Perceptions of environmental management systems

Industrial Management & Data Systems Perceptions of environmental management systems: An examination of the Mexican manufacturing sector Jacob A. Massoud Bonnie F. Daily James W. Bishop

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Perceptions of environmental management systems An examination of the Mexican manufacturing sector Jacob A. Massoud Downloaded by New Mexico State University At 21:34 01 September 2014 (PT)

School of Business, Morken Center, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington, USA, and

Perceptions of EMS

5 Received 3 June 2010 Revised 23 July 2010, 31 August 2010 Accepted 1 September 2010

Bonnie F. Daily and James W. Bishop New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA Abstract Purpose – Over the last several years, there has been a significant increase worldwide in the implementation of environmental management systems (EMS). Yet, few studies have provided feedback on managerial views of key components and performance of these systems. The purpose of this paper is to examine variations in perceptions of a number of environmental and human resource constructs that are operationalized and measured in the field at Mexican maquiladoras. Differences between organizations with a certified EMS, informal EMS, and no EMS are examined. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was administered to 220 manufacturing organizations in Mexico. The survey instrument was self-report format with attitudinal variables. Items were adopted from previously published scales. A global hypothesis was proposed in order to test the difference between groups across multiple dependent variables. A MANCOVA and post hoc MANOVA were used to simultaneously evaluate the difference among the multiple metric dependent variables in this study. Findings – The paper found that significant facility differences existed for all environmental management practices and perceived environmental performance across all levels of EMS, with certified EMS facilities being the highest, informal EMS facilities being second and facilities with no EMS being lowest. Originality/value – This study contributes to both theory and practice. First, it extends the literature related to EMS and environmental and human resource constructs. Second, it tests the role of EMS certification in firm environmental management. Third, the study is the first to compare EMS differences among firms in the Mexican manufacturing sector. Finally, the study has relevant implications for practitioners. Keywords Environmental management, Human resource management Paper type Research paper

Introduction The need for environmental management in Mexico The primary focus of environmental management research has been on US and European firms. Consequently, there remains a need to examine environmental management in developing countries, where some scholars contend that environmental degradation and lax environmental standards are more prevalent (Utting, 2002). In developing countries such as Mexico, environmental awareness and concerns have

Industrial Management & Data Systems Vol. 111 No. 1, 2011 pp. 5-19 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-5577 DOI 10.1108/02635571111099703

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only more recently begun to take on greater importance and serious environmental issues still persist (Barkin, 2002; Blackman, 2008). Regional trade agreements often play instrumental roles in expanding economic growth and influencing environmental practices in developing countries. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has had diverse impacts on Mexico. These impacts reach a variety of sectors in the general environment including both the economy and society as a whole (Duran, 2005). Some studies show that NAFTA has led to more US foreign-direct investment in Mexico’s polluting industries (Cole and Ensign, 2005). Impacts on the natural environment from economic expansion have also tended to be adverse (Sweedler et al., 2003). For example, along the US-Mexico border environmental problems, such as air pollution, inadequate water and sewage treatment, and the mismanagement of toxic substances, and solid waste have drawn international attention and interest (Barkin, 2002; US EPA, 2010). After the inception of NAFTA, the Mexican government reorganized its environmental agencies to enhance its capacity to address and prevent environmental problems (Barkin, 2002). Despite some of these reforms, the Mexican manufacturing sector has continued to be more reactive rather than proactive when dealing with the environment (Barajas et al., 2007). However, due to added government pressure and because NAFTA has exposed more companies to international standards and expectations, the private sector in Mexico has moved to improve its environmental performance. This has resulted in an increase in the adoption of green practices that include environmental management systems (EMS) and cleaner technologies (Barajas et al., 2007). In their study of northern Mexico, Barajas et al. (2007) found that approximately 35 percent of assembly plants had adopted a certified EMS, such as ISO 14001; however, more than 50 percent had engaged in some form of voluntary environmental self-management. Hence, developing a more complete understanding of environmental management issues and practices is especially relevant in Mexico due to the severity of environmental problems and the apparent need for more widespread proactive environmental management. Our study seeks to fill this void by examining managerial views of environmental practices and performance within border industries in Mexico. EMS and human resources An EMS has the primary purpose of preventing negative effects on the environment and improving a firm’s environmental practices. This is achieved by developing environmental programs and practices. The adoption of cleaner production processes, greener products, and measures of environmental performance also contribute to the successful implementation of an EMS (Gupta, 1994). An EMS is a voluntary approach, which can lead to the reduction of environmental impacts such as pollutant emissions (Szymanski and Tiwari, 2004). Previous research also suggests that a strong link exists between human resource (HR) factors and the implementation of an EMS (Daily et al., 2007; Kitazawa and Sarkis, 2000). The role of HR factors in environmental management is evident in a variety of organizational constructs such as environmental training, empowerment, supervisor support, and teamwork (Daily et al., 2007; Daily and Huang, 2001; Fernandez et al., 2003; Govindarajulu and Daily, 2004; Kitazawa and Sarkis, 2000; Ramus, 2001; Ramus and Steger, 2000; Sarkis, 2001; Wee and Quazi, 2005). However, only a handful of


empirical investigations have been conducted on HR in EMS implementation (Carter and Dressner, 2001; Daily et al., 2007; Drumwright, 1994; Wee and Quazi, 2005). This study seeks to compare environmental efforts at a number of Mexican, manufacturing firms. More specifically, the objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between environmental management constructs and EMS in facilities with a certified EMS, an informal EMS, and no EMS. For this study, environmentally related HR factors at both the supervisory and employee levels were identified. Those recognized at the supervisory level included supervisor environmental training and supervisor environmental empowerment. Supervisor perceptions of firm environmental performance were also considered. Additionally, environmentally related HR factors pertaining to employees included employee environmental training, employee environmental empowerment, and employee environmental teamwork. This study contributes to both theory and practice. First, it extends the literature related to EMS’s and environmental management constructs. Second, it tests the role of EMS certification versus an informal EMS versus no EMS in firm environmental management. Third, the study is the first to compare EMS differences among firms in the Mexican manufacturing sector. Finally, the study has relevant implications for practitioners. Review of the literature Environmental management systems The environmental programs and practices associated with an EMS are considered important factors in reducing the impact of businesses on the natural environment. For example, green technologies and products as well as metrics to evaluate and monitor environmental performance can lead to improved environmental performance (Epstein and Roy, 1997; Gupta, 1994). An EMS can play an important role in a firm’s environmental performance. Environmental management standards, such as ISO 14001, have been shown to be positively related to both environmental performance and operational performance (Sroufe, 2003). Epstein and Roy (1997) also points out that ISO 14001 can contribute to organizational learning by developing core capabilities, skills, and knowledge. An EMS can be certified through organizations, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), British Standards Institution, and European and the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS; Freimann and Walther, 2001; Gupta, 1994). The economic costs of certification can also be a deterrent for firms when considering the adoption of a certified standard such as ISO 14001 or EMAS (Freimann and Walther, 2001; Sroufe, 2003). For example, Sroufe (2003) found that firms with existing informal EMS’s saw little benefit in expending additional time and resources to attain ISO 14001 certification. Other studies support these findings, but also show further benefits. Certification has added benefits such as greater visibility, procedural legitimacy, and external recognition. It also assists in maintaining and improving an existing EMS ( Jiang and Bansal, 2003). We contend that there will be comparative differences between facilities implementing a certified EMS, those with an informal EMS and those with no EMS. In addition, facilities that use a certified EMS are likely to differ significantly from those facilities that use an informal EMS and those that have no EMS.

Perceptions of EMS

7

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8

Facility differences should be reflected in environmental management practices and environmental performance. Environmental management constructs For this study, a number of environmental management constructs were operationalized and measured in the field at Mexican maquiladoras. These constructs include: supervisor environmental training, supervisor environmental empowerment, perceived environmental performance, employee environmental training, employee environmental teamwork, and employee environmental empowerment. They will be defined and discussed briefly below. Environmental training. Environmental training has been identified as a critical factor of environmental management (Daily and Huang, 2001; Fernandez et al., 2003; Wee and Quazi, 2005). The environmental training constructs are based on the perceived availability, use, effectiveness, and satisfaction with environmental training. Environmental training creates awareness among employees regarding environmental control requirements, increases flexibility, and fosters a proactive attitude towards the natural environment (Rothenberg, 2003; Wee and Quazi, 2005). Additionally, training can increase worker motivation, promote good environmental practices, encourage within company integration, and enhance collaboration (Cook and Seith, 1992). In this study, environmental training is assessed for both supervisors and employees. Environmental empowerment. The role of empowerment in organizational environmental issues has received significant attention in recent years (Daily et al., 2007; Daily and Huang, 2001; Fernandez et al., 2003; Govindarajulu and Daily, 2004; Forman and Jorgensen, 2001; Ramus, 2002). Theoretically, empowerment functions as a relational construct. Under this interpretation, empowerment embodies a process through which those with authority share their power with subordinates. Additionally, from a motivational standpoint, empowerment also emphasizes enabling (Conger and Kanungo, 1988). Empowerment, thus, is defined in a way that reflects the sharing of power with employees. Employee decision making and autonomy in the workplace reflect this view. Therefore, environmental empowerment is defined as a process through which authority shares its power with employees to address environmental issues. Similarly, supervisors can be empowered by upper management regarding the natural environment. Environmental performance. Environmental performance is defined by ISO 14031 as an organization’s success in managing the relationships between its activities, products, or services, and the natural environment. Thus, reducing the environmental impacts created from an organization’s activities, products, and services, improves environmental performance (Rikhardsson, 1998). Additionally, approaches to measuring environmental performance tend to vary considerably. Commonly utilized measures include a variety of economic costs, profits, and environmental impacts (Characklis and Richards, 1999; Illinitch et al., 1998; Peacock, 1993). Owing to the complexity of such measures and the lack of availability of such data, self-report measurements are often used. Subjective measures of organizational performance have been commonly used and frequently exhibit convergent validity with objective measures (Dess and Robinson, 1984). Additionally, perceived measures of environmental performance are often employed (Daily et al., 2007; Judge and


Douglas, 1998; Melnyk et al., 2003b). Thus, perceived environmental performance is perceived measure based on the dimensions of the ISO 14031 definition. Environmental teamwork. The importance of teamwork in environmental management is well noted. Environmental teamwork is defined as teamwork designed to solve environmental problems. Specifically, teams innovate, promote, and implement environmental improvements (Daily et al., 2007). A review of the literature on environmental management indicates that teams contribute significantly to improved environmental performance (Beard and Rees, 2000; Daily and Huang, 2001; Daily et al., 2007; Govindarajulu and Daily, 2004). Teams have also been shown to exhibit improved problem solving and cooperation (Daily and Huang, 2001; Ramus, 2001). Hypothesis The following hypothesis proposes to test the difference among groups across multiple dependent variables based on the abovementioned theoretical background. Hypothesis. There will be significant differences between facilities that have a certified EMS, an informal EMS, and no EMS for all environmental management variables, which include supervisor environmental training, supervisor environmental empowerment, employee environmental training, employee environmental teamwork, employee environmental empowerment, and perceived environmental performance. Methods Research setting, sample, and procedure The survey was administered by a Mexican marketing firm. Owing to the challenges of collecting data in Mexico, the firm collected data from industries where they had business contacts. The resulting pool of participants, while not completely random, represented a broad range of industries. The marketing firm administered the survey to 220 maquiladora managers in the Ciudad Juarez, Mexico area. Respondents were primarily senior level managers, which included plant or environmental managers. The manufacturing facilities included in this study had to have some level of environmental management; however, no restrictions were placed on the size, industry, product, or ownership criteria. The principal investigators validated survey participation among a sample of respondents via telephone. A total of 22 surveys were deemed unusable due to excessive missing data. This left a usable sample of 198. Survey development All variables were measured with seven-point Likert (1932) scales, with possible responses ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. Items pertaining to supervisor and employee environmental training, empowerment, and teamwork were taken from Daily et al. (2007) and Curkovic (1998). Perceived environmental performance items were taken from Melnyk et al. (2003b). Survey translation Two professional translators translated the survey to Spanish and back-translated the survey to English. One translator was assigned to each task. Effort was undertaken by the authors to make sure that the survey was not only linguistically equivalent, but also as culturally and psychometrically equivalent as possible. The survey was

Perceptions of EMS

9

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administered as a pilot study among 25 maquiladoras. Several items were rephrased or removed based on feedback from managers and statistical analysis. Results Prior to testing our hypothesis, we confirmed the discriminant validity of our scales by performing a factor analysis on our items and tested the internal reliability of the scales. The analysis was set to extract six factors based on our theory. The extraction method we used was Maximum Likelihood with oblique rotation. One item each from the supervisor and employee environmental empowerment scales failed to load as intended. Both items had to do with input with respect to decisions about environmental issues. The item for supervisors (and the same item for employees) reads, “Managers and supervisors (Hourly employees) have significant input when the organization makes decisions on how to handle environmental issues”. These items were omitted from further analysis. All items and their factor loadings appear in Table I. Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess internal reliability. Internal reliability was acceptable since the alphas ranged from 0.91 to 0.98. Table II contains the alpha for each scale along with the means, standard deviations, and correlations. We constructed factor scores for each variable, rather than use summated scales, so that each item contributed to the factor score based on the magnitude of its factor loading (Hair et al., 2005). Hypothesis testing MANCOVA was used to determine if the dependent variables, as a group, differed across the three EMS classifications. We subsequently performed post hoc MANOVA analyses to determine, which, if any, of the specific dependent variables differed across the classifications. We controlled for company age and number of employees based upon the chance that they could be related to differences in our dependent variables. The results, shown in Table III, indicate that as a group, the dependent variables differ across the three levels of EMS. We then conducted a MANOVA in order to conduct post hoc comparisons of the relationships between the EMS level and the dependent variables individually (Post hoc comparisons cannot be done with covariates present.). Since examining mean differences in this manner does not involve independent tests, we employed both the Turkey and Duncan tests with a Bonferroni adjustment. This constitutes a very conservative test. The overall MANOVA duplicated the results of the MANCOVA without the control variables (Table IV). The results of the Turkey and Duncan post hoc analyses appear in Table V. For all dependent variables the means differed for all categories of EMS in the same manner: largest for certified EMS firms, second for informal EMS firms, and smallest for firms with no EMS. Hence, all parts of our hypothesis were supported. Discussion Managerial implications and conclusions This paper provides a distinctive contribution to the literature on EMS. Our study demonstrates that facilities with a certified EMS rate their organizations’ levels of environmental performance and environmental HR practices significantly higher than organizations with an informal EMS or with no EMS. In addition, firms with

No. Variable 1 2 3


4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

Supervisor environmental training An adequate training in environmental issues is provided to managers and supervisors within your plant I am satisfied with environmental training provided to managers in my plant The managers receive environmental training frequently The managers use their training effectively Managers have many opportunities to use their environmental training Supervisor environmental empowerment Managers and supervisors are free to make decisions regarding environmental issues Managers and supervisors have significant autonomy in determining how they handle environmental issues Managers and supervisors can decide on their own how to go about dealing with environmental issues Perceived environmental performance Our facility’s environmental efforts have significantly reduced waste within the production process Our facility’s environmental efforts have resulted in improved product quality Focusing on environmental efforts ahs helped enhance our facility’s reputation Our facility’s environmental efforts have led to improved plant performance The benefits of the environmental efforts have outweighed its costs Our environmental efforts have caused us to investigate alternate technologies and procedures Our facility’s environmental efforts have helped our company design/development better products Employee environmental training An adequate amount of training in environmental issues is provided to hourly/ direct labor employees within your plant Everybody in this facility can get a chance to be trained on environmental issues I am satisfied with the environmental training to hourly employees at our facility The hourly employees receive environment frequently The hourly employees use their training effectively

1

2

3

4

5

6

0.16 20.02

0.07 2 0.15

0.01

0.58

0.10 20.05

0.05

0.02

0.08

0.78

0.02 20.07

0.08 2 0.03

0.07

0.77

0.10 2 0.31 2 0.18 0.08 2 0.37 0.09

0.45 0.49

0.62 2 0.07

0.08

0.00

0.87

0.08

0.13

0.19 20.09 20.03 0.00 0.16 20.03 20.01

0.05

20.02 20.05

0.03

0.04

Perceptions of EMS

11

1.00 2 0.04 2 0.02 2 0.05

0.01 2 0.04 2 0.80

0.09

0.11

20.02 20.15 2 0.01 2 0.74

0.07

0.10

0.03 20.03

0.13 2 0.94 2 0.05 2 0.07

0.06 20.04

0.06 2 0.85

0.03

0.01

0.17

0.08

0.03 2 0.66

0.05

0.06

0.00 20.03

0.10 2 0.57

0.11

0.11

0.14 20.15 2 0.01 2 0.60

0.05

0.10

0.80

0.01 2 0.07 2 0.06

0.09

0.13

0.69

0.02

0.03

0.05

0.07 2 0.18

0.92 20.08

0.09

0.12 2 0.02

0.03

0.74 20.17

0.01

0.01

0.05

0.08

0.71 20.02

0.11 2 0.14 2 0.01

0.02

(continued)

Table I. Factor analysis

IMDS 111,1

No. Variable

1

2

3

21

0.69

0.03

0.02 2 0.22

0.17 2 0.07

0.33 20.37

0.10 2 0.02

0.16

0.13

0.09 20.70

0.06 2 0.12

0.15

0.06

0.07 20.10

0.06

0.04

0.80 2 0.02

0.01 20.04

0.02 2 0.09

0.89 2 0.06

0.00

0.04

0.83

22

12

23


24 25 26 Table I.

Hourly employees have many opportunities to use their environmental training Employee environmental teamwork Hourly employees frequently use teamwork to solve environmental issues Hourly employees frequently attend team meetings on environmental issues Employee environmental empowerment Hourly employees are free to make decisions regarding environmental issues Hourly employees have significant autonomy in determining how they handle environmental issues Hourly employees can decide on their own how to deal with environmental issues

0.04

4

0.01

5

6

0.11

an informal EMS also had significantly higher ratings on practices and performance than facilities with no EMS. In response to our results, one could argue that an EMS may only serve as window-dressing regarding environmental initiatives (Buysse and Verbeke, 2003; Christmann and Taylor, 2001), influencing managers to believe environmental performance is higher when perhaps it is not. However, this is unlikely for a number of reasons. First, researchers have clearly denoted large expenses in implementing a certified EMS due to organizational restructuring, training, new equipment, supplier development, auditors and labor costs often associated with environmental projects (Barnes, 1996; Freimann and Walther, 2001; Sroufe, 2003). Therefore, we would expect that in organizations that have implemented a certified EMS – and to some extent in facilities with an informal EMS – managers have witnessed first-hand important changes and participated in training and projects aimed at the environment. This alone would not account for the higher levels of perceived environmental performance and practices. If interactions required for the EMS implementation process were negative this would probably lead to lower ratings. Hence, the high ratings are most likely due to observations of real improved performance and meaningful environmental practices. Second, the fact that the study was conducted in Mexico provides a unique perspective in interpreting our results. For some time Mexico has struggled with a balance between the environment and economic growth through the development of manufacturing facilities along its border with the USA. Moreover, Mexico’s current state is unstable due to numerous factors including an internal drug war. Amidst Mexico’s problems it is heartening to find the results we have in regard to EMS in manufacturing facilities. Certainly, there are reasons that managers might be influenced to believe that their facilities could not achieve high levels of environmental performance simply due to the fact that they are in Mexico. However, we found that even in an unstable country, with severe problems, suffering from real environmental challenges, ratings of environmental performance, and practices were higher in facilities with an EMS in place.

Age of company Number of employees Supervisor environmental training Supervisor environmental empowerment Perceived environmental performance Employee environmental training Employee environmental teamwork Employee environmental empowerment

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

7.29 533.64 3.67 3.54 4.19 3.95 3.49 2.65

M 6.71 743.75 0.25 0.18 0.34 0.20 0.09 0.12

SD n/a 0.15 * 0.05 2 0.00 0.04 0.02 0.05 0.05

1

Notes: *p , 0.05, * *p , 0.01; coefficient alphas are on the diagonal; n ¼ 198

Variable

No. n/a 0.39 * * 0.31 * * 0.44 * * 0.42 * * 0.34 * * 0.38 * *

2

(0.95) 0.77 * * 0.85 * * 0.83 * * 0.77 * * 0.70 * *

3

(0.94) 0.77 * * 0.78 * * 0.73 * * 0.78 * *

4

5

(0.97) 0.83 * * 0.75 * * 0.74 * *


(0.98) 0.87 * * 0.78 * *

6

8

(0.93)

7

(0.94) 0.87 * *

Perceptions of EMS

13

Table II. Means, standard deviations, reliabilities, and correlations among the variables

IMDS 111,1

Effect Intercept

14

Age of company


No. of employees

EMS Table III. MANCOVA tests of dependent variables across three EMS levels

Pillai’s trace Wilks’ lambda Hotelling’s trace Roy’s largest root Pillai’s trace Wilks’ lambda Hotelling’s trace Roy’s largest root Pillai’s trace Wilks’ lambda Hotelling’s trace Roy’s largest root Pillai’s trace Wilks’ lambda Hotelling’s trace Roy’s largest root

F

Hypothesis df

Error df

Significance

0.758 0.242 3.139 3.139 0.019 0.981 0.019 0.019 0.118 0.882 0.133 0.133 0.423 0.586 0.690 0.666

92.071a 92.071a 92.071a 92.071a 0.560a 0.560a 0.560a 0.560a 3.911a 3.911a 3.911a 3.911a 7.904 8.970a 10.057 19.658c

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 12 12 12 6

176 176 176 176 176 176 176 176 176 176 176 176 354 352 350 177

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.762 0.762 0.762 0.762 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Notes: aExact statistic; cthe statistic is an upper bound on F that yields a lower bound on the significance level

Effect Intercept

EMS Table IV. MANOVA tests of dependent variables across three EMS levels

Value

Value Pillai’s trace Wilks’ lambda Hotelling’s trace Roy’s largest root Pillai’s trace Wilks’ lambda Hotelling’s trace Roy’s largest root

0.897 0.103 8.678 8.678 0.539 0.471 1.099 1.077

F a

274.788 274.788a 274.788a 274.788a 11.756 14.457a 17.304 34.298c

Hypothesis df

Error df

Significance

6 6 6 6 12 12 12 6

190 190 190 190 382 380 378 191

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Notes: aExact statistic; cthe statistic is an upper bound on F that yields a lower bound on the significance level

Hopefully, our study helps to put to rest the question of whether the costs of implementing an EMS are worth it. They are. We have made the case that individuals perceive differences in organizations that have gone to the effort to implement an EMS and that these perceptions are likely based on real actions that lead to positive environmental outcomes. Furthermore, our study provides empirical evidence of the importance of HR factors in successful implementation of EMS. Since organizations that were either certified or had an informal EMS had higher ratings of HR practices in regard to the environment, it is likely these HR practices were pivotal in either receiving certification or simply developing systems. To date we are only aware of a couple of studies that explore the HR-EMS connection (Daily et al., 2007; Rothenberg, 2003). A distinguishing contribution of this paper is the extension of the literature on HR factors and their significance in achieving environmentally responsible manufacturing.

Supervisor environmental training Turkey honestly significant differences (HSD)


Duncan

Supervisor environmental empowerment Turkey HSD

Duncan

Perceived environmental performance Turkey HSD

Duncan

Employee environmental training Turkey HSD

Duncan

Employee environmental teamwork Turkey HSD

Duncan

Grouping

n

1

1 2 3 Significance 1 2 3 Significance

80 48 70

2.1631

80 48 70

80 48 70


80 48 70


80 48 70


80 48 70

80 48 70

1.000 2.1631

5.1479 1.000

1.000

3.9844 1.000 2.6000

5.0452 1.000

1.000 3.9844

5.0452 1.000

1.000

2.4621 4.8879 1.000 2.4621

5.7029 1.000

1.000 4.8879

5.7029 1.000

1.000

2.3954 4.4549 1.000 2.3954

5.4095 1.000

1.000 4.4549

1.000

80 48 70

15

2.6000

1.000

80 48 70

5.1479 1.000

1.000

Perceptions of EMS

4.1875

1.000

80 48 70

3

4.1875

1.000


Subset 2

5.4095 1.000

1.000

2.0313 3.9479 1.000 2.0313

4.8571 1.000

1.000 3.9479

1.000

1.000

4.8571 1.000 (continued)

Table V. Turkey and Duncan post hoc tests with Bonferroni adjustment of individual dependent variables across three EMS levels

IMDS 111,1 Employee environmental empowerment Turkey HSD

16


Duncan

Table V.

Grouping

n

1


80 48 70

1.9938

80 48 70

Subset 2

3

3.3247 1.000 1.9938

1.000

4.0131 1.000

3.3247 1.000

1.000

4.0131 1.000

Notes: Grouping 1, no EMS; grouping 2, no informal EMS; grouping 3, certified EMS

Therefore, practitioners should be aware of the importance of HR factors in developing an environmental program. In particular organizations that are implementing an EMS should consider investing resources in environmental training, environmental empowerment, and environmental teamwork. Environmental training should be practiced and employees should be empowered to make decisions regarding environmental issues. Teamwork also appears critical to success when developing an EMS in order to fully utilize multiple skills across boundaries in organizations on complex environmental challenges. Limitations and future research A number of limitations are evident in this study. Because only one method was used in this study (e.g. self-report survey), it is possible that a mono-method bias is present. Unfortunately, in the absence of additional methods, it was not possible to use a multi-method multi-trait (MM) matrix to test for convergent validity as recommended by Churchill (1979) and Bagozzi (1980). Other biases associated with cross-cultural studies and translating surveys might be undetected within the results. Additionally, although perceived measures of environmental performance are acceptable, a more concrete measure such as a continuous metric would be preferred. Owing to the specific focus on the Mexican manufacturing sector, the generalizability of this study is debatable. Additional studies are needed to broaden the scope of generalizability, as well as to confirm these results. Several other potential avenues for future research exist. First, what are the antecedents of an EMS in Mexican companies? Some researchers have investigated this question in the USA, but little has been done in Mexico (Melnyk et al., 2003a). Another interesting project could utilize similar methods to conduct a comparative study between US and Mexican manufacturing facilities. In addition, future research is needed to elucidate the differences between certified and an informal EMS. Overall, EMS’s and environmental management appear to be a growing area of research with a variety of opportunities. Finally, since environmental issue are also related to public policy, efforts should be made to determine the best ways to inform the public and external stakeholders of the firm’s environmental activities.


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