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Internalization of Environmental Practices and Institutional Complexity: Can Stakeholders Pressures Encourage Greenwashing?

Authors:
Francesco Testa at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies
Francesco Testa
Olivier Boiral at Université Laval
Olivier Boiral
Fabio Iraldo at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies
Fabio Iraldo
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The main objective of this paper is to analyze the determinants underlying the internalization of proactive environmental management proposed by certifiable environmental management systems (EMS) such as those foreseen by ISO 14001 and EMAS (the European Management and Auditing Scheme). Using a study based on 232 usable questionnaires from EMAS-registered organizations, we explored the influence of institutional pressures from different stakeholders and the role of corporate strategy in the “substantial” versus “symbolic” integration of environmental practices. The results highlighted that although institutional pressures generally strengthen the internalization of proactive environmental practices, the influence of stakeholders can either support the integration of these practices or encourage their superficial adoption. For example, while pressures from suppliers and shareholders contribute to corporate greening, pressures from customers and industrial associations tend to encourage greenwashing (i.e. the superficial and misleading adoption of environmental practices). Product quality -oriented strategies also positively influence EMS internalization. The paper sheds light on the institutional complexity underlying the substantial versus symbolic implementation of environmental practices, and questions the dominant isomorphic view of EMS adoption. The paper also bridges the gap between complementary approaches on corporate greening, notably neo-institutional and stakeholder theories. Keywords: environmental management system; environmental strategy; greenwashing; institutional complexity; stakeholders
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Internalization of Environmental Practices and Institutional
Complexity: Can Stakeholders Pressures Encourage
Greenwashing?
Francesco Testa
1
•Olivier Boiral
2
•Fabio Iraldo
1
Received: 4 April 2015 / Accepted: 16 November 2015 / Published online: 21 November 2015
Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
Abstract This paper analyzes the determinants underly-
ing the internalization of proactive environmental man-
agement proposed by certifiable environmental
management systems (EMSs) such as those set out in ISO
14001 and the European Management and Auditing
Scheme (EMAS). Using a study based on 232 usable
questionnaires from EMAS-registered organizations, we
explored the influence of institutional pressures from dif-
ferent stakeholders and the role of corporate strategy in the
‘‘substantial’’ versus ‘‘symbolic’’ integration of environ-
mental practices. The results highlighted that although
institutional pressures generally strengthen the internal-
ization of proactive environmental practices, the influence
of stakeholders can either support the integration of these
practices or encourage their superficial adoption. For
example, while pressure from suppliers and shareholders
contribute to corporate greening, pressure from customers
and industrial associations tend to encourage greenwashing
(i.e., the superficial and misleading adoption of environ-
mental practices). Product quality-oriented strategies also
positively influence EMS internalization. The paper sheds
light on the institutional complexity underlying the sub-
stantial versus symbolic implementation of environmental
practices, and questions the dominant isomorphic view of
EMS adoption. The paper also bridges the gap between
complementary approaches on corporate greening, notably
neo-institutional and stakeholder theories.
Keywords Environmental management system
Environmental strategy Greenwashing Institutional
complexity Stakeholders
Introduction
The adoption of certifiable environmental management
systems (EMSs) such as those proposed by the ISO 14001
and EMAS standards has become common practice for
corporate greening in most sectors worldwide. ISO 14001
was launched in 1996 and is the most widespread EMS
standard, with more than 300,100 organizations certified in
2013 (ISO 2013). The Eco Management and Audit
Scheme (EMAS) was introduced by the European Com-
mission in 1993 and has been available to non-EU orga-
nizations since 2009. In 2015, approximately 3000
organizations are registered in EMAS, covering approxi-
mately 9800 sites (European Commission 2015).
Despite a few differences in the requirements, the
EMAS and ISO 14001 standards are based on the same
type of management system. This system echoes the
Deming cycle (Darnall 2006; Boiral 2007): plan (identifi-
cation of significant environmental aspects, policy, objec-
tives, and improvement programmes for the environment),
do (training, communication, operational control, etc.),
check (performance measurement, non-compliance and
corrective actions, and audits), and act (management
&Francesco Testa
f.testa@sssup.it; francesco.testa@sssup.it
Olivier Boiral
Olivier.Boiral@mng.ulaval.ca
Fabio Iraldo
fabio.iraldo@sssup.it
1
Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies – Institute of
Management, Piazza Martiri della Liberta
`33, 56127 Pisa,
Italy
2
Faculte
´des Sciences de L’administration, De
´partement de
Management, Universite
´Laval, Pavillon Palasis-Prince,
2325, rue de la Terrasse, Local 1638, Que
´bec, QC G1V 0A6,
Canada
123
J Bus Ethics (2018) 147:287–307
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2960-2
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