Effects of environmental strategy, environmental uncertainty and top management’s commitment on corporate environmental performance: The role of environmental management accounting

چکیده فارسی:

هدف از این پژوهش بررسی اثر ترکیبی استراتژی زیست محیطی شرکت، تعهد مدیریت ارشد و عدم اطمینان زیست محیطی با تاکید بر نقش حسابداری مدیریت زیست محیطی ، بر عملکرد زیست محیطی شرکت است. با استفاده از نظرسنجی آنلاین نمونه داده از پاسخِ ۱۰۷ شرکت دارای گواهینامه ایزو ۱۴۰۰۱ که در بازار بورس اندونزی فهرست شده اند را جمع آوری کردیم. شواهد تجربی نشان می دهد که بین منابع سازمانی (استراتژی زیست محیطی شرکتی، تعهد مدیریت ارشد و عدم اطمینان زیست محیطی) در استفاده از حسابداری مدیریت زیست محیطی تأثیر مثبت و قابل توجهی وجود دارد، که به نوبه خود می تواند عملکرد زیست محیطی شرکت ها را بهبود بخشد. یافته های این پژوهش نشان می دهد که حسابداری مدیریت زیست محیطی ابزار مفید و مهمی در ارائه اطلاعات جهت دستیابی به عملکرد زیست محیطی برتر در شرکت های اندونزیایی بوده و همچنین یافته ها برای شرکت های فعال در کشورهای دیگر از نظر قابلیت توسعه با توجه به عدم اطمینان زیست محیطی در قابلیت مدیریت ابزارهای حسابداری مدیریت زیست محیطی و بهبود عملکرد زیست محیطی سازمانی، مناسب است.

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effect of the combination of corporate environmental strategy, top management commitment, and environmental uncertainty, with a focus on the role of environmental management accounting (EMA), on corporate environmental performance. Using an online survey, we collect the sample data of 107 responses in ISO 14001 certified companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The empirical evidence shows that there is a positive and significant influence between those organizational resources (corporate environmental strategy, top management commitment, and environmental uncertainty) on the use of EMA, which in turn can improve the environmental performance of companies. These findings indicate that EMA is a useful and important tool for providing information to achieve superior corporate environmental performance in Indonesian firms and the findings also suit for companies operating in other countries in terms of developing capabilities with regards to perceived environmental uncertainty to be able to manage EMA tools and, as a consequence, to improve organizational environmental performance.

Introduction

Environmental accounting is increasingly gaining momentum in the search for sustainable organizations (Christ and Burritt, 2015; Schaltegger and Csutora, 2012; Schaltegger and Lüdeke-Freund, 2013). This is because stakeholders have pressured managers to focus more on environmental issues and environmental performance evaluation (Bennet et al., 2003; Burritt and Schaltegger, 2010; Rodrigue et al., 2013). In order to achieve better corporate environmental management, the implementation of environmental strategies and the use of environmental management accounting (EMA) have been considered key competitive advantages for many companies (Burritt, 2005; Gunarathne and Lee, 2015; Lisi, 2015; Wagner and Schaltegger, 2004). In this work, environmental accounting is understood as the management of monetary, physical and qualitative information on the environmental impacts and the financial consequences of environmentally relevant business activitiesdinformation that supports internal and external decisionmaking, reporting and accountability (Schaltegger et al., 2003).

An environmentally friendly organization tends to be dependent on the commitment of top management, which ultimately can result in the achievement of an improved competitive advantage (Spencer et al., 2013; Porter and van der Linde, 1995). The process towards a world-class environmental performance requires the involvement of company resources that includes the commitment of top management, a planning process capable of integrating corporate strategy with environmental issues, and the use of environmental management accounting (EMA). However, to date, the empirical testing of these relationships has not been extensive and has not taken into account the reality of emerging economies, such as Indonesia. Nevertheless, the literature suggests that more research is necessary to understand the Indonesian situation in terms of sustainability-related concepts and practices (Chapple and Moon, 2005).

This research is motivated by the lack of empirical evidence currently available on cleaner production about whether or not the use of EMA can improve the environmental performance of companies (Jasch, 2006; Schaltegger et al., 2012). Most of the existing research linking accounting to sustainability has focused on corporate social disclosure (M€akel€a, 2017; Maas et al., 2016; Lodhia and Hess, 2014)and has been more focused on the effects of ecoefficiency on firms’ performance (Burritt and Saka, 2006; Journeault, 2016; Lee, 2012). However, several critical review studies (Derchi et al., 2015; Owen, 2008; Parker, 2011) show that there are a number of persistent gaps in the literature that have not been examined, including the role of the combined resources of the company e such as EMA, top management support, etc. e in boosting corporate greening (Hart and Dowell, 2011).

In this context, the main objective of this work is to empirically test a framework on the effects of environmental strategy, environmental uncertainties and top management commitment on improving the environmental performance of companies by considering the role played by EMA. Secondary objectives are:

۱. To understand the direct and indirect (through EMA) effects of an environmental strategy on corporate environmental performance;

۲. To understand the direct and indirect (through EMA) effects of top management’s commitment on corporate environmental performance;

۳. To understand the direct effect of perceived environmental uncertainty on environmental management accounting.