From Green-Blindness to the Pursuit of Eco-Sustainability: An Empirical Investigation of Leader Cognitions and Corporate Environmental Strategy Choices (original) (raw)

2000, Academy of Management Proceedings

The 1990's "revolution of environmental concern" (Post & Altman, 1992) have increased the priority of environmental issues on the general business agenda. Theorists of corporate social performance (Robinson & Dechant, 1997; Waddock & Graves, 1997) differentiate between corporate instrumental and normative approaches towards environmental management. According to an instrumental orientation, firms do what they have to do to manage the natural environment in order to maximize their profits. The normative view suggests that, since corporate decisions affect the state of the natural environment, firms should espouse a fundamental moral obligation to protect nature, adopting proactive environmental strategies. Recent research calls for increased focus on the normative orientation (Clarkson, 1995; Agle, Mitchell & Sonnenfeld, 1999). Without long-term commitment to environmental proaction by firms, eco-sustainability performance depends on governments and markets, which are highly susceptible to failures. For example, government regulation may fail to be enforced. Market mechanisms may be ineffective if consumers are unable to verify "green" claims by manufacturers. There is growing recognition that proactive environmental strategies by firms may lead to greater environmental improvement than reliance on a compliance-based approach alone (see, e.g., Roht-Arriaza, 1997; though Porter and van der Linde (1995) note that changes in regulation are often necessary to overcome organizational inertia and prompt action). Thus, voluntary corporate commitments are seen as essential for achieving long-run sustainability (