Circular economy has become one of the main strategies to face environmental issues. To enable circular economy, organisations have started acting on their capability to improve their sustainability ...management. Nevertheless, the contribution of green human resource management to the transition towards a more circular economy has not yet been investigated. Our research aims at assessing the effects of green human resource management to circular economy, to environmental and economic performance and to the environmental reputation of an organisation. We empirically test the distinct role that different green human resource management practices (i.e., green recruiting, green training and involvement, and green performance management and rewarding) have on organisation performance. We also investigate the moderation role of the level of diffusion of the circular economy in the context where organisations operate. The results, from a sample of 819 EMAS-registered organisations, demonstrate that green human resource management positively influence all the organisation performance, even though with some difference between each single practice. Moreover, green human resource management contribute to the transition towards a circular economy without being influenced by external factors such as market demand, competitors’ commitment or technological support to circularity. Our research, in addition to shed some light on the relationship between human capital and circular economy, studies for the first time green human resource management with environmental management systems. Finally, the results of our research provide several avenues for further research both for academics and practitioners.
•The paper studies the relationship between GHRM and EMSs.•We investigated the effect of GHRM on circular economy implementation.•We administered a survey to 819 EMAS-registered organisations.•The results show that GHRM positively influence all the organisation performance.
As “green public procurement” (GPP) is playing an increasingly important role in stimulating the demand for environmentally friendly products and services, there is a strongly emerging need to ...analyze which factors drive the inclusion of environmental criteria in public tenders. Working on data from Italian municipalities, our statistical analysis confirmed that intensifying information and raising awareness on GPP techniques can strongly support the development of public green tenders. Moreover, our work reveals that good GPP performance cannot be achieved through the mere adoption of a certified Environmental Management System (EMS) by a public authority alone, but rather through the level of maturity of the certified EMS that provides a growing “value added” to GPP practices. Finally, findings of this study demonstrate that the relevant limitations linked to the small size of public authorities can be overcome by the progress in GPP brought by several European, national and local supporting initiatives.
•We carried out a questionnaire survey in Italian municipalities.•We investigate factors that influence green public procurement actions at local level.•Information and awareness strongly support the development of public green tenders.•GPP is determined by strategy, commitment and efforts within public administrations.
Much of the literature has investigated what the most innovative business models are in order to successfully implement circular economy principles within a company. However, the majority of modern ...companies are still based on traditional business models thus, it is important to study how to get these companies to adopt more circular practices. Data were collected through a questionnaire-based survey of 821 Italian companies. A cluster analysis was performed to classify their current level of implementation of the circular economy principles and a logit regression was carried out to identify the most effective drivers. Five clusters were identified: 1) “information-oriented companies” (24%), the best at communication and marketing-related activities, but the worst in relation to all the other aspects; 2) “linear companies” (41.6%), those that perform poorly in all five phases; 3) “green marketers” (15.5%), which perform well in relation to design, production and consumption; 4) “optimizers” (10.6%), which focus more on production and logistics and 5) “circular companies” (8.1%), those that register a good performance with respect to all aspects. The bad performers, clusters 1 and 2, also registered the worst economic results in the last three years, whereas the “circular champions” reported the best performance. Finally, the logit regression showed that economic drivers were the most effective at encouraging “linear companies” to adopt more circular business models. On the other hand, no significant evidence was found of any influence exerted by the drivers related to regulatory pressure, resource exploitation risks, and the pursuit of environmental values.
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•There is still a low level of circularity in most Italian manufacturing companies.•Economic drivers are the most important drivers of circular actions.•Regulatory pressures, resource exploitation risks and environmental value drivers are still ineffective.
Drivers to green consumption: a systematic review Testa, Francesco; Pretner, Gaia; Iovino, Roberta ...
Environment, development and sustainability,
04/2021, Letnik:
23, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Environmental degradation is increasingly attracting the attention of public opinion; however, the rise in environmental concern is not accompanied by a parallel growth of green product consumption. ...This paper aims to detect and classify all the main drivers to green consumption in an attempt of systematizing previous research results and identifying the most relevant drivers for pushing the transition toward a greener economy. The paper systematically analyzes 113 articles published from 2000 to 2018 within major peer-reviewed English-language scholarly publications in management, economics, environmental, agricultural and biological, decision and social sciences, energy and psychology that adopted a survey-based quantitative approach to measure drivers to green consumption. The research is identified using the keywords green, sustainable, environmental or pro-environmental behavior/intention/purchase or consumption/consumer. The analysis highlights the identification of seven categories of drivers to green consumption: behavioral factors, socio-demographic variables, intrapersonal values—environment, intrapersonal values—non environment, personal capabilities, products and producers-related factors and context-related factors.
A very extensive academic debate is currently ongoing regarding the managerial decision to adopt an environmental management system compliant with ISO 14001 or Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), ...and the respective effectiveness of the two metastandards. According to the institutional theory, the adoption of metastandards is driven by the need for social legitimacy, thus generating isomorphism among firms. The few existing studies on the internalization of these standards requirements have considered only specific aspects of the management system, such as the use of operational procedures in daily practices or employee involvement. To fill this gap, we investigated the level of internalization of EMAS requirements, taking into account all the key elements of the Deming Cycle. Using data from 224 questionnaires from EMAS organizations, we tested whether EMAS adopters with a higher internalization of its requirements (a) have better environmental performance and (b) are more motivated to make environmental investments. Our results clearly show that opting for a metastandard does not necessarily lead to homogenous behaviors among adopters. However, the level of internalization of its requirements both in terms of the strategies and daily operational procedures is a key determinant in achieving a real improvement in performance.
The literature on business responses to climate change until now identified several drivers: regulatory changes; physical changes; product and technology innovation; operational efficiency; ...reputation; financial impacts; and changes in consumer needs. However, these studies are mainly based on qualitative research methods. Therefore, this study aims to investigate with a quantitative analysis the contextual drivers of multinational enterprises' responses to climate change considering the risks and opportunities identified by previous studies. The research is based on the Carbon Disclosure Project climate questionnaire of 2015, which includes information of 1896 companies within different industries and countries. The analyses highlight that the business continuity is mainly endangered by the physical changes; changes in demand for goods/services or new product/services correspond to market changes drivers; changes in market valuation correspond to reputation drivers. Finally, changes in operational costs and investment opportunity correspond to regulatory drivers. The study provides contributions to the literature on business responses to climate change and implications for business and public policy.
Despite the importance that environmental management systems have in the environmental policy agenda, the debate on their effectiveness to improve environmental performance (e.g. the reduction of ...polluting emissions) is still open among researchers and practitioners. Furthermore, no previous quantitative works have addressed the comparative study of the effectiveness of the two main reference standards that set requirements for an environmental management system: the international standard ISO 14001 and the European EMAS scheme. In order to fill this gap, this research paper investigates the impacts of EMAS and ISO 14001 on the reduction of carbonic anhydride emissions on 229 energy intensive plants in Italy. By applying a rigorous statistical method, the results suggest that the implementation of an environmental management system in energy intensive industries has a clear influence on environmental performance both in the short and in the long term, but a different effect of ISO 14001 and EMAS on environmental performance occurs.
Purpose
The EU Ecolabel is a voluntary scheme that aims to reduce the overall environmental impact of organisations to boost sustainable consumption in the marketplace and facilitate a transition ...towards a more circular economy. The main issues connected with the management of this scheme have been rarely investigated in literature. This study aims to analyse the main managerial and technical challenges linked with the EU Ecolabel such as drivers, barriers and benefits, uptake, monitoring, product portfolios and other criteria.
Methods
We addressed this literature gap by administering multi-stakeholder surveys including consumers, Licence Holder’s and Non-Licence Holder’s companies, policy-makers and other main relevant organisations obtaining 442 responses.
Results and discussion
The analysis indicated the market drivers and benefits for Licence Holders, but recognised that increasing the marketing promotion of the scheme and boosting its synergies with other EU policies would attract Non-Licence Holders, which also claimed the narrowness of the EU Ecolabel portfolio as the main barrier for its adoption. Our results also confirmed the lack of demand for products bearing the EU Ecolabel, although stakeholders recognised a higher demand for environmentally friendly products. Our results pointed out the lack of a marketing/communication policy coordinated at the European level and the lack of an adequate monitoring system of the performance. Health/well-being products were recommended as main future EU Ecolabel products, while services and business to business products were not advised.
Conclusions
Our findings provided new insights on the issues connected with the management of an ecolabelling scheme that can be useful for academics, practitioners and policy-makers. We also provided recommendations for policy makers to develop a heterogeneous (but not too broad) portfolio, with a focus on consumable goods with a health/well-being connotation, to strongly increase the promotion of the EU Ecolabel at all levels and to accelerate harmonisation with other EU policies, especially Green Public Procurement. Future research may investigate the EU Ecolabel awareness by investigating consumers’ perception in the EU context or may focus on regulatory reliefs that help to boost the adoption of the EU Ecolabel.
The future of ecolabels Iraldo, Fabio; Griesshammer, Rainer; Kahlenborn, Walter
The international journal of life cycle assessment,
05/2020, Letnik:
25, Številka:
5
Journal Article
•The paper analysed a case study on the monitoring system of an Italian food company.•The study creates a tailor-made environmental Key Performance Indicators dashboard to assess corporate ...sustainability.•The study investigated rewards systems in the frame of Green Human Resource Management practices.•A final dashboard of around 70 indicators was then created and linked to employees’ rewards.
Assessing environmental performance, measuring the circular economy and quantifying decarbonization have become crucial in green management in recent years. Both scholars and practitioners have focused on different strategies to create performance indicators capable of tackling all these aspects. At the same time, companies have started connecting managers’ and employees’ incentives to the achievement of corporate goals. We analysed a case study of an Italian food company which uses environmental performance indicators to assess corporate sustainability and reward managers and employees. Through a series of interviews with members from all departments, we identified around 200 different key performance indicators, i.e., performance, commitment, control, reactivity, economic, consent, transversal and multifunctional. A final dashboard of around 70 indicators was then created and linked to employees’ rewards. A tailor-made methodology was, thus, used to define target for the company’s management by objectives, taking into account the trend of each indicator. This is the first attempt to investigate how a company can create an environmental performance indicator system to assess corporate sustainability and reward employees through management by objectives. Our study further extends not only the academic literature, but also provides a practical and operative contribution to all the companies that aim to create a new key performance indicator system. Lastly, we merged the management and strategies for promoting green practices amongst employees through a reward system with the environmental performance of each organisational department by creating a methodology to define management by objectives.
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