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Evaluating association between implementation of ISO 14031 guidelines and ISO 14001 certification by industrial sector in Saudi Arabia

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Conflicting research results regarding the application of environmental management systems on the environmental performance of industrial organizations between positive, negative, and no effect made studying this relationship a complex research problem. This study aimed to assess the extent of the commitment of industrial organizations in Saudi Arabia in applying ISO 14031:2013 guidelines to evaluate environmental performance and to study the association between the guideline implementation by ISO 14001:2015 certified and uncertified organizations. Using the descriptive approach, the association was identified between 13 independent variables representing ISO 14031:2013 guidelines for environmental performance evaluation and ISO 14001:2015 certification based on a 596 organizations survey conducted from May to December 2020, in addition to comparing the results of the study with similar studies. The results showed a medium positive correlation of ISO 14031 measurement variables with ISO 14001 certification. The study answered the question concerning the association of implementing of ISO 14031 guidelines to evaluate the environmental performance of ISO 14001 certified or uncertified organizations. Limited resources organizations should focus on monitoring environmental indicators and concentrate of planning activities to ensure the organizations uses environmental condition indicators data efficiently. Future studies are necessary to determine causal relationships, to develop specific environmental performance measures, and to integrate ISO 14031 in ISO 14001.
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Copyright © 2021 e Author(s). Published by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University
*Corresponding author. E-mail: momansor@kku.edu.sa
benets of Environmental Management System (EMS)
certication were categorized into environmental manage-
ment practices, environmental performance, and aware-
ness (Mihailescu etal., 2011). Waxin, Knuteson, and Bar-
tholomew (2019) added to the benets from certication
that improved business performance. Tarí, Molina-Azorín,
and Heras (2012) reviewed the literature on the benets of
ISO 14001 certication.
ISO 14001 was rst published on 1st September 1996.
e recent 2015 edition emphasis a reinforced approach
when compared with 2004 edition on performance
EVALUATING ASSOCIATION BETWEEN IMPLEMENTATION OF ISO 14031
GUIDELINES AND ISO 14001 CERTIFICATION BY INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
IN SAUDI ARABIA
Mohamed MANSOUR1, 2*, Saleh ALSULAMY1
1College of Engineering, King Khalid University, 394 Abha, Saudi Arabia
2College of Engineering, Zagazig University, 44519 Zagazig, Egypt
Received 03 August 2020; accepted 15 October 2020
Highlights
X Positive, negative, and no eect association between ISO14001 certication andorganizations’ environmental perfor-
mance exist in literature.
X e association among environmental performance evaluation requirements in ISO14031:2013 and ISO 14001:2015
certication status for industrial organizations is dened.
X e Phi correlation analysis indicated a signicant medium positive correlation ranging from 0.358 and 0.537 among
the model’s variables and the certication status of organizations.
Abstract. Conicting research results regarding the application of environmental management systems on the environ-
mental performance of industrial organizations between positive, negative, and no eect made studying this relationship
a complex research problem. is study aimed to assess the extent of the commitment of industrial organizations in Saudi
Arabia in applying ISO14031:2013 guidelines to evaluate environmental performance and to study the association between
the guideline implementation by ISO 14001:2015 certied and uncertied organizations. Using the descriptive approach,
the association was identied between 13 independent variables representing ISO 14031:2013 guidelines for environmental
performance evaluation and ISO 14001:2015 certication based on a 596 organizations survey conducted from May to De-
cember 2020, in addition to comparing the results of the study with similar studies. e results showed a medium positive
correlation of ISO 14031 measurement variables with ISO 14001 certication. e study answered the question concerning
the association of implementing of ISO 14031 guidelines to evaluate the environmental performance of ISO 14001 certi-
ed or uncertied organizations. Limited resources organizations should focus on monitoring environmental indicators
and concentrate of planning activities to ensure the organizations uses environmental condition indicators data eciently.
Future studies are necessary to determine causal relationships, to develop specic environmental performance measures,
and to integrate ISO 14031 in ISO 14001.
Keywords: environmental management systems, ISO 14001, ISO 14031, association, Phi correlation coecient, TURF
analysis.
Introduction
In recent years, environmental decision-makers are in-
terested in investigating the eect of implementation of
Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE) guidelines
given in the international standard ISO 14031:2013 (Inter-
national Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2013) in
industry within ISO 14001:2015 (ISO, 2015) framework
Falqi, Alsulamy, and Mansour (2020). is interest due to
the relationship between EPE and corporate performance
for the industrial organization (Orlitzky etal., 2011). e
Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management
ISSN 1648–6897 / eISSN 1822-4199
2021 Volume 29 Issue 1: 6171
https://doi.org/10.3846/jeelm.2021.14123
62 M. Mansour, S. Alsulamy. Evaluating association between implementation of ISO 14031 guidelines and ISO 14001...
improvement by minimizing the water and energy con-
sumption as well as producing less emission and waste, in-
troducing a life cycle perspective, and developing an exter-
nal and internal communications strategy (Fonseca, 2015).
e concept of certication against ISO 14001:2015 by a
recognized certication body should demonstrate that it
has competent management and sta and that it is impar-
tial and free from conicts of interest. While the concept
of certication against ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 standard
by a recognized accreditation body, demonstrating capa-
bility to fulll the applicable requirements and generate
condence to its stakeholders (Fonseca etal., 2017). ISO
14001:2015 scope, Section 4.4, and Section 5.2 require an
organization to evaluate and enhance EPE (ISO, 2015).
It is important to implement the guidelines given in
ISO 14031:2013 EPE for eective organization manage-
ment through the use of EPE to improve the EP (ISO,
2013). ISO 14031 promote to manage an organizations EP
(Ren, 2000). e benets achieved in implementing EPE
is ranked as a) establishing standards for environmental
management process, b) providing yardsticks for continu-
ous improvement, c) highlighting environmentally tech-
niques, d) Enhancing communications, e) Benchmarking,
f) Tracking the link between eorts and performance, g)
Increasing overall business competitiveness, and h) Cost-
eectiveness in choosing environmental management ap-
proaches (Tam etal., 2002). Hopkinson, James, and Sam-
mut (2010) suggested comparing the EP of organization
using environmental reports.
Boiral, Guillaumie, Heras-Saizarbitoria, and Tayo Tene
(2018) weighted the EPE due to ISO 14001 adoption as
waste minimization and management, air pollution, EP
in general, energy and resources consumption, environ-
mental risks and safety issues, and water contamination
respectively based on 94 published article. e article pre-
sented conicting results about the eect of ISO 14001
certication on EP.
Djekic, Rajkovic, Tomic, Smigic, and Radovanovic
(2014) highlighted the lowest ranked benet of imple-
menting ISO14001 was waste reduction and emergency
responses based on 20 ISO14001 certied Serbian food
companies. Hasan and Chan (2014) indicated a strong
evidence for a positive impact of certication on envi-
ronmental management based on 10510 email responses
(response rate = 10.35%) of top management participants
working in 18 functional areas. Martín-Peña, Díaz-Garri-
do, and Sánchez-López (2014) carried out a factor analysis
based on 228 rms including manufacturers and suppli-
ers from Spanish automotive industry to investigate ISO
14001 latent constructs. Authors concluded a signicance
improvements in environmental performance. Schylander
and Martinuzzi (2007) described the ISO 14001’s eects in
Austria. Results showed ISO 14001 certication oen leads
to reduced waste. Curkovic and Sroufe (2011) reported a
signicant positive eect of certication to achieve a pro-
active environmental management in automative industry.
Conversely, Ghisellini and urston (2005) concluded the
eectiveness of the ISO 14001 standard are oen far from
reality for Illinois certied companies. Zobel (2013) showed
that certication does not have a signicant impact on air
emissions, water emissions, resource use, energy use, waste
and overall environmental performance in manufacturing
rms in Sweden. Also, Zobel (2015) investigated hazardous
waste, waste to landll and the total amounts of waste over
12 years for 66 certied and 50 uncertied Swedish manu-
facturing organizations Results indicated the certication
has no signicant impact on waste.
Testa et al. (2014) investigated the dierence between
ISO 14001 and EMAS implementation of 229 companies
in Italy based on the measurement of carbonic anhydride
emissions. ey suggested a signicant eect on air pol-
lution reduction and dierence in the eect on ISO 14001
companies compared with EMAS companies. A signi-
cant air pollution reduction is approved by Martín-Peña
et al. (2014) in Spanish automotive industry. Alemagi,
Oben, and Ertel (2006) supported air pollution reduction
by EMAS adoption in oil industry along the Atlantic coast
of Cameroon. Conversely, some researchers found the re-
lation between ISO 14001 certication and air pollution
reduction is not statistically signicant based on statis-
tical measures. Aravind and Christmann (2011) argued
ISO 14001 certication might not reect a signicant EP
of governmental organization and EP does not dier for
certied or uncertied organizations supported the con-
clusion by Ghisellini and urston (2005). Also, Gomez
and Rodriguez (2011) investigated the toxic release index
for 56 certied and 70 uncertied companies. e results
indicated ISO 14001 certication does not indicate a posi-
tive signal in reducing air pollution. Zobel (2013) showed
that certication does not have a signicant impact on air
emissions in manufacturing rms in Sweden.
With regard to the ndings about EP in general, some
authors found a positive eect and others found no ef-
fect. Zhang, Wang, and Wang (2014) measured and com-
pared74 indicators and sub-indicators of a Shanghai ISO
14001 certied coating rm. Results indicated an improve-
ment in EP in 2008 compared with 2009. Prajogo, Ailie,
and Lai (2014) examined the result of adopting ISO 14001
standard on production, procurement, sales, logistics, and
R&D functions of 286 companies in Australia. Results in-
dicated a positive eect on green products, processes, and
supply chain management. Poksinska (2003) found the
Sweden companies prefer to implement ISO 9001 rath-
er than ISO 14001. Results indicated that the signicant
benets from ISO 14001 implementation were improved
stakeholders’ raelations and marketing advantages. Link
and Naveh (2006) concluded a positive EP for ISO 14001
certied organizations in terms of better organizational EP
and positive employee’s discretion. Turk (2009) suppoted a
psitive impact of ISO 14001 certication on EP based on a
survey for 68 top rated private construction rms. While
5 articles found no signicant improvement related to the
standard (Boiral & Henri, 2012; King etal., 2005; Prajogo
etal., 2012; Zobel, 2013).
Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, 2021, 29(1): 61–71 63
With regard to energy and resources consumption,
Djekic etal. (2014) concluded that the implementation of
ISO 14001 leads to savings in water and energy consump-
tions based on a survey on 20 Serbian food companies.
Hasan and Chan (2014) found a reduction in reducing
waste and usage of materials and energy based on the
opinions of 170 ISO 14001 certied organizations. Aslo,
Castka and Prajogo (2013) reported a reduction in pol-
lution and energy consumption. In contrast to these stud-
ies, Zeng, Tam, Tam, and Deng (2005) and Zobel (2013)
reprted that there is no statistical signicant dierences
between certied and non-certied rms regarding the
change in air emissions, water emissions, resource use,
energy use, waste and overall environmental performance.
ISO 14001 certication lead to a reduction in risk and
safety issues as found by Djekic etal. (2014) in certied
Serbian food companies, Alemagi etal. (2006) supported
a positive eect based on a survey for all compenies along
the Atlantic coast of Cameroon, Zeng etal. (2005) con-
cluded that ther is a positive relationship betwoeen certi-
cation and reducing risk in selected industries in Chine,
and Radonjič and Tominc (2006) reached for the same
conclusion in Slovenias companies.
With respect to the eect of ISO 14001 certication on
water contamination, All studies have not found signi-
cant improvements (Gomez & Rodriguez, 2011; Potoski &
Prakash, 2013; Zobel, 2013). Wang and Zhao (2020) ana-
lyzed the inuence of ISO 14001 certication on rms
nancial performance and examined the moderating ef-
fect of rm size and age, considering the time factor us-
ing the data of 63 rms from the Shenzhen and Shanghai
Stock Exchanges in China during 2003–2018. Authors
concluded ISO 14001 certication negatively aects the
nancial performance of rms; also, the negative eects
decrease in line with the increase of certication time.
Authors concluded rm size and age are positively related
to the relationship between ISO 14001 certication and
a rms nancial performance. According to Murmura,
Liberatore, Bravi, and Casolani (2018), there is an impor-
tant relation of similarity between ISO 14001 and EMAS
and certication’s time is a relevant discriminating factor.
Fonseca and Domingues (2018) assessed ISO 14001:2015
transition process among Portuguese ISO 14001 certied
organizations to get signicant benets of alignment with
business strategy, improved top management commit-
ment, and improved internal and external communica-
tion. Conversely, Link and Naveh (2006) concluded that
implementing ISO 14001 does not have any eect on the
business performance.
From our literature review, some studies reported
mixed results regarding waste management (Ghisellini &
urston, 2005) or no improvement (Zobel, 2013). No re-
duction in energy and resource consumption was reported
by some studies (Zeng etal., 2005; Zobel, 2013). In addi-
tion, Gomez and Rodriguez (2011) reported no signicant
eect of ISO 14001 certication on air pollution. However,
Zobel (2013) and Gomez and Rodriguez (2011) found a
signicant eect on water pollution. ere is no agree-
ment between researchers about the association between
the application of an EMS such as ISO 14001 and the EP
of an organization. While some researchers view a posi-
tive relationship; the ISO 14001 certication increases the
EP, others see a negative relationship; ISO 14001 certica-
tion reduced EP. Others argue that there is no association
between the ISO 14001 certication and EPE’s level. e
conicting research results in the literature regarding the
association between implementing ISO 14001:2015 and
EPE makes this research area an attractive one (Man-
sour etal., 2019). is study explored the association be-
tween EPE and ISO 14001 certication. e study used
ISO 14031:2013 guidelines to evaluate EP. Moreover, it is
clear that there is no study evaluated the impact of imple-
menting ISO 14031 guidelines on institutions’ EP, which
would rank the importance of these guidelines according
to the extent of their relevance to the EP’s development.
e ranking allows organizations and government to focus
their limited resources to achieve the highest level of EP
by using the least amount of resources.
e purpose of this quantitative study is to exam-
ine ISO 14001:2015 certication and implementing ISO
14031:2013 EPE’s guidelines by industrial organizations
in Saudi Arabia in 2020. e importance of studying the
relationship is that the implementation of the guidelines is
not compulsory to obtain the certicate, and therefore the
organization may grant for ISO 14001 certication with-
out implementing ISO 14031. For this reason, this study
came to clarify ISO 14001–ISO 14031 relationship. In the
case of a proven relationship, we can call for combining
ISO 14031 with ISO 14001, and if the relationship is not
proven, then we can call for canceling the guidelines given
in ISO 14031.
In summary, this study aimed to measure the associa-
tion between implementing ISO 14031:2013 guidelines for
EPE and the ISO 14001 certication status of industrial
organizations. is led to the following research question:
Do the ISO 14031 guidelines for EPE signicantly corre-
late with ISO 14001 certication? e null hypothesis (H0)
was that there is an association between implementing the
EPE guidelines given in ISO 14031 and ISO 14001 certi-
cation, against the alternative hypothesis (H1) that there
is no association. Besides determining the best combina-
tions for ISO 14031’s guidelines, which limited resources
organizations can focus on matching their environmental
system to ISO 14001 requirements, which governments
can focus on when developing EPE’s procedures and mon-
itoring systems of industrial organizations whether they
have or have-not ISO 14001 certication. is study can
be the rst step to discovering the association between
ISO 14001:2015 certication and implementing the EPE
guidelines given in ISO 14031:2013. Total Unduplicated
Reach and Frequency (TURF) analysis is used to deter-
mine the best ISO 14031’s guidelines combinations. e
remainder of this article covers the following. e rst
section focuses on solution methodology. In the second
64 M. Mansour, S. Alsulamy. Evaluating association between implementation of ISO 14031 guidelines and ISO 14001...
section, results and discussion apply the solution meth-
odology to evaluate the association between ISO 14031
guideline implementation and ISO 14001 certication
based on the opinion and judgment of industrial experts.
e last section gives conclusions combines the ndings
aer considering all association coecients in the study.
1. Materials and methods
A questionnaire consisting of 14 questions was designed
to be answered by “yes” or “no”. e rst question was
about whether or not the organization was ISO 14001 cer-
tied. e remaining 13 questions represented the state
of the organization in terms of the application of key ISO
14031 data for environmental performance assessment as
shown in Table1. A response rate of 30% is a considered
acceptable (Sekaran & Bougie, 2013). e questionnaire
included three dimensions, namely EPE’s planning, the
use of data and information, and EPE’s reviewing and
improving, consisting of ve, six, and two measurement
variables, respectively. e “EPE’s planning” variables are
represented by the symbols P1 to P5. e “use of data and
information” variables are denoted by the symbols D1 to
D6. Finally, the “reviewing and improving EPE” variables
are denoted by R1 and I1. e questionnaire was distrib-
uted to 900 organizations involved in 30 economic activi-
ties in Saudi Arabia by email from January to March 2020.
e organizations to which emails were sent included 317
certied and 583 uncertied organizations. 282 of 317
organizations renewed their ISO 14001 certication and
transitioned to the 2015 edition. Table2 shows a sample
structure to show the sample size in each economic activ-
ity and the statuses of organizations from the ISO 14001
certication.
For example, the questionnaire was sent to n1=46 or-
ganizations in the construction sector, representing 19.59%
of the total number of questionnaires sent to organizations
holding ISO 14001 certicates. In addition, the question-
naire was sent to n2=60 organizations in the construction
sector, representing 16.62% of the number of uncertied
organizations. Consequently, the total number of organi-
zations to which the questionnaire was sent was nt=106,
operating in the construction sector, which represented
17.79% of the total of 900 organizations. e completed
questionnaires were returned, collected, and prepared
for processing using the RapidMiner soware (Ingo &
Klinkenberg, 2019). e data were cleaned by removing
high-quality, duplicate, incomplete, and highly linked re-
cords (Kotu & Deshpande, 2015). e data were described
using a descriptive statistical method. To validate the data,
a feedback call was made to a group of 150 organizations
to ensure the accuracy of the data collected. In total, 596
of the 900 questionnaires collected were completed fully
and were, therefore, appropriate for the statistical analysis.
e group included 235 certied organizations and 361
uncertied organizations involved in 30 economic activi-
ties. e Phi correlation coecient was used at a level
of signicance of α=0.05 to test the study hypothesis.
Table 1. Questionnaire items on the implementation of the
ISO 14031 standard
Stage Code Denition Ag-
ree
Dis-
agree
Planning
for EPE
P1
EPE planning is based on
the signicant/controlling
environmental aspects
P2
EPE planning is based on EP
criteria and on the views of
interested parties
P3
e organization selects
and uses management
performance indicator data
eciently
P4
e organization selects and
uses operational performance
indicator data eciently
P5
e organization selects and
uses environmental condition
indicator data eciently
Use of
data and
infor-
mation
D1
e use of data and
information to evaluate EP
is based on documented
procedures
D2
e organization collects data
regularly and systematically
from sources, consistent with
EPE planning
D3
e organization analyses
and converts the collected
data into information
describing the organization’s
environmental performance
D4
e EPE’s analyzed da ta
compared with the orga-
nization’s EP criteria indicate
progress or deciencies in
environmental performance
D5
Management ensure that
appropriate and necessary
information describing the
organi za tion’s EP is com-
mu nicated throughout the
organization timeously
D6
e organization may choose
or may be required to issue
environmental reports
or statements providing
information describing its EP
to external interested parties
Revie-
wing and
impro-
ving EPE
R1
e organization’s EPE
and its results should be
reviewed periodically to
identify opportunities for
improvement
I1
e review contributes to
management ac tions to
improve the management
and operation of the
organization, which results
in the imp rovement of the
organizational envi ronment
Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, 2021, 29(1): 61–71 65
e data were entered and analyzed using SPSS soware
(IBM, 2017) on Windows 10 and analyzed. TURF analy-
sis module in SPSS is used to rank combinations of ISO
14031’s variables by how many respondents implemented
these combinations (Adler etal., 2010). TURF module is
adjusted to maximum variable combinations is 4, number
of combinations to display is 13, and positive response
value is 1.
2. Results and discussion
e sample consists of 596 organizations, including
235 certied organizations and 361 uncertied organi-
zations representing a considerable accepted response
rate of 66.22% that represents an acceptable response
rate (Sekaran & Bougie, 2013). Organizations prole
with regard to year of certication are 1% certied be-
fore 2006, 55% certied between 2006 and 2007, 40%
of organizations are certied between in the period of
2008–2009, and the remaining percentage is certied
aer 2009. Most (66.22%) of the organizations’ manag-
ers answered the questionnaire fully, while 22.78% of the
questionnaires were excluded aer a data cleaning pro-
cess. 140 organizations are excluded due to nonresponse
bias including 51 surveys did not reach participant due
to emails problems, 35 organizations refuse to respond,
and 55 organizations were unable to perform tasks as-
sociated with answering due to the unavailability of the
mangers or their representatives. 45 organizations out of
150 ones were omitted from the study aer a feedback
call to check the response bias. 118 organization were
omitted from the study due to missing data problems.
e responses covered 30 industrial elds such as agri-
culture, shing, and forestry, then basic metal and fab-
ricated metal products, and so on as shown given in Ta-
ble2. For example, 46 organizations representing 19.57%
of the 235 certied organizations in the construction sec-
tor answered the questionnaires fully. 596 respondents
include 298 organization mangers, 238 environmental
department managers, and 60 safety manger with aver-
age years of experience of 10, 12.5, and 6.5 years with
standard deviations of 1.25, 1.15, 0.98 years standard
deviations respectively.
Frequencies for the environmental performance evalu-
ation independent variable are shown in Table3. As the
table shows, 77.00% of the certied organizations an-
swered that they implemented P1, representing 66.30%
of the 273 organizations implementing this variable. In
terms of P2, 69.40% of certied organizations answered
that they implemented the variable, representing 63.70%
of the 256 organizations implementing it. e variable P3
was implemented by 68.90% of the certied organizations,
representing 56% of the 259 organizations implementing
this variable. In terms of P4, 63.80% of the certied organ-
izations answered that they implemented it, representing
60.00% of the 250 organizations implementing this varia-
ble. Finally, 77.90% of the certied organizations answered
Table 2. Response rates of certied and uncertied
organizations and their industrial elds
Sr.
No. Industrial Sector
# of
certied
org.
# of un-
cer tied
org.
Tota l
n1%n2%nt%
1Agriculture, shing, and
forestry 1 0.4 3 0.8 4 0.7
2Basic metal and fabricated
metal products 20 8.5 30 8.3 50 8.4
3Chemicals, chemical
products, and bers 11 4.7 20 5.5 31 5.2
4Concrete, cement, lime,
plaster, etc. 6 2.6 10 2.8 16 2.7
5Construction 46 19.6 60 16.6 106 17.8
6Education 2 0.9 8 2.2 10 1.7
7Electrical and optical
equipment 7 3.0 8 2.2 15 2.5
8Electricity supply 2 0.9 4 1.1 6 1.0
9Engineering services 25 10.6 35 9.7 60 10.1
10 Financial intermediation,
real estate, and renting 5 2.1 10 2.8 15 2.5
11 Food products, beverage,
and tobacco 13 5.5 18 5.0 31 5.2
12 Health and social work 1 0.4 5 1.4 6 1.0
13 Hotels and restaurants 1 0.4 3 0.8 4 0.7
14 Information technology 2 0.9 5 1.4 7 1.2
15 Machinery and equipment 9 3.8 15 4.2 24 4.0
16 Manufacture of coke and
rened petroleum products 7 3.0 8 2.2 15 2.5
17 Manufacture of wood and
wood products 1 0.4 5 1.4 6 1.0
18 Non-metallic mineral
products 2 0.9 3 0.8 5 0.8
19 Other services 2 0.9 4 1.1 6 1.0
20 Other social services 1 0.4 5 1.4 6 1.0
21 Pharmaceuticals 1 0.4 3 0.8 4 0.7
22 Printing companies 1 0.4 5 1.4 6 1.0
23 Public administration 9 3.8 15 4.2 24 4.0
24 Pulp, paper, and paper
products 1 0.4 5 1.4 6 1.0
25 Recycling 15 6.4 20 5.5 35 5.9
26 Rubber and plastic
products 4 1.7 8 2.2 12 2.0
27 Textiles and textile
products 6 2.6 10 2.8 16 2.7
28 Transport, storage, and
communication 5 2.1 8 2.2 13 2.2
29 Water supply 17 7.2 17 4.7 34 5.7
30
Wholesale and retail trade,
repairs of motor vehicles,
motorcycles, and personal
and household goods
2 0.9 4 1.1 6 1.0
Tota l 235 100 361 100 596 100
66 M. Mansour, S. Alsulamy. Evaluating association between implementation of ISO 14031 guidelines and ISO 14001...
that they implemented P5, representing 68.50% of the 267
organizations implementing this variable.
In terms of the use of data and information, 68.90% of
the certied organizations answered that they implemented
D1, representing 62.80% of the 258 organizations imple-
menting this variable. Regarding the D2 variable, 73.60% of
the certied organizations answered that they implemented
it, representing 64.60% of the 268 organizations implement-
ing this variable. e variable D3 was implemented by
74.50% of the certied organizations, representing 62.90%
of the 278 organizations implementing this variable. e
variable D4 was implemented by 66.80% of the certied or-
ganizations, representing 62.30% of the 252 organizations
implementing this variable. With regard to D5, 69.40% of
certied organizations answered that they implemented the
variable, representing 60.60% of the 269 organizations im-
plementing it. Finally, 72.80% of the certied organizations
answered that they implemented D6, representing 64.50%
of the 265 organizations implementing this variable. With
regard to R1, 67.20% of the certied organizations answered
that they implemented the variable, representing 63.20% of
Table 3. Frequency table for the environmental performance evaluation independent variable
ISO 14031
variable Valu e
ISO 14001 Status
Y=0 Y=1
Count Row N % Column N % Count Row N % Column N %
P1 0 269 83.30 74.50 54 16.70 23.00
1 92 33.70 25.50 181 66.30 77.00
P2 0 268 78.80 74.20 72 21.20 30.60
1 93 36.30 25.80 163 63.70 69.40
P3 0 264 78.30 73.10 73 21.70 31.10
1 97 37.50 26.90 162 62.50 68.90
P4 0 261 75.40 72.30 85 24.60 36.20
1 100 40.00 27.70 150 60.00 63.80
P5 0 277 84.20 76.70 52 15.80 22.10
1 84 31.50 23.30 183 68.50 77.90
D1 0 265 78.40 73.40 73 21.60 31.10
1 96 37.20 26.60 162 62.80 68.90
D2 0 266 81.10 73.70 62 18.90 26.40
1 95 35.40 26.30 173 64.60 73.60
D3 0 258 81.10 71.50 60 18.90 25.50
1 103 37.10 28.50 175 62.90 74.50
D4 0 266 77.30 73.70 78 22.70 33.20
1 95 37.70 26.30 157 62.30 66.80
D5 0 255 78.00 70.60 72 22.00 30.60
1 106 39.40 29.40 163 60.60 69.40
D6 0 267 80.70 74.00 64 19.30 27.20
1 94 35.50 26.00 171 64.50 72.80
R1 0 269 77.70 74.50 77 22.30 32.80
1 92 36.80 25.50 158 63.20 67.20
I1 0 264 81.20 73.10 61 18.80 26.00
1 97 35.80 26.90 174 64.20 74.00
the 250 organizations implementing it. In addition, 74.00%
of the certied organizations answered that they imple-
mented I1, representing 64.20% of the 271 organizations
implementing this variable.
Table4 presents the Phi coecient values, which were
0.505, 0.430, 0.415, 0.358, and 0.537 for P1, P2, P3, P4,
and P5, respectively, in association with the organizational
status variable Y. is suggests that there is a positive as-
sociation between the variables. However, the p-value ≈
.000 in the table suggests a highly statistically signicant
association. e Phi coecient values of 0.418, 0.465,
0.450, 0.401, 0.393, and 0.460 for D1, D2, D3, D4, D5,
and D6, respectively, represent the association between
the “D” variables and Y. ese values indicate a posi-
tive association between the variables in addition to the
p-value≈.000 in the table, suggesting a highly statistically
signicant association. e Phi coecient between R1 and
Y was 0.413, whereas its value was 0.463 between I1 and
Y, indicating a medium positive association between the
variables. e p-value≈.000 in the table suggests a highly
statistically signicant association.
Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, 2021, 29(1): 61–71 67
Table 4. Phi correlation coecients between ISO 14001
certication status and ISO 14031 guidelines
ISO 14031
measurement
variables
Phi correlation
coecient p-value
P1 0.505*0.000
P2 0.430*0.000
P3 0.415*0.000
P4 0.358*0.000
P5 0.537*0.000
D1 0.418*0.000
D2 0.465*0.000
D3 0.450*0.000
D4 0.401*0.000
D5 0.393*0.000
D6 0.460*0.000
R1 0.413*0.000
I1 0.463*0.000
Note: *Indicate signicance at p<0.05.
In conclusion, 71.40% of the ISO 14001 certified
organizations answered that they implemented EPE’s
planning activities (dened in Table 1 as “P” variables),
71.00% of the certied organizations answered that they
implemented the use of data and information (dened
in Table 1 as “D” variables), and 70.60% of the certied
organizations answered that they implemented reviewing
and improving EPE activities (dened in Table 1 as “R1”
and “I1” variables). e average Phi correlation coe-
cient for the “P” variables was 0.449, indicating a medium
positive association between the variables with ISO 14001
certication status variable (Y). e Phi value for P4 was
0.358, indicating a week positive association between “P”
variables and Y, in contrast to P1, P2, P3, and P5, which
indicated a medium positive association with Y. e aver-
age Phi correlation coecient for the “D” variables was
0.431, indicating a medium positive association between
the variables and Y. e 0.393 Phi value for D5 indicates
a week positive association between D5 and Y, in contrast
to D1, D2, D3, D4, and D6, which indicated a medium
positive association with Y.
e average Phi correlation coecient between the
reviewing and improving EPE variables (R1 and I1) was
0.438, indicating a medium positive association between
R1 and I1 with Y. e result excluded from the above nd-
ings is that there was a signicant medium correlation be-
tween implementing ISO 14001:2013 guidelines for EPE
and ISO 14001:2015 certication based on the sampled
population at α= 0.05, using the Phi correlation coef-
cient. is study’s ndings support the association be-
tween EPE and ISO 14001:2015 certications and concur
with some studies (Boiral etal., 2018; Martín-Peña etal.,
2014; Nguyen & Hens, 2015; Zeng etal., 2005) and not
in agreement with other studies (Ghisellini & urston,
2005; Gomez & Rodriguez, 2011; Zobel, 2013).
Table 5 shows the collected data statistics in terms of
reach, percentage of cases (Pct of cases), and percentage
of responses (Pct of responses). Table shows the number
of organizations responded by “Yes” for each ISO 14031’s
variable. e D3 “e organization analyses and converts
the collected data into information describing the organi-
zation’s environmental performance” achieved the maxi-
mum reach among other variable of 278 representing a
percentage of 46.6 of total 596 respondents and a percent-
age of 8.1 responses. D3 variable is followed by P1 “EPE
planning is based on the signicant/controlling environ-
mental aspects”, the number of institutions that answered
“Yes” in the survey. P1 achieved a reach of 278, a percent-
ages of cases responded by “Yes” of 46.6, and a percentage
of responses equals to 8.0. I1 “e review contributes to
management actions to improve the management and op-
eration of the organization, which results in the improve-
ment of the organizational environment” comes in the
third rank with a reach of 271 respondents, 46.6% of cases,
and a percentage of responses equals to 7.9. D5 represent-
ing “Management ensure that appropriate and necessary
information describing the organization’s EP is commu-
nicated throughout the organization timeously” comes in
the fourth rank with a reach of 269, a percentage of cases
equals to 45.1, and a percentage of responses equals to
7.9. D2, P5, and D6 percentages of responses equals to
7.8, corresponding to select and use environmental con-
dition indicators, planning EPE based on systematic data
collection procedures, and issue environmental reports
providing EP’s information to external parties. P3 “e
organization selects and uses management performance
indicator data eciently” and D1 “e use of data and
information to evaluate EP is based on documented pro-
cedures” achieved a percentages of responses equals to 7.6
as shown in Table 5. P2 “EPE planning is based on EP
criteria and on the views of interested parties” achieved a
percentage of responses equals to 7.5, while D4 “e EPE’s
Table 5. Maximum group size of 1 (reach and frequency)
Variables Statistics
Reach Pct of cases Pct of responses
D3 278 46.6 8.1
P1 273 45.8 8.0
I1 271 45.5 7.9
D5 269 45.1 7.9
D2 268 45.0 7.8
P5 267 44.8 7.8
D6 265 44.5 7.8
P3 259 43.5 7.6
D1 258 43.3 7.6
P2 256 43.0 7.5
D4 252 42.3 7.4
R1 250 41.9 7.3
P4 250 41.9 7.3
68 M. Mansour, S. Alsulamy. Evaluating association between implementation of ISO 14031 guidelines and ISO 14001...
analyzed data compared with the organization’s EP criteria
indicate progress or deciencies in environmental perfor-
mance” achieved a percentage of 7.4. Finally, both R1 and
P4 achieved a percentage of responses equals to 7.3.
Figure 1 demonstrates the results of implementing
TURF analysis module available in SPSS. Results shows
the percentage of respondents answered by “Yes” for ISO
14031’s variable combinations. For example, the most im-
plemented clause in ISO 14031 is D3 “e organization
analyses and converts the collected data into informa-
tion describing the organizations environmental perfor-
mance” with a percentage of respondents equals to 46.6 as
indicated in Table5. D5 and P1 is the best combinations
implemented by organizations with a total percentage of
65.8. e best possible combinations of three implemented
clauses are D5, P1, and D4 with a percentage of respond-
ents equals to 76.8. e best combinations of 4 variables
is D2, P3, P4, and R1 with a percentage of 83.9. e best
5 combinations of variables is D2, P3, P4, R1, and D3 with
a percentage of 87.4 as shown in Figure1.
In conclusion, the most number of respondent certi-
ed organizations was working in construction and engi-
neering service which reect the importance of compli-
ance with environmental regulations and systems by these
organizations. Moreover, results indicated that highly
statistically signicant association between implement-
ing ISO14031 guidelines and ISO14001 certication es-
pecially planning eorts and activities represented by P1
“EPE planning is based on the signicant/controlling en-
vironmental aspects” and P5 “e organization selects and
uses environmental condition indicator data eciently”.
In the case of limited resources, the organizations can
concentrate on implementing D3 guidelines “e or-
ganization analyses and converts the collected data into
information describing the organization’s environmental
performance”. Implementing D5 “Management ensure
that appropriate and necessary information describing the
organization’s EP is communicated throughout the organi-
zation timeously” and P1 “EPE planning is based on the
signicant/controlling environmental aspects” is the best
combination consisting of 2 ISO14031 guidelines. e
best combination consisting of 3 ISO 14031guidlines is
D5, P1 and D4 “e EPE’s analyzed data compared with
the organization’s EP criteria indicate progress or decien-
cies in environmental performance.
Conclusions
is article aimed to assess the association between im-
plementing ISO 14031:2013 guidelines for EPE and ISO
14001:2015 certication in the industrial sector using a
designed questionnaire survey. e overall conclusion
emerging from this study is that there is a signicant as-
sociation between implementing ISO 14031 guidelines for
EPE and ISO 14001:2015 certication. e Phi correlation
analysis indicated a signicant medium positive correla-
tion ranging from 0.358 and 0.537 among the model’s var-
iables and the certication status of organizations. Based
on the result from TURF analysis, certied and noncer-
tied organizations should concentrate their eorts on
collecting the environmental data in a systematic manner
and use it in an ecient way to the benets of the organi-
zation and society. e results of the study can be used
to construct a statistical model for checking, reviewing,
monitoring, and evaluating organizations’ environmental
performance.
is study will benet industrial organizations in gen-
eral and society at large. Organizations will benet by in-
creasing their understanding of the eect of implement-
ing the guidelines given in the ISO 14031 standard on the
ISO 14001 certication. In addition, organizations can use
that information as a marketing and development tool.
An issue that could have limited the statistical analysis of
Figure 1. Best reach and frequency by group size
Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, 2021, 29(1): 61–71 69
the study was the data’s binary nature, which limited the
statistical analysis. ese could be treated as extensions.
Consequently, further research is required to examine the
structure of the ISO 14031:2013 model for EPE. Based on
our ndings, we contribute to the development of the rst
statistical analysis approving the association between ISO
14001:2015 certication and ISO 14031:2013 guideline
implementation in the industrial sector.
For generalizing the results of this study, a compre-
hensive data collection regarding other countries is re-
quired. Although, this study denitely answers the ques-
tion regarding the association level between implement-
ing the optional guidelines in ISO 14031:2013 and ISO
14001:2015. Further studies are needed to establish casual
relationships and develop statistical measures. Moreover,
this study limited to evaluating the managerial eorts in
the two standards and neglected the value of technical en-
vironmental performance indicators. A structure equation
model combining the managerial/procedural eorts and
environmental performance indicators values is required
in further research. e study neglects the year of the rst
ISO 14001 certication for the respondent companies,
hence a future work is required to check for dierences
between early and late adopters.
Due to the diculty of comparing the environmen-
tal performance of organizations operating in the same
economic activity and the impossibility of comparing or-
ganizations operating in dierent activities, the current
study is important in presenting the managerial eorts to
preserve the environment as a criterion for comparing the
environmental performances of organizations. A natural
extension for the current study could be to use the prin-
cipal component analysis technique to explore the valid-
ity of the ISO 14031:2015 model to gauge environmental
performance in addition to using the explanatory and
conrmatory factor analysis. Important implications can
be derived from the ndings of this study. A construction
organization can adopt the developed ISO 14031 model
as a useful tool to measure environmental performance,
even though it does not implement ISO 14000. More re-
search work is required to investigate the inuence of ISO
14001:2015 edition that could yield somewhat dierent re-
sults compared with other works based on previous ISO
14001 editions.
Author contributions
Conceptualization, methodology, soware, validation, for-
mal analysis, investigation, resources, and data curation,
M.M.; writing – original dra preparation, writing-review
and editing, visualization, supervision, project administra-
tion S.A.; e authors have read and agreed to the pub-
lished version of the manuscript.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for
their careful reading of our manuscript and their many
insightful comments and suggestions. Also, thanks are
due to the deanship of scientic aairs of King Khalid
University, Saudi ministry of education (Asser, Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia) for assistance with the communication
with the industrial organization in the data collection pro-
cesses. is work was nancially supported by the general
research program Funds for the King Khalid University
[grant number R.G.P. 1/220/41]. e content is solely the
responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily rep-
resent the ocial views of the King Khalid University.
Conict of interest
e authors declare no conict of interest.
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... Recently, there has been great interest in adopting environmental management systems (EMSs), mainly the international standard ISO 14001, due to their role in enhancing the public image, relationships with stakeholders, and environmental performance (EP) of industrial companies [1][2][3]. In particular, an increasing number of companies have implemented the standards to manage their EP [4]. ...
... To scale EPEs in the Saudi industry, ISO 14031 was utilized. A questionnaire that was scaled as either 0 or 1, as listed in [3], was developed based on the requirements of the ISO 14031 standard and emailed to the selected companies. The questionnaire constructs comprised 13 items characterized by three descriptor variables: utilizing information and data, planning for EPEs and reviewing and improving EPEs [45]. ...
... It takes the level of 1 when the company is ISO 14001certified and the level of 0 if the company is not certified. The explanatory variables represent the guidelines outlined in ISO 14031 (see the measuring tool given in [3]). The model was developed and evaluated based on an α of 0.05 in terms of fit measures, model coefficients, and predictive measures. ...
... Recently, there has been great interest in adopting environmental management systems (EMSs), mainly the international standard ISO 14001, due to their role in enhancing the public image, relationships with stakeholders, and environmental performance (EP) of industrial companies [1][2][3]. In particular, an increasing number of companies have implemented the standards to manage their EP [4]. ...
... To scale EPEs in the Saudi industry, ISO 14031 was utilized. A questionnaire that was scaled as either 0 or 1, as listed in [3], was developed based on the requirements of the ISO 14031 standard and emailed to the selected companies. The questionnaire constructs comprised 13 items characterized by three descriptor variables: utilizing information and data, planning for EPEs and reviewing and improving EPEs [45]. ...
... It takes the level of 1 when the company is ISO 14001certified and the level of 0 if the company is not certified. The explanatory variables represent the guidelines outlined in ISO 14031 (see the measuring tool given in [3]). The model was developed and evaluated based on an α of 0.05 in terms of fit measures, model coefficients, and predictive measures. ...
... The implementation of an EMS improves the environmental performance of the organization by implementing better technologies, which include, among others, the protection of natural resources [38]. Moreover, the implementation and certification of an EMS in accordance with the ISO 14001 standard contributes to reducing the amount of waste generated [39]. ISO 14001 contains requirements whose application in an organization allows for minimizing the negative impact on the environment by reducing pollutants and emissions [40]. ...
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