Does Greenwashing Pay Off? Understanding the Relationship Between Environmental Actions and Environmental Legitimacy

被引:267
作者
Berrone, Pascual [1 ]
Fosfuri, Andrea [2 ,3 ]
Gelabert, Liliana [4 ]
机构
[1] Univ Navarra, Dept Strateg Management, IESE Business Sch, Camino Cerro Aguila 3, Madrid 28023, Spain
[2] Bocconi Univ, Dept Management & Technol, Via Roentgen 1, I-20136 Milan, Italy
[3] Bocconi Univ, CRIOS, Via Roentgen 1, I-20136 Milan, Italy
[4] IE Univ, Dept Econ Environm, IE Business Sch, Calle Serrano 105, Madrid 28006, Spain
关键词
Environmental management; Institutional theory; Greenwashing; Signaling theory; Nongovernmental organizations; ORGANIZATIONAL LEGITIMACY; SOCIAL-MOVEMENTS; PATENTS; PERFORMANCE; RISK; MANAGEMENT; FIRMS; CERTIFICATION; ISOMORPHISM; INFORMATION;
D O I
10.1007/s10551-015-2816-9
中图分类号
F [经济];
学科分类号
02 ;
摘要
Do firms gain environmental legitimacy when they conform to external expectations regarding the natural environment? Drawing on institutional logic and signaling theory, we investigate sources of heterogeneity in the impacts of environmental actions on environmental legitimacy. Longitudinal data (1997-2001) about 325 publicly traded U.S. firms in polluting industries support the notion that environmental actions help firms gain environmental legitimacy. However, some actions instead can harm this legitimacy if environmental performance deteriorates and the firm is subject to intense scrutiny from nongovernmental organizations. Thus, an important contribution of this research is to identify conditions under which green-washing can backfire.
引用
收藏
页码:363 / 379
页数:17
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