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Industry codes as agents of change: responsible care adoption by US chemical companies

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  • Jennifer Howard
  • Jennifer Nash
  • John Ehrenfeld

Abstract

Industry‐generated codes of environmental, health and safety practice represent one response to societal calls for improved corporate environmental management. Such codes seek to build a collective identity among members, improve members’ environmental performance, and demonstrate this improved performance among stakeholders and critics. This paper studies the implementation by 16 companies of the US chemical industry’s Responsible Care code. We examine whether and how Responsible Care adoption has influenced company practice, and find considerable variation both in how companies implemented the codes and in how organizational members interpreted the importance of the codes for their organization. While some practices had been adopted uniformly by all companies, discretion in Responsible Care implementation was exercised. Furthermore, similar practices were adopted when they were seen as contributing to organizational image, while variation remained when organizational image was not at stake. These findings show that adoption of a voluntary code of environmental practice does not guarantee that companies follow a uniform set of practices or comply fully with the desired norms. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Howard & Jennifer Nash & John Ehrenfeld, 1999. "Industry codes as agents of change: responsible care adoption by US chemical companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(5), pages 281-295, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:8:y:1999:i:5:p:281-295
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0836(199909/10)8:53.0.CO;2-#
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    Cited by:

    1. Debbie Harrison & Geoff Easton, 2002. "Collective action in the face of international environmental regulation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 143-153, May.
    2. Janine Maniora, 2018. "Mismanagement of Sustainability: What Business Strategy Makes the Difference? Empirical Evidence from the USA," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 931-947, November.
    3. Nazim Hussain, 2015. "Impact of Sustainability Performance on Financial Performance: An Empirical Study of Global Fortune (N100) Firms," Working Papers 1, Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    4. Salla Laasonen & Martin Fougère & Arno Kourula, 2012. "Dominant Articulations in Academic Business and Society Discourse on NGO–Business Relations: A Critical Assessment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(4), pages 521-545, September.
    5. Barry D. Solomon & James R. Mihelcic, 2001. "Environmental management codes and continuous environmental improvements: insights from the chemical industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(4), pages 215-224, July.
    6. J. Emil Morhardt & Sarah Baird & Kelly Freeman, 2002. "Scoring corporate environmental and sustainability reports using GRI 2000, ISO 14031 and other criteria," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(4), pages 215-233, December.
    7. Frank de Bakker & André Nijhof, 2002. "Responsible chain management: a capability assessment framework," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 63-75, January.
    8. Cathy L. Hartman & Peter S. Hofman & Edwin R. Stafford, 1999. "Partnerships: a path to sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(5), pages 255-266, September.
    9. Diego A. Vazquez & Catherine Liston‐Heyes, 2008. "Corporate discourse and environmental performance in Argentina," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 179-193, March.
    10. Shawn Pope & Arild Wæraas, 2016. "CSR-Washing is Rare: A Conceptual Framework, Literature Review, and Critique," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 173-193, August.
    11. Xingqiang Du, 2015. "How the Market Values Greenwashing? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 547-574, May.

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