Sustainability and EMAS: Impact of Motivations and Barriers on the Perceived Benefits from the Adoption of Standards

Abstract

Abstract:The objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of the sources of motivation that lead companies to adopt a global standard of the Environmental Management System and the barriers found in the process, on the perceived benefits of the implementation and certification of the standard. To achieve the objectives proposed, primary data were collected using a survey questionnaire that was administered to a representative sample of companies certified as EMAS-Eco-Management and Audit Scheme of the Autonomous Community of Galicia (sample of 114 of the 255 companies). An extensive review of the academic literature published on ISO 14001 and EMAS about motivations, barriers and benefits was carried out in order to establish the working hypotheses that are analyzed using structural equation models as the statistical tool. The findings of this study show that the motivations positively affect the benefits derived from implementation, noting that the internal motivations (related to efficiency; improved performance, productivity and profitability) have a stronger influence on the benefits than the external motivations (related to stakeholders' social pressure). In addition, the motivations also affect the perceived barriers, and these affect the benefits negatively, i.e., the higher the barriers encountered, the lower the perceived benefits. The results obtained allow us to identify important implications for managers, which will help them establish management strategies in the field of environmental management.

The Barriers for Voluntary Environmental Management Systems—The Case of EMAS in Hospitals

“…However, these pioneers experience some barriers on several levels. The perception of barriers influences how organizations perceive benefits [42], and for that reason it is important to manage them. This study suggests that finding the balance between a sound environmental management, on the one hand, and the feasibility in everyday clinical life, on the other, will remain a challenge.…”

The diffusion of international standards on managerial practices

“…However, the previous research review allows to conclude that the literature’s major shortcomings are: Lack of a comprehensive and exhaustive framework that explains which key intrinsic features, motivations and barriers determine whether a standard will be implemented, adopted and maintained. The results of the studies are generally not extendible to other standards, since the motivations and barriers to the adoption of a standard are analysed only focusing on a specific sector, country, firm or group of firms. Therefore, if the research study is performed considering only one standard, as in Sampaio et al, 11 del Castillo-Peces et al, 12 Poksinska et al, 17 Tzelepis et al, 18 Magd, 21 Al-Najjar and Jawad, 22 Francheschini, 25 Magd, 28 Cai and Jun 33 and Yaya et al 34 that consider the standard ISO 9001, or as in Panyukov and Kozlovskiy, 24 Franceschini et al 31 and Bevilacqua et al 32 that consider the technical specification ISO/TS 16949, or as in Alvarez-García and de la Cruz, 9 Heras-Saizarbitoria et al, 10 Gavronski, 23 Darnall, 26 Bansal and Jiang, 35 Morrow and Rondinelli, 36 Diabat and Govindan, 37 Rivera-Camino 38 and Neumayer and Perkins 39 that consider the standard ISO 14001, or as in Majerník et al, 19 McKane et al, 27 Blass et al 29 and Marimon and Casadesus 40 that consider the standard ISO 50001, the analysis should be replied also on other standards to assess if its results can be generalized. The same idea applies to an analysis that is performed considering only one or few sectors, countries and firms.…”

“…On the other side, the lack of a framework that helps stakeholders to evaluate the potential tangible (or intangible) benefits, which stem from the standard implementation, hinders the definition of unbiased estimates of those benefits. This shortcoming leads firms, whose motivations to standardize highly influence the perceived advantages obtained from the adoption, [9][10][11][12] to implement inefficient solutions 13 or policy makers to promote the same inefficient solutions. 14,15 In the light of these considerations, this article's objective is twofold.…”

The Impact of International Management Standards on Academic Research

“…The first function is standards as an "object of study", for example To and Lee [53] study the diffusion patterns of ISO 14001. Other studies analyze EMAS and the factors, which influence the implementation of the standard [54] as well as the effect of the motives and barriers on the perceived benefits of EMAS implementation [55]. Boiral et al even analyze 94 other papers on the effectiveness of ISO 14001 in different dimensions [56].…”