Environmental Orientation in Swedish Local Governments

Abstract

This study explores the environmental orientation in Swedish local governments. Environmental concerns over potential risk factors have become more important and popular among public organizations and environmental improvement efforts are made to create a sustainable ecosystem for the actors doing business, living and working in the area. Prior research indicates that public organizations have started to become more environmentally oriented in order to take on more responsibilities for reducing their own environmental impact as well as influencing the citizens and local businesses in the direction of a more sustainable way of living and working. Through a survey of Swedish local governments we conclude that they are taking on a key role in developing a sustainable ecosystem through becoming more environmentally oriented. This includes developing a framework for setting environmental goals, identifying suitable environmental indicators and reporting to a wide range of stakeholders. A factor that explains the increasing environmental orientation in the public sector is the implementation of digitalized performance measurement systems. We find that the environmental performance measurements are used to motivate different internal and external stakeholders in the efforts to create a multi-actor ecosystem.

The use of environmental performance indicators in “the greenest city in Europe”

“…Our findings strengthen tentative results found in Alpenberg et al (2018) which shows that the use of environmental goals, environmental indicators and environmental reporting by local governments, directed at various stakeholders, function as a support system for companies and other actors in their own efforts to become environmentally responsible. In this case, both the municipal departments and the companies are important role models for other organizations in the region.…”

“…Swedish municipalities are powerful local entities that are responsible for a large part of the political rulings and decide on many affairs such as education, health care, long-term care, emergency services, environmental issues, water and sewage (Alpenberg et al, 2018; Lindström, 2003; Wällstedt et al , 2014). The strong position is very much connected with the way Swedish tax system operates.…”

Reviewing Literature on Digitalization, Business Model Innovation, and Sustainable Industry: Past Achievements and Future Promises

“…Alpenberg et al [60] demonstrates how local governments are adopting a key role in developing a sustainable ecosystem by becoming more environmentally oriented. The authors develop a framework for setting environmental goals, identifying suitable environmental indicators, and reporting to a wide range of stakeholders.…”

Local public corporate responsibility: A scale development and validation

“…Local autonomy is understood as the right and capacity of local entities to structure and manage public affairs within the framework of the law under their own responsibility and for the benefit of their inhabitants; this implies territorial protection, the principle of self-organisation, and control under the law. Local governments and administrators play an essential role in the functioning of the democratic system due to their proximity to citizens and their centrality in managing the resources in their area of jurisdiction, as they have direct and indirect impacts on global sustainability at the economic, social, and environmental levels (Alpenberg et al., 2018; Dankova et al., 2015; Cueto-Cedillo, 2014; Albareda et al., 2007; Moon, 2004). These levels are also at the core of CSR, but this concept focuses in private sector rather than in public one.…”

“…The concept of LPCR is not settled in the literature. Research about sustainability and CSR in municipal councils is abundant (Alpenberg et al., 2018; Giacomi et al., 2018; Navarro-Galera et al., 2018; Niemann and Hoppe, 2018; Ortiz-Rodríguez et al., 2018; Tejedo-Romero and Esteves Araujo, 2018a; Tejedo-Romero and Esteves Araujo, 2018 b; Navarro-Galera et al., 2017; Nevado-Gil and Gallardo-Vázquez, 2016; Tirado-Valencia et al., 2016; Navarro-Galera et al., 2014; Bonsón et al., 2012; ), but lacks of a common denominator, a shared concept across the literature. Through this research, we propose how to measure a concept for the practice of CSR by municipal councils.…”