Corporate climate change mitigation: a systematic review of the existing empirical evidence

Abstract

Purpose – The present paper aims to identify, map and assess the existing empirical evidence on this body of knowledge to examine what actions for corporate climate change mitigation (3CM hereafter) decision-makers undertake, under what circumstances and with what results. Firm-level activities conducted to mitigate climate change are increasingly becoming a strategic issue for all corporations worldwide. Design/methodology/approach – By using a systematic review, and a vote-counting approach, the vastly dispersed collection of qualitative and quantitative data available in the literature is integrated, to explore how 3CM is conceptualised and measured in empirical research. In particular, common trends and contradictory findings are illustrated. Findings – The present review demonstrates that no researchers have yet analysed the role of 3CM in corporate management control systems. Furthermore, three shortcomings of existing empirical research were identified and some directions for future research were outlined. These regard analysing the positioning of 3CM in corporate management control systems, the further development of measurements of 3CM performance and a consideration of the evolution of 3CM over time. Originality/value – Firm-level activities carried out to mitigate climate change are increasingly becoming a strategic issue for all corporations worldwide. However, the growing stream of management literature on climate change has not yet diffused across disciplinary boundaries, as it suffers from a remarkably diverse terminology and differing conceptualisations and measurements of its research objectives. The present review elaborates on the existing empirical evidence and suggests recommendations for future research.

Exploring member readiness for change in manufacturing industries using phenomenology

“…The more an employee perceives an organizational climate to be aligned with their own set of values and beliefs, the greater the levels of commitment, sense of well-being and performance experienced by the employee (Popoola, 2016). As stated earlier, by far, the greatest amount of participant responses in regard to this research study relate to the topics of communication and leadership in agreement with the change literature (Glienke and Guenther, 2016;Riad and Nawer, 2016).…”

“…Process innovation should complement organizational climate for improved business performance (Akbaba and Altında g, 2016). Company performance is also linked to organizational culture and organizational climate, identifying process change and process innovation as possible modifiers of organizational climate (Glienke and Guenther, 2016). One among several organizational challenges during a process change is members' commitment to the change process.…”

The interplay between stakeholders, resources and capabilities in climate change strategy: converting barriers into cooperation

“…The theoretical contribution of this article is based on testing Savage et al's stakeholders approach (1991) (Glienke & Guenther, 2016). Often, such actions are implemented due to the demands of stakeholders (Rasi, Abdekhodaee, & Nagarajah, 2014), and engaging stakeholders in the development of responses to climate change is becoming a necessary process (Reyers, Gouws, & Blignaut, 2011).…”

External Pressures or Internal Governance – What Determines the Extent of Corporate Responses to Climate Change?

“…Notwithstanding the importance of existing research, the majority of studies on determinants of corporate climate action are based on cross‐sectoral analyses and thereby neglect intra‐sectoral dynamics (Weinhofer and Hoffmann, ; Glienke and Guenther, ). In other words, the importance of internal and external factors for triggering business responses might vary across sectors.…”