabilities through the improvement of environmental performance. The implementation of an Environmental Management System integrates the precautionary and polluter pays principles into a firm's operations and demonstrates commitment to sustainable development. This research aims at assessing the factors influencing the implementation of ISO 14001 Environmental Management System in developing countries taking the Food Industry in Lebanon as a case example. For this purpose, primary data were collected using a field survey questionnaire that was administered to a representative sample of facilities. The results revealed that the food industry is generally more concerned with safety and quality issues rather than environmental issues. Following international food sector trend, improving environmental performance and enhancing company image are the most salient drivers to adopt ISO 14001. The lack of government support and stakeholder demand as well as the fact that ISO 14001 is not a legal requirement constitute the most salient factors hindering the adoption of the standard. Economical and organizational factors are the most significant incentives required to motivate the food industry to adopt ISO 14001. The industry is less likely to voluntarily consider adopting ISO 14001 before acquiring a quality management certification or until ISO 14001 certification gain more recognition in the international food sector. The study defines the foundations for developing strategies, policy reforms and incentive schemes to reduce the barriers of implementing ISO 14001.

title: Towards cleaner production: barriers and strategies in the base metals producing industry
abstract: The most pressing environmental problems of post-mining base metals production are solid waste production, gaseous emissions, and a high energy use. Most of the present solutions to clean up the post-mining base metals production can be characterised as incremental, end-of-pipe technologies. More sophisticated, radical solutions are scarcely implemented. The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers that impede the implementation of more radical solutions, with the aim to design strategies towards cleaner production in the base metals producing industry. The paper conceptualises the radicalness of a technological innovation, and presents the current base metals production processes, their environmental impact, and cleaner technologies. The most important barriers for radical innovations appear to be the cost of investment, the high risk involved in committing capital to unproven technology, and the intertwinement of the current production system. The paper presents firm-internal, inter-firm and firm-external strategies to overcome these barriers.

title: Drivers and barriers to environmental supply chain management practices: lessons from the public and private sectors
abstract: This study explores the factors that drive or hinder organisations to implement green supply chain management initiatives. A literature review identifies the main categories of internal and external drivers of green supply chain management practices, including organisational factors, regulation, customers, competitors and society, but there is little indication of suppliers as drivers for green supply chain management. Internal barriers include cost and lack of legitimacy, whereas external barriers include regulation, poor supplier commitment and industry specific barriers. An explorative study is conducted based on interviews from seven different private and public sector organisations. Encouragingly, across the organisations, more drivers than barriers to environmental supply chain management are identified. Organisations seem to be more influenced by external rather than internal drivers. The barriers to environmental supply chain management experienced by organisations tend to be both internal and external.

title: Organisational factors determining the implementation of cleaner production measures in the corporate sector
abstract: Empirical research undertaken at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration concentrated on the organisational factors hindering energy related cleaner production measures at several major Hungarian companies. The underlying objective of the research was to analyse the barriers to preventive environmental actions which often impede the implementation of cost effective CP measures at the company level. As a result of this research, organisational barriers to effective implementation of CP measures have been identified at eight enterprises of the Hungarian industry and recommendations have been developed to overcome the barriers for the implementation of the CP options. Although some characteristics of the sample companies are specific to a country in transition, most of the experiences gained can be utilised in more developed regions of the world as well.

title: Environmental management system adoption by Australasian organisations: part 1: reasons, benefits and impediments
abstract: The decision to adopt environmental management system (EMS) and to develop effective implementation strategies has engrossed managers at all levels and in all types of organisations in recent years. Some organisations have claimed that environmental issues have been determining their bottom-line and business performance in the market place. This paper is first part in the series focussing on the reasons for EMS implementation and the benefits and impediments associated with the process. Measures commonly practised by organisations to overcome/address the impediments are also presented in this paper. The findings of this paper are based on a questionnaire survey mailed to Australasian organisations on their experiences with ISO 14001 implementation and certification.

title: Green chemistry and green engineering in China: drivers, policies and barriers to innovation
abstract: With the world’s largest population and consistently rapid rates of economic growth, China faces a choice of whether it will move towards a more sustainable development trajectory. This paper identifies the different factors driving innovation in the fields of green chemistry and green engineering in China, which we find to be largely driven by energy efficiency policy, increasingly strict enforcement of pollution regulations, and national attention to cleaner production concepts, such as “circular economy.” We also identify seven key barriers to the development and implementation of green chemistry and engineering in China. They are (1) competition between economic growth and environmental agendas, (2) regulatory and bureaucratic barriers, (3) availability of research funding, (4) technical barriers, (5)workforce training, (6) industrial engineering capacity, and (7) economic and financial barriers. Our analysis reveals that the most crucial barriers to green chemistry and engineering nnovations in China appear to be those that arise from competing priorities of economic growth and environmental protection as well as the technical challenges that arise from possessing a smaller base of experienced human capital. We find that there is a great deal of potential for both the development of the underlying science, as well as its implementation throughout the chemical enterprise, especially if investment occurs before problems of technological lock-in and sunk costs emerge.

title: A multiple stakeholder perspective on barriers to implementing China RoHS regulations
abstract: With increasingly severe environmental risks deriving from electronic and electrical and other products, China has recognized RoHS (the restriction of the use of [certain] hazardous substances [in electrical and electronic equipment]) legislation as a necessity. However, the implementation of China's RoHS has faced a variety of challenges. Some literature has explored the barriers to implementing RoHS in Chinese context. Nevertheless, formal modeling tools to aid a systematic analysis of barriers to implementing China RoHS from a multiple stakeholder perspective can also provide insights. Using the perspectives of three stakeholders: local government, professional associations and a manufacturer in Dalian, China, we acquire multi-faceted managerial inputs to evaluate the barriers to implementing China's RoHS. The managerial inputs further are evaluated by a grey-based DEMATEL with a similarity analysis between the various stakeholders. The contributions include a further understanding of RoHS regulations and responses in China as well as a methodological contribution advancing evaluation and interpretation of DEMATEL. Managerial implications of the presented study and application, limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

title: Barriers and stimuli for ecodesign in SMEs
abstract: In order to learn which factors stimulate SMEs towards greening their products and which factors hamper them, an empirical study on the ecodesign behaviour of 77 Dutch SMEs was executed in 1997. This article summarises the main findings of the empirical study. A comparison of the 33 possible solutions distinguished to improve the environmental performance of products showed that the 10 most frequently suggested ecodesign solutions were the most successful ones as well. The four most successful solutions implying their realisation within 3 years were: ‘Recycling of materials’, ‘High reliability/durability’, ‘Recycled materials’ and ‘Low energy consumption’. The article analyses which stimuli and barriers played a role in the success or failure of the various ecodesign solutions. Contrary to prevailing literature on environmental management in SMEs, it is concluded that internal stimuli are a stronger driving force for ecodesign than external stimuli. The most influential internal stimuli were the opportunities for innovation, the expected increase of product quality and the potential market opportunities. The research revealed quite clearly that the most influential external stimuli for ecodesign are ‘Customer demands’, ‘Governmental legislation’ and ‘Industrial sector initiatives’. Furthermore, it can be derived from this study that three of the 11 barriers distinguished must be characterised as ‘no-go’ barriers; their existence obstructs the ecodesign improvement options in question from being implemented. These were the following barriers: ‘No clear environmental benefit’; ‘Not perceived as responsibility’ and ‘No alternative solution is available’. The other eight barriers were only ‘initial’ barriers. In sum, an ecodesign improvement option only stands a chance, if it is supported by stimuli other than the expected environmental benefit alone. Those ecodesign improvement options were most successful that were supported by several strong internal and external stimuli, and not blocked by any no-go barriers. Enhancing ecodesign in SMEs does not only depend on finding alternative solutions for technical problems. Even more important are economical and social factors like the acceptance of environmentally improved products in the market, and the way in which the SMEs studied perceive the market perspectives of these products.

title: The Influence of Knowledge and Motivation on Sustainable Label Use
abstract: Sustainable labels are considered the best way for consumers to identify brands with environmental or social attributes on the shelves, and therefore promoted as a means to develop the so-called “ethical markets”. However, little is known about how consumers use these brands. This paper tries to offer complementary theoretical insights on the determinants of sustainable label use by drawing on the economic model of information search; in particular, it examines the influence of two factors on the purchase of such labels: motivation and knowledge. Information was gathered through a structured questionnaire in personal interviews with 289 primary buyers. The study found that education influences directly knowledge, while Motivation influences Label use both directly and indirectly, via Label knowledge. This study concludes that Motivation is the most powerful factor to explain Label use; knowledge is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Even more, consumers may not have a good understanding of sustainable labels and still use them in their purchasing decisions. This suggests that there is a dual processing mode of sustainable labels, both systematic and heuristic.

title: An integrated theory of corporate environmental compliance and overcompliance
abstract: Prior research on corporate environmental behavior has produced myriad factors that explain offending and overcompliance, yet the literature lacks cohesion and would benefit from disentangling corporate- and individual-level explanations. In this study, a cross-level integrated theory of corporate environmental behavior uses Gunningham et al’s. (2003) license framework and Paternoster and Simpson’s (1993; 1996) rational choice theory of corporate crime to portray how individuals within corporations decide to offend or to overcomply with environmental regulations while accounting for the organizational context. Specifically, external pressures (legal, social, and economic) on the corporation, plus internal corporate policies and culture, affect individual-level cost-benefit analyses. In turn, these cost-benefit calculations impact the behavioral decisions made by corporate managers. Four sets of hypotheses based on this integration are tested using an environmental vignette survey of individuals. The results provide mixed support for the integrated theory. It is also noted that predictors of environmental offending are different from those predicting overcompliance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

title: Use of Discretionary Environmental Accounting Narratives to Influence Stakeholders: The Case of Jurors’ Award Assessments
abstract: This experimental study extends prior capital market and environmental accounting research by utilizing the theoretical underpinnings of legitimation through impression management, source credibility bias, perceived trust, and ideology in assessing the influence of discretionary environmental accounting narratives on jurors’ punitive damage award assessments. We utilize mock jurors as environmental stakeholders and find that: (1) jurors in a court case involving corporate environmental malfeasance assess lower punitive damage awards against a firm that provides discretionary disclosure on its website regarding future abatement and control narratives, (2) environmental sensitivity of the firm’s industry moderates the negative relationship between the discretionary disclosure and jurors’ punitive damage award assessments, and (3) juror’s perceived trust toward firm management mediates the prior moderation effect. Further, juror political ideology is found to affect the punitive damage award assessments, with liberal jurors levying comparatively higher awards than conservative jurors.

title: A scaled difference chi-square test statistic for moment structure analysis
abstract: A family of scaling corrections aimed to improve the chi-square approximation of goodness-of-fit test statistics in small samples, large models, and nonnormal data was proposed in Satorra and Bentler (1994). For structural equations models, Satorra-Bentler's (SB) scaling corrections are available in standard computer software. Often, however, the interest is not on the overall fit of a model, but on a test of the restrictions that a null model sayM0 implies on a less restricted oneM1. IfT0 andT1 denote the goodness-of-fit test statistics associated toM0 andM1, respectively, then typically the differenceTd=T0−T1 is used as a chi-square test statistic with degrees of freedom equal to the difference on the number of independent parameters estimated under the modelsM0 andM1. As in the case of the goodness-of-fit test, it is of interest to scale the statisticTd in order to improve its chi-square approximation in realistic, that is, nonasymptotic and nonormal, applications. In a recent paper, Satorra (2000) shows that the difference between two SB scaled test statistics for overall model fit does not yield the correct SB scaled difference test statistic. Satorra developed an expression that permits scaling the difference test statistic, but his formula has some practical limitations, since it requires heavy computations that are not available in standard computer software. The purpose of the present paper is to provide an easy way to compute the scaled difference chi-square statistic from the scaled goodness-of-fit test statistics of modelsM0 andM1. A Monte Carlo study is provided to illustrate the performance of the competing statistics.

title: Total, Direct, and Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models
abstract: Decomposing the total effects of one variable on another into direct and indirect effects has long been of interest to researchers who use path analysis. In this paper, I review the decomposition of effects in general structural equation models with latent and observed variables. I present the two approaches to defining total effects. One is based on sums of powers of coefficient matrices. The other defines total effects as reducedform coefficients. I show the conditions under which these two definitions are equivalent. I also compare the different types of specific indirect effects. These are the influences that are transmitted through particular