Does external industry context exert an influence on the development of corporate sustainable development? In keeping with the view that environmental responsibility generates new and competitive resources for firms, we posit that three distinct industry contextual characteristics, namely munificence, dynamism, and complexity, can influence corporate environmentally responsible behaviors. Our conceptual framework is supported by empirical evidence that draws on a sample of 746 Chinese listed firms in manufacturing sectors. Our findings suggest that dynamism increases the likelihood of firms behaving in environmentally responsible ways, whereas complexity decreases this likelihood. The relationships between dynamism and environmental responsibility are stronger in firms with low levels of organizational slack. Moreover, we find that resource-abundant firms are more likely to behave responsibly toward the natural environment in a high-munificence industry context.
Sustainable development has received worldwide attention. Recent studies on corporate environmental behavior have called for research from the specific stakeholder's perspective (i.e., consumer) on the topic of going green. Based on reputation theory, this paper employed a secondary data analysis and three experiments to highlight the influence of environmental irresponsibility on corporate reputation perceived by consumers. Coherent results showed that environmental irresponsibility negatively affected corporate reputation and perceived corporate ethics served as a mediator. Furthermore, corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities could alleviate the harmful consequences of irresponsible behavior by moderating the mediating role of perceived corporate ethics in determining the influence of environmental irresponsibility.
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