Shifting Chinese organizational responses to evolving greening pressures

Organizations are facing various evolving pressures to green their practices. These pressures range from obligatory forces to voluntary measures. Environmental pressures traditionally influenced organizations to seek reactive and internal practices. The adopted environmental management (EM) practices have evolved to be more proactive and external as the focus has shifted to supply chains. This paper aims to further understand the driving mechanisms for EM practices under various external pressures. To meet this research goal, this study extends the theory of dynamic incentives of environmental policies and institutional theory to develop environmental pressures. Using an empirical study of 422 Chinese manufacturers covering all 31 provinces and provincial cities, an exploratory factor analysis reveals four EM practices factors and four pressures (drivers) factors. Results of a hierarchical regression analysis show that coercive pressures positively relate to more reactive, internal EM practices. Less coercive pressures positively relate to more proactive, external, and green supply chain management practices. The empirical findings provide further support that voluntary regulatory measures can help motivate companies in extending their EM efforts to supply chains. The work also provides insights into how organizations may respond to evolving regulatory regimes, dynamic incentives of environmental regulatory policy, and various institutional pressures.