Government Promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from the EU Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme

Abstract

Governments play an active role in promoting corporate social responsibility and specifically environmental management system (EMS) programs, but few studies have examined the impact of such support on the decision of businesses to adopt EMS programs. We ask two questions in this paper: how does government support for EMS programs affect adoption of such programs? Second, what effect does this government support have on the pace of adoption of such programs? The answer to the first question can reveal how effective government programs are in boosting membership in EMS programs. The answer to the second reveals to what extent businesses within EU member states are converging upon particular EMS standards. We examine these questions in the context of the European Union’s Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), 2010–2014. There is significant variation in government support of EMAS across the EU and at the same time, EMAS competes for business attention with the more established ISO 14001. Our quantitative and qualitative analyses therefore reveal the effectiveness of government programs in boosting adoption, but also to the extent to which such programs cause convergence upon EMAS in the face of a competing standard such as ISO 14001.

Farmers’ Attitudes toward Public Support Policy for Sustainable Agriculture in GAP-Şanlıurfa, Turkey

“…Governments play an active role in promoting a number of programs to fulfill their institutional and public responsibilities. Few studies, however, have examined the impact of these public support programs on the beneficiaries' decision to adopt [7]. The adoption level of public policies implemented by users partially shows the appropriateness of these policies.…”

Negocios verdes en Colombia. Apoyo gubernamental y desempeño financiero

“…Por ejemplo, se encuentran trabajos que buscan dar cuenta de efectos de programas de gobierno en la adopción de prácticas verdes, incorporación de certificaciones tipo ISO 14001 o establecimiento de sistemas de gestión ambiental. En estos trabajos se ha encontrado que la efectividad del programa depende del grado de desarrollo del país (Whitford & Provost, 2019), si los apoyos son dados por la vía formal Negocios verdes en Colombia.…”

Are You Happy to Be a Farmer? Understanding Indicators Related to Agricultural Production and Influencing Factors: GAP-Şanlıurfa, Turkey

“…Support policies may differ according to the social, political, and economic structures of each country. These policies generally serve the purposes of directing the production of agricultural products, supporting the producer, raising the welfare level in rural areas, preventing migration to cities, fighting poverty, increasing the level of national welfare, and ensuring food security, as well as maintaining social, economic, and political balance [5,6,[24][25][26][27][28]. It can be seen that poverty is more common in rural areas than in cities in many countries around the world [26].…”