Does Supply Chain Concentration Affect the Performance of Corporate Environmental Responsibility? The Moderating Effect of Technology Uncertainty

With the development of society and the improvement of environmental consciousness, the performance of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) has elicited increasing attention in recent years. In previous studies, the exploration of the antecedents of CER is far less evident than the exploration of its results, and only few studies have investigated what determines CER engagement from the perspective of supply chain concentration (SCC). Using data from 2413 firms in China from 2013 to 2019, our study uses the fixed effect model and performs multiple robustness tests to examine the impact of SCC on the fulfillment of CER, its transmission mechanism, and the moderating role of technology uncertainty (TU). Empirical results show that SCC has a pivotal negative impact on CER performance, wherein both supplier concentration (SUP) and customer concentration (CUS) are detrimental to CER performance. Further mechanism analysis shows that such negative effect can be explained by the adverse effect of SCC on the operating cash flow (OCF), in which OCF has a partial mediating effect. Moreover, the negative impact of SCC on CER performance is more significant when the uncertainty of firms’ technological environment is stronger. Our study opens the transmission “black box” between SCC and CER performance and incorporates the behaviors of firms, inter-firm relationships, and environmental factors into the same research framework, and provides a theoretical guidance for management practices.

Enabling the Circular Economy Transition in Organizations: A Moderated Mediation Model

The notion of Corporate Environmental Responsibility has been extensively researched in the literature so far, but less is known about how this concept fits into the circular economy paradigm. We performed a moderated mediation analysis in order to identify the mechanism that links corporate environmental responsibility with readiness for change towards a circular economy business model. The findings from 311 respondents show that there is a positive association between corporate environmental responsibility and the readiness for change to a circular model, mediated by perceived circular economy drivers. In addition, perceived circular economy barriers hinder this positive relationship, acting as a buffer. These findings can further contribute to the elaboration of a conceptual framework for embedding circular economy in the corporate social responsibility strategies of organizations.

Impact of Corporate Environmental Responsibility on Firm’s Financial Performance: Moderating Role of Organizational Slack and Industry Competition

Due to speedy trade and industry expansion in the emerging economies it is creating stern environmental corrosion. Effluence makers’ enterprises are mostly responsible for environmental deterioration. Therefore, it is the responsibility of those firms to take steps to control this corrosion in the environment. This research explains the effect of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) on corporate financial performance (CFP) with the moderating effect of organizational slack and industry competition. Data was collected from annual reports of 50 KSE 100 index companies from 2012-2019, containing total 450 observations. Dynamic penal model was used to test the study hypothesis by using Eviews, different pre and post estimations are applied to confirm the data validity. Empirical results indicate that corporate environmental responsibility has significant positive effect on corporate financial performance, while the moderating effect of organizational slack is negative. Industry competition has significant positive moderating effect on the relationship, i.e., if there is high competition in industry then firms will invest more in environment to attract more consumers and to create good will in market. The study reveal that those firms will lead where competition is high and who will focus on their responsibility towards environment.

The studies on Chinese traditional culture and corporate environmental responsibility: literature review and its implications

<abstract> <p>There is a certain correlation between Chinese traditional culture and Chinese enterprises' performance of environmental responsibility, but there is little literature on the relationship between them from an empirical perspective. This paper combs and evaluates the relevant literature from three aspects: the evaluation of the economic and social effects of Chinese traditional culture, the influencing factors of corporate environmental responsibility, and the measurement of culture. Based on the literature review, this paper puts forward the following research enlightenment, that is, future empirical research should be carried out from the perspective of the intensity, effect, and heterogeneity of the impact of Chinese traditional culture on enterprises' fulfillment of environmental responsibility, as well as the moderating factors of the relationship between them.</p> </abstract>

Pro-Environmental Employee Engagement: The Influence of Pro-Environmental Organizational, Job and Personal Resources

As organizations continue to respond to the existential challenge that is climate change, the extent to which employees engage in environmental sustainability is critical to that response. This study introduces new measures of pro-environmental employee engagement, pro-environmental job resources and pro-environmental meaningful work. Based on engagement theory, a model is tested that shows how perceived corporate environmental responsibility, pro-environmental job resources (supervisor support, involvement, information) and pro-environmental meaningful work (a personal resource) influence pro-environmental employee engagement. Online self-report survey data were collected through convenience sampling from 285 full-time and part-time employees (aged 18–89 years) working across a range of occupations and organizations in Australia. Data were analyzed using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). In support of the proposed model, CFA and SEM results generally yielded a good fit to the data. Eight of nine proposed direct effects involving corporate environmental responsibility, pro-environmental job resources (modelled as a higher-order construct), pro-environmental meaningful work, and pro-environmental engagement, were significant. All proposed indirect effects within a re-specified model were significant. The final model explained 51% of the variance in pro-environmental job resources; 20% in pro-environmental meaningful work; and 71% in pro-environmental employee engagement. Overall, the results indicate that perceived organizational, job and personal resources play a motivational role in enhancing pro-environmental employee engagement. The study contributes a theory-based model and new measures of employee pro-environmental resources and engagement. The model can be applied to help organizations assess and develop interventions to address the critically important issue of environmental sustainability. Future research directions and study limitations are discussed.

Can Financial Constraints and Regulatory Distance Reduce Corporate Environmental Irresponsibility?

As global environmental problems become increasingly severe, corporate social (environmental) responsibility has become a hot topic in research, but there is still a lack of clear understanding of corporate environmental irresponsibility behavior and the driving factors behind this behavior. Our research aims to reveal the factors affecting corporate environmental irresponsibility from both internal and external perspectives. Inside enterprises, financial constraints will affect the degree of capital adequacy and thus affect the environmental behavior of enterprises. Externally, the fulfillment of corporate environmental responsibility will be affected by external regulatory pressure. Taking 399 A-share listed companies in China’s heavily polluting industries as the research objects, this paper empirically analyzes the influence paths and internal mechanisms of financial constraints and regulatory distance on corporate environmental irresponsibility, and it further divides regulatory distance into physical regulatory distance and power regulatory distance. This paper’s findings show that both financial constraints and physical regulatory distance were positively correlated with corporate environmental irresponsibility in China, and that the positive correlation between physical regulatory distance and corporate environmental irresponsibility was more significant in non-state-owned enterprises. In addition, financial constraints and regulatory distance have a complementary effect on corporate environmental irresponsibility. These findings can reduce the environmental risks posed by enterprises and help them to avoid environmental irresponsibility.

Does corporate environmental responsibility affect investor future goal in the energy sector firms?

This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and firm’s financial performance by using a sample set of 2,241 firm-year observations representing 470 unique energy firms from 30 countries from 2013–2020. Supporting stakeholder theory, we find that firms with better environmental responsibility actions are associated with higher Tobins’q, suggesting that the investors react positively to the firm’s environmental initiatives. Overall, our findings suggest that firms in the energy sector should pay attention to corporate environmental responsibility practices to obtain a good response from the investors and achieve the firm’s long-term financial goals.