Concern for the Earth or Concern for the Wealth: Motives and Influences on Firms' Adoption of Environmental Management Systems

Abstract

This study explores publicly traded Taiwanese and Israeli firms holding ISO 14001 certifications in order to determine external and internal factors stimulating firms to seek environmental management standards. Expanding past research in this field, this paper presents four hypotheses regarding possible causes leading firms to seek environmental accreditation examining them using regression analysis. Results show hypotheses regarding firm size and resources are supported, while Media and green organizations’ activities as well as production types hypotheses are only partly supported or rejected. One contribution of this paper is in the expansion of current research about EMS certification by offering objective tools for EMS adoption analysis. Another contribution is in creation of new methods for approaching and encouraging firms and organizations to obtain environmental certifications.This study explores publicly traded Taiwanese and Israeli firms holding ISO 14001 certifications in order to determine external and internal factors stimulating firms to seek environmental management standards. Expanding past research in this field, this paper presents four hypotheses regarding possible causes leading firms to seek environmental accreditation examining them using regression analysis. Results show hypotheses regarding firm size and resources are supported, while Media and green organizations’ activities as well as production types hypotheses are only partly supported or rejected. One contribution of this paper is in the expansion of current research about EMS certification by offering objective tools for EMS adoption analysis. Another contribution is in creation of new methods for approaching and encouraging firms and organizations to obtain environmental certifications.