Voluntary development of environmental management systems: motivations and regulatory implications

• Published in: Journal of regulatory economics Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 37 - 65
• Main Authors: Uchida, Toshihiro, Ferraro, Paul J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Norwell Springer Nature B.V 01.08.2007
• Subjects: Bias; Companies; Cost control; Datasets; Econometrics; Economic regulation; Environment management; Environmental management; Environmental policy; Environmental protection; Environmental regulations; Hypotheses; Impact analysis; Industrial management; ISO standards; Japan; Manufacturing; Manufacturing industry; Motivation; Polls & surveys; Pollution control; Q1; Q3; Regulation; Regulatory policy; Resource management; Responses; Selection bias; Selfselection; Studies; Survey data; Japan
• ISSN: 0922-680X; 1573-0468
• DOI: 10.1007/s11149-006-9016-6

Encouraging firms to develop voluntarily more comprehensive environmental management systems (EMSs) is touted as a policy tool to augment mandatory environmental regulations. Using a unique dataset of environmental management practices of Japanese manufacturers and controlling for self-selection bias in survey responses, we find that proxies for regulatory pressures and consumer pressures are the most important factors that motivate firms toward more comprehensive EMSs. Despite the oft-claimed "voluntary" nature of EMS development, our results show that the government may have a role to play in both directly and indirectly affecting EMS development by firms. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]