Institutional Pressures and Green Practices in Small Agricultural Businesses in Mexico: The Mediating Effect of Farmers’ Environmental Concern

Abstract

Based on institutional theory, this study develops the understanding of how the institutional environment influences the propensity to adopt green practices. Taking into consideration the limitations of institutional theory, this research explores the mediating role of farmers’ environmental concern in the relationship between institutional pressures and green practices. Environmental concern is a factor that can explain why businesses are heterogeneous in their green practices and stances even though they are embedded in the same institutional environment. Data obtained from 130 small businesses in the agricultural sector in Oaxaca, Mexico, reveal that institutional pressures influence green practices directly. The results also reveal that farmers’ environmental concern partially mediates the relationship between these variables. This study tests the applicability of the theoretical framework of the institutional theory in this context and contributes to this theory by considering the role of the farmer. Specifically, it addresses environmental concern as a means through which businesses respond to institutional pressures, and how farmers implement green practices as a means for legitimacy. Environmental concern motivates environmental behavior in search of environmental conservation, but farmers mainly implement green practices to survive in the market in response to institutional pressures.

Is There a Missing Link? Exploring the Effects of Institutional Pressures on Environmental Performance in the Chinese Construction Industry

“…In this way, institutional pressures are isomorphic mechanisms through which institutions influence the behavior of organizations. Previous studies have applied institutional theory to explore the impact of institutional pressures on environmental performance [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. For example, using firm-level survey data of the leather tanning industry in Mexico, Blackman, and Kildegaard [ 8 ] found that environmental regulatory pressures are not associated with pollution reduction.…”

“…The above studies reveal that the impact of institutional pressures on environmental performance remains mixed and controversial. In addition, existing studies on the subject have focused on contexts such as the chemicals, primary metals, and public utilities in the United States [ 9 ], the global automotive industry [ 12 ], the automotive industry in Spanish [ 11 ], and in Brazil [ 15 ], manufacturing industry in Pakistan [ 16 ] and in China [ 10 , 13 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], leather tanning industry [ 8 ] and Agricultural industry in Mexico [ 20 ], and electrical and electronics industry in Taiwan province [ 14 ], there is still lack of studies on the subject in the context of the construction industry in China. Thus, the second objective of this study is to explore the effect of institutional pressures on environmental performance in a new context of the construction industry in central China.…”

A Structural Model for the Antecedents of Sustainable Project Management in Pakistan

“…From the methodological perspective, this study measured SPM as a second-order reflective-reflective construct with three latent constructs of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Previously, an overwhelming majority of the studies on sustainability have taken into account only the environmental aspect [27,[31][32][33][34] with economic and social being undermined [35]. It is quite rare that sustainability criteria have been studied as one single higher-order higher construct in relationship with institutional isomorphism.…”

“…The previous studies have sporadically used institutional perspectives while investigating corporate sustainability practices. The focus of these studies remained mainly on areas such as environmental management strategies [24], green innovation [25,26], green practices [27], green supply chains [23], and sustainable manufacturing [28] but the impacts of institutional isomorphism on SPM or managing sustainability in project processes have not been exclusively studied. Moreover, the previous studies that linked institutional pressures with sustainability manifest three visible limitations.…”

“…Secondly, the studies which attempted to investigate isomorphism and sustainability from an external perspective tend to overvalue the regulative aspect of institutional theory [24,26,29,30] and little attention was paid to mimetic and normative isomorphism. Thirdly, the environmental component of sustainability surfaced as a point of prime focus in those studies [27,[31][32][33][34] with economic and social aspects being undermined [35]. In sum, it is quite rare that sustainability, particularly the novel theme of SPM, has been studied as one single higher-order construct in relationship with non-coercive aspects of institutional isomorphism.…”