The Promise and Limits of Voluntary Management-Based Regulatory Reform: An Analysis of EPA's Strategic Goals Program

Johnston, Jason Scott

doi:10.2139/ssrn.712103

Cited by 11 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Second, regulatory rules and scrutiny raise the consciousness of regulated enterprise officials and employees about the social purposes and norms that underlie the regulatory requirements. For example, Johnston (2006) found substantial evidence that environmental performance among electroplaters—an industry with thousands of small low‐visibility firms operating on thin profit margins due to foreign competition—had been vastly improved by direct governmental regulation. “Command and control regulation,” Johnston wrote, “had driven metal finishers to either dramatically improve their environmental performance, or else shut down.” (2006:168).…”

Section: Smallness Competition Regulation and Environmental Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

When Social Norms and Pressures Are Not Enough: Environmental Performance in the Trucking Industry

Thornton¹,

Kagan²,

Gunningham³

2009

Law Soc Rev

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Why do some business firms and not others work hard to advance regulatory values such as environmental protection and comply with regulations? Previous research indicates that business firms are influenced in that regard by a number of variables—not merely the perceived likelihood of legal punishment but also the risk of negative reactions by societal actors (which we call “social license pressures”) and the intensity of managers' commitment to norms of law‐abidingness and environmentalism. This article reports on a study of control of diesel emissions in the trucking industry, a highly competitive market with many small firms, mobile pollution sources, expensive “best control technologies,” and weak regulatory demands. In contrast to findings in studies of large firms, we found that social license pressures on small trucking firms are minimal. Trucking companies' environmental performance—good and bad—flows from managers' economic choices, which are influenced by their particular market niche. In such highly competitive, small‐firm market contexts, these findings imply, significant improvement in environmental performance is not likely without strong direct regulatory pressures.

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Section: Smallness Competition Regulation and Environmental Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

When Social Norms and Pressures Are Not Enough: Environmental Performance in the Trucking Industry

Thornton¹,

Kagan²,

Gunningham³

2009

Law Soc Rev

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“…The analysis of marginal effect suggests that facilities which declare to have experienced a significant impact of their environmental agreement are 49% more likely to achieve a reduction in natural resource use and wastewater discharged for unit of output. This is not surprising if we consider that the application of this policy instrument is very diffused for biodiversity protection (Frank and Muller, 2003) and wastewater management (Johnston, 2005). A voluntary agreement, moreover, is not always focused on just one environmental aspect but provides incentives to improve the entire environmental management of a firm.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since an environmental agreement is not always focused on just one environmental aspect but it provides incentives to improve the firm's entire environmental management or to carry out technical and managerial initiatives impacting on several environmental performances, we focused on those aspects that are often involved in an environmental agreement such as the use of natural resources (Frank and Muller, 2003) and the quality of wastewater discharged (Johnston, 2005). Moreover, we also used a performance measure that is intrinsically transversal to specific environmental aspects and embraces the entire environmental management such as environmental severe accidents.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of negotiating tools in the environmental policy mix instruments: determinants and effects of the Environmental Agreement

Gusmerotti

Testa

Amirante

et al. 2012

Journal of Cleaner Production

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“…Furthermore, shippers should recognize that they play a central role in affecting carriers’ compliance behaviors (Thornton et al. ; Johnston ) by sourcing from carriers that display strong safety performance (Corsi ). This is especially true in the case of small and medium size motor carriers given evidence these carriers tend to work with a smaller number of shippers (Voss et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electronic Logging Device Compliance of Small and Medium Size Motor Carriers Prior to the December 18, 2017, Mandate

Miller

Bolumole

Schwieterman

2019

J of Business Logistics

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With few exceptions, motor carriers operating in the United States were required to install electronic logging devices (ELDs) as of December 18, 2017. Noncompliance exposed carriers to risk of fines from enforcement agencies. This research examines compliance behaviors of small and medium size carriers in the four months leading up to the ELD mandate, focusing on the effects of carriers’ size and geographic range of operation (e.g., regional vs. national). Drawing on sociological agency theory, new institutional theory, and theory regarding regulatory compliance, we explain why (1) carriers’ size displays a nonlinear relationship with ELD compliance, (2) the positive effect of carrier size on ELD compliance diminishes as the enforcement deadline approached, (3) carriers with operations covering wider geographic areas have higher rates of compliance, and (4) the effect of wider geographic range of operations on compliance will become more pronounced as the enforcement deadline approached. We test our theory using ELD compliance data collected by an industry data vendor, CarrierLists, from September 2017 through December 2017 from 3,910 motor carriers. Results from a series of discrete choice logistic regression models corroborate our predictions. These results have important implications for carriers, shippers, and regulators.

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The Promise and Limits of Voluntary Management-Based Regulatory Reform: An Analysis of EPA's Strategic Goals Program

Cited by 11 publications

References 18 publications

When Social Norms and Pressures Are Not Enough: Environmental Performance in the Trucking Industry

When Social Norms and Pressures Are Not Enough: Environmental Performance in the Trucking Industry

The role of negotiating tools in the environmental policy mix instruments: determinants and effects of the Environmental Agreement

Electronic Logging Device Compliance of Small and Medium Size Motor Carriers Prior to the December 18, 2017, Mandate

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