Role of Internalization Process in Defining the Relationship between ISO 14001 Certification and Corporate Environmental Performance

Abstract

The relationship between ISO 14001 certification and corporate environmental performance has become an important research topic in recent years. Based on the internalization process of ISO 14001 (the process that consolidates and embeds a firm's beliefs, attitudes, and values into its management and employees), this paper examines how internalization can impact on the corporate environmental performance. It is found that the internalization process of ISO 14001 serves an important role in mediating the relationship between ISO 14001 certification and environmental performance. The results also reveal that the internal motivation is the main driving force of internalizing ISO 14001. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

What Drives Substantive Versus Symbolic Implementation of ISO 14001 in a Time of Economic Crisis? Insights from Greek Manufacturing Companies

“…Existing literature on the topic maintains that substantive implementation of ISO 14001 is driven mainly by internal factors (Boiral 2011;Gavronski et al 2008;Guoyou et al 2012), whereas the importance of external factors remains inconclusive:…”

“…Studies focusing on external pressures have not clearly concluded whether these pressures induce firms to commit fully to the standard's requirements or not (Boiral 2007;Castka and Prajogo 2013). In contrast, scholars who focus on internal motivations seem to agree on their importance in driving substantive implementation of ISO 14001 (Heras- Guoyou et al 2012). …”

“…In particular, the internalization of ISO 14001 may be more successful in firms with high employee involvement and managers that demonstrate conviction in and support for environmental management (Boiral 2011;Guoyou et al 2012). …”

Environmental management system ISO 14001: effective waste minimisation in small and medium enterprises in India

“…Further, similar to most research undertaken to date in the EMS field, this study has also been quantitative in nature and consequently been unable to delve deeper into the integration of the ISO standard in SMEs and potentially reflected only the dominant inhouse biases of the SME managers who have responded to the survey (Borial, 2007). Relatedly, the study neither lends itself to imputations on the motivations underlying the uptake of ISO 14001 certification among SMEs (Bansal and Roth, 2000) nor an assessment of the extent to which ISO 14001 certification has been internalised (Qi et al, 2012). As identified in a series of studies (e.g.…”

China’s new Eurasian ambitions: the environmental risks of the Silk Road Economic Belt

“…ISO 14001), 5 to ensure that their products met the standards of ecological management adopted in OECD countries. From 2000 onward, the number of ecological management certificates issued to Chinese companies grew sharply (Qi et al 2011(Qi et al , 2012 to bring China, by 2007, to the position of a world leader in ISO 14001 certificates. Since then the number of ISO 14001 certificates in China has continued to increase while slowing down or even dropping in many other countries, including the United States and Japan ( Figure 1; Shvarts and Gerasimchuk 2010;Shvarts, Bunina, and Knizhnikov 2015).…”