The Strategic Use of Decentralized Institutions: Exploring Certification With the ISO 14001 Management Standard

King, Andrew A.; Lenox, Michael; Terlaak, Ann

doi:10.5465/amj.2005.19573111

Cited by 725 publications

(667 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Study results confirm those of the few critical studies that have questioned the efficiency of the ISO 14001 standard (Barla, 2007;Boiral, 2007;King et al, 2005;Welch et al, 2003). However, contrary to most of the traditional or critical approaches applied to this standard, this study is not limited to examining the positive or negative impacts of certification.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Based on previous studies, some control variables likely to influence environmental performance must also be considered. Such is the case with organizational size, ownership and institutional pressure (King et al, 2005;Melnyk et al, 2003;Zutshi and Sohal, 2004).…”

Section: The Instrumental Perspective: a Standard For Improving Envirmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of these studies showed that the environmental performance of certified organizations did not exceed that of uncertified organizations, or that the standard implementation resulted in very limited benefits (Barla, 2007;Welch et al, 2003). Other studies showed that certification served primarily as a means to improve company image, respond to stakeholder pressures and bolster the trust of exchange partners (Corbett and Kirsch, 2001;Goh Eng et al, 2006;Jiang and Bansal, 2003;King et al, 2005). This search for institutional legitimacy through ISO certification seems often to be disconnected from the search for environmental performance (Boiral, 2003(Boiral, , 2007Jiang and Bansal, 2003), although this hypothesis remains to be validated.…”

Section: The Legitimacy-based Model: a Managerial Fashion To Conformmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Contrary to the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), which is primarily used in Europe, the ISO 14001 standard has been implemented in a growing number of countries, including China, where nearly 70,000 organizations were certified in 2010 (International Organization for Standardization, 2011). However, despite institutional pressure in favour of ISO 14001 certification and its rapid growth, the efficiency of this standard remains controversial, and studies of the issue have led to contradictory results (Boiral, 2007;Jiang and Bansal, 2003;King et al, 2005;Welch et al, 2003). This research is based on an empirical study of 303 organizations and the evaluation of three theoretical models.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The same kind of debate is repeated in the evaluation of the impacts of the ISO 14001 standard on improvements in environmental performance. While most studies tend to highlight the positive nature of these impacts and the fact that ISO 14001 certification improves environmental performance (Goh Eng et al, 2006;Melnyk et al, 2003;Potoski and Prakash, 2005;Pun and Hui, 2001;Standards Council of Canada, 2000), other studies question these benefits (Barla, 2007;Boiral, 2007;Christmann and Taylor, 2006;King et al, 2005;Welch et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modelling the impact of ISO 14001 on environmental performance: A comparative approach

Boiral

Henri

2012

Journal of Environmental Management

160

120

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Studies analyzing the effects of ISO 14001 certification and determinants of environmental performance tend to be based on a traditional and instrumental model of efficiency. Using structural equation modelling developed through a survey of 303 organizations, this paper compares the validity of this instrumental model with two alternatives models: the legitimacybased model and the hybrid model. The findings question the efficiency of ISO 14001 and show that the traditional model does not explain the environmental performance of the surveyed organizations. Study results show that the legitimacy-based model, which questions the efficiency of ISO 14001 certification, is more pertinent in explaining the environmental performance but leads to a rather critical view of management practices. The development of a hybrid model based on the principal hypotheses of the legitimacy-based model, but integrating certain managerial and operational practices distinct from ISO 14001 certification, results in a less critical and more pertinent view of the determinants of environmental performance. Study results suggest that this hybrid model provides the best data fit.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: The Instrumental Perspective: a Standard For Improving Envirmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Legitimacy-based Model: a Managerial Fashion To Conformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Modelling the impact of ISO 14001 on environmental performance: A comparative approach

Boiral

Henri

2012

Journal of Environmental Management

160

120

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Isomorphic or dissimilar implementation among environmental management scheme adopters? Empirical evidence from the European context

et al. 2019

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The research assessed the extent to which an environmental management scheme (EMS) had been implemented in 242 Environmental Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)‐registered companies in Europe. The actions taken by the surveyed enterprises to comply with the EMAS Regulation (1221/2009) and to implement the Deming cycle that characterizes the environmental management system and the EMAS standard were analyzed. We exploited a new institutional theory, which suggests that a firm's operations exert ongoing pressure on its decisions, leading to isomorphic behavior. The survey results were processed using cluster analysis, thereby enabling us to classify the companies into four groups. The classification of the groups is based on the implementation of Deming cycle composed of four main steps (“plan‐do‐check‐act”). These steps were totally or partially adopted by the EMAS companies. So, different level of EMAS implementation emerged from the research. The cluster analysis confirmed that EMSs can be implemented in different ways and that EMAS achievements can be discretionary. If the scheme is not integrated into the organization, then a firm's adoption of EMS is likely to be only symbolic.

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Organization and management theories in environmental management systems research: A systematic literature review

et al. 2019

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Environmental management systems have attracted considerable attention from organizational and management scholars, owing to their widespread adoption in most industry sectors. Despite the extensive empirical literature, academic research on ISO 14001 and Environmental Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) remains characterized by a technical and pragmatic connotation and scarce theoretical contribution. As this research field approaches maturity, theoretical elaboration is crucial for assessing the current state of knowledge and identifying pathways for future research. The main objective of the paper is to scrutinize the academic literature on standard‐based environmental management, with a focus on identifying organizational and management theories that contributed to the development of the field in the last decades. By critically analyzing 55 papers, the study points out eight dominant theoretical frameworks, mostly pertaining to the field of strategic management. The paper provides an in‐depth analysis of the objectives and findings of each study in the light of its theory of reference in order to contribute insights on the current state of theoretical elaboration of standard‐based environmental management systems research.

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The Strategic Use of Decentralized Institutions: Exploring Certification With the ISO 14001 Management Standard

Cited by 725 publications

References 42 publications

Modelling the impact of ISO 14001 on environmental performance: A comparative approach

Modelling the impact of ISO 14001 on environmental performance: A comparative approach

Isomorphic or dissimilar implementation among environmental management scheme adopters? Empirical evidence from the European context

Organization and management theories in environmental management systems research: A systematic literature review

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