| Corporate environmental responsibility (CER) is the organization wide recognition of the legitimacy and importance of the biophysical environment in the formulation of organizational strategy, and the integration of environmental issues into the strategic planning process (Banerjee, 2000). This dissertation studies the organizational and strategic factors that influence the CER of firms operating in emerging economies and focuses specifically on firms in the oil, gas and chemical sectors of Trinidad and Tobago. It therefore offers the opportunity to expand the literature since the vast majority of previous studies have focused only on industrialized countries.; This study combines the complementary insights of resource dependence and institutional theories to elucidate firm characteristics and management actions that lead to higher CER. Resource dependence theory argues that CER is an organizational response to the firm's need to manage or reduce its interdependence on other organizations for key resources crucial to its survival. Institutional theory argues that CER stems from efforts by the firm to conform to social expectations and acceptable economic behavior to maintain its legitimacy.; The proposed hypotheses are tested using multiple ordinary least squares regression techniques. Cross sectional data on firm characteristics and management behaviors were collected from 131 firms and firm CER ratings were calculated based on responses to a questionnaire administered to the firm's government, community and value chain stakeholders.; Results indicate that higher levels of CER are related to inclusion of environmental board members; industry association membership; location of facilities in state industrial parks; taking more adaptive and less altering actions in the face of increasing regulations; selection of environmentally responsible suppliers; having a CEO who is more involved in environmental decision making and possessing a good prior environmental record.; From a public policy perspective these results suggest that governments should encourage inter firm co-operation, increase monitoring efforts, require more mandatory reporting and reinforce regulatory agency autonomy. From a business perspective, these findings suggest that gains can be made through internally integrating environmental responsibility at the governance, leadership and functional levels and externally taking proactive, visible action to incorporate key stakeholders into the corporate planning process. |
