Unpacking the complexity of environmental regulatory governance in a globalizing world: a critical review for research agenda setting

Abstract

There has been growing complexity in the study of environmental regulatory governance. In terms of regulatory approaches, the focus of national styles has gradually shifted to the local level, down to street-level regulators. As for compliance strategies, regulated entities, particularly enterprises, have moved their strategies from the evasion-compliance dichotomy to more progressive ones that are beyond compliance. As environmental watchdogs on behalf of civil society, ENGOs, particularly those in developing and non-democratic political settings, have increasingly found more space for strategizing their active efforts to monitor enforcement agencies and polluting enterprises in the regulatory process. The spilling of regulatory regimes into developing countries has led to an urgent need for regulatory studies in such nations, with a call for new theoretical formulations that are capable of explaining regulatory governance in those countries. Research methodologies adopted have become increasingly sophisticated, moving from using a single method to using mixed methods by integrating qualitative and quantitative ones, with longitudinal studies and panel data analysis as the recent trends. This study aspires to perform a critical review of the existing body of literature on environmental regulatory governance in these major aspects as the basis for a research agenda setting.

Revisiting Stakeholder Theory and Environmentalism: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

“…Researchers have recognized the role of regulatory bodies in initiating environmental response for firms [8,9,31,32]. Comprehensive environmental strategies by organizations are more common in industries that face stricter environmental regulations [8].…”

“…Comprehensive environmental strategies by organizations are more common in industries that face stricter environmental regulations [8]. Environmental legislations play a very important role in the development and implementation of environmental strategies and can lead to significant environmental improvement [31,33,34]. King and Lenox [35], after studying chemical manufacturers associations, found that explicit sanctions through government regulation and coercive forces, in the form of sanctions by regulatory bodies, are required for proactive environmentalism.…”

“…Similarly, regulatory intensity and institutional pressure have forced firms to be environmentally responsive [31,32,34]. After studying the environmental performance of 14 paper and pulp mills in Australia, New Zealand, British Columbia in Canada, and the states of Washington and Georgia in the USA, Kagan et al [36] have found that regulatory requirements play an important role in improving the environmental response of firms.…”

Uncovering the potential of industrial waste: turning discarded resources into sustainable advanced materials

“…So that the search and application can be aligned and in accordance with the needs of the technology [100]. It can also be supported by contributing sustainably by reducing waste and optimizing resource utilization [101], complying with regulations [102], and positively influencing users' decisions to adopt the technology [103].…”

21 years of research for the twenty-first century: revisiting the journal of environmental policy and planning

“…van der Heijden (2020) suggests that environmental regulatory research should explore the interplay between statutory and government-led regulation and other environmental policy and planning instruments, for instance the complementarity between mandatory and voluntary regulation and how transnational regulatory challenges can be addressed in collaborative arrangements between national governments and non-governmental actors. Lo et al (2020) call for more research on the outcomes of regulatory enforcement by expanding research on firm-level compliance with regulatory measures, including exploring why organizations develop different compliance strategies and how these affect regulatory performance. They also identify a need for a better understanding of how different enforcement tools can complement each other, as well as a need for better analytical frameworks to generate knowledge on how environmental non-governmental organizations perform as watchdogs in environmental regulation and interact with regulatory enforcement agencies and regulated firms.…”