The Impacts of Institutional Pressures on Environmental Performance: The Mediating Role of Voluntary Environmental Regulation in Mexico
Keywords:
Voluntary environmental regulation, Institutional theory, Mimetic pressures, Coercive pressures, Normative pressuresAbstract
This research analyzes the mediating role of voluntary environmental regulation on the relationship between mimetic, normative, and coercive pressures and the environmental performance of certified companies in an emerging country. This study uses an instrumental variable research design and structural equation modeling with survey data from 225 certified companies. It was found that voluntary environmental regulation increases the predictive validity of mimetic and normative pressures on environmental performance. Voluntary environmental regulation also fully mediates the relationship between pressure for compliance with regulation and environmental performance. This study contributes to the body of environmental management and policy literature in two ways: (1) it demonstrates the usefulness of institutional theory in explaining the adoption of voluntary environmental regulation; (2) it offers empirical evidence of the benefits and limits of voluntary environmental regulation in a context characterized by institutional voids.
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