The public as a definitive stakeholder of corporate environmental sustainability practices: A cross-national institutional approach

• Published in: Journal of environmental management 2024-11, Vol.370, p.122666, Article 122666
• Main Authors: Konwar, Ziko, Wei, Yingqi, Wood, Geoffrey, Eng-Tuck Cheah, Jeremy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Comparative institutional analysis; Conservation of Natural Resources; Corporate environmental sustainability; Energy transitions; Humans; Public expectations; Stakeholders; Varieties of capitalism; Varieties of institutional systems (VIS)
• ISSN: 0301-4797; 1095-8630; 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122666

An emerging body of literature connects the well-known Varieties of Capitalism framework (and its variants) with the propensity of nations to move away from hydrocarbons. Our study extends this work by exploring how macro-level institutional configurations matter for public expectations towards corporate environmental sustainability practices. By linking survey data of public-as-stakeholders to institutional systems encompassing 16 countries (N = 7156), we use multi-level modelling to test the explanatory power of a theoretically well-refined recent construct, namely, the Varieties of Institutional Systems — and discover significant variations associated with public expectations across different institutional systems. The findings, however, defy the notion of a clear distinction between mature and emerging markets or that mature institutional systems consistently hold firms to higher environmental standards. Rather surprisingly and counter-intuitively, we find that public-as-stakeholders from State-Led institutional systems had the highest expectations towards corporate environmental sustainability practices. We outline some of the major theoretical and policy implications of our research findings. •Public expectations of corporate environmental sustainabilitycan be ranked according to macro-institutional configurations (country-level).•Our evidence disputes the prevailing, unsubtle distinction between mature and emerging markets.•State-Led institutional systems demonstrated highest expectations towards corporate environmental management.•Public-as-stakeholders in mature institutional systems do not necessarily hold firms to higher environmental standards.