Drivers of environmental management in the Brazilian context

The demand for improved environmental practices inside firms has increased around the world. However, in the process of implementation of environmental management, policy may be decoupled from practice, generating doubts about its effectiveness. This study investigates an overlooked middle step in the environmental management process, analyzing the strength of the main environmental drivers in improving environmental practices inside firms. We developed a set of hypotheses about the influence regulation, voluntary norms and stakeholder pressure have upon environmental management practices, considering the institutional context and different enforcement of these drivers. We use a cross-sectional survey of 150 Brazilian firms to gather information about environmental management and test our hypotheses in a Structural Equation Model. The findings confirm the importance of command and control instruments as well as stakeholder pressure in promoting better environmental practices inside firms. Yet, the results demonstrate that voluntary norms did not influence management practices even though they were perceived as a market opportunity.全球范围内，企业优化内部环境实践的需求日益增长。然而，在环境管理的实施过程中，政策可能与实践脱节，引发了人们对其有效性的质疑。本研究聚焦于环境管理流程中一个被忽视的中间环节，剖析核心环境驱动因素对企业内部环境实践改进的作用强度。本研究构建了一系列假设，探讨规制（regulation）、自愿性规范（voluntary norms）与利益相关者压力（stakeholder pressure）对企业环境管理实践的影响，并纳入制度语境与各驱动因素的执行差异作为考量维度。本研究针对150家巴西企业开展横断面调查（cross-sectional survey），收集企业环境管理相关信息，并通过结构方程模型（Structural Equation Model）对所提假设进行验证。研究结果证实，命令-控制型规制工具（command and control instruments）与利益相关者压力，在推动企业优化内部环境实践方面具有重要作用。然而，研究同时发现，尽管自愿性规范被视作市场机遇，但其并未对企业环境管理实践产生显著影响。