13th International Conference of The Greening of Industry July 2-5, 2006 CARDIFF - WALES An Attitudinal-Discursive Approach to Sustainability: The Case of Argentina’s Polluting Firms Vazquez, D.A. – Royal Holloway, University of London Liston-Heyes, C. – Royal Holloway, University of London

An important stream of literature investigate human factors in the determination of corporate environmental performance. Empirical Evidence mixed, Values difficult to assess Discourse analysis could be used to unveil the paradigms that help explain why an individual or group of individuals (e.g. a firm) behave in the way they do INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY Gaining a greater understanding of managers’ values, attitudes and intentions will help explain corporate behaviour Theoretical approaches, no empirical link to corporate behaviour Are managers´ values, beliefs and attitudes at the heart of genuine improvements in a firm’s environmental performance (i.e. its action)?

To develop a behavioural model of corporate environmental performance that focuses on the interactions between managers’ values and environmental behavioural intentions taking into account the context in which these intentions are formed INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY AIM

INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY The Value-Attitudes-Intention-Context-Action (VAICA) Model is an attempt at synthesising developments in the field of behavioural research, environmental economics and discourse analysis It reflects discourse theories by recognising that actions are guided by paradigms which reflect each individual’s system of values and beliefs It uses behavioural theories by assuming that an individual’s values will first need to be converted into attitudes and behavioural intentions before they materialise into a specific behaviour and that this process will be affected by the individual’s governance principles and locus of control VAICA MODEL (Values-Attitudes-Intention-Context-Action)

INTRODUCTIONRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY VAICA MODEL (Values-Attitudes-Intention-Context-Action) THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

INTRODUCTIONRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY HYPOTHESIS : H1: Basic assumptions, values, and beliefs (i.e. the core environmental mindset) can explain variations in intended environmental behaviour (EMI) THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK H2: Policy variables will impact upon the core environmental mindset by amplifying or dampening intentions to behave in an environmentally friendly manner. H3: Internal and external pressures to behave for or against the environment will amplify or dampen the effects of core environmental values and impact upon managers’ intended environmental behaviour.

SECTOR: Polluting Firms in Buenos Aires Province Sample Frame: 4000 prioritary polluters Sample: 536 firms Collection of Data: 1.Government/IDB Support 2.Pre-testing: Focus Groups 3.Pilot Surveys 4.Face-to-face delivery by municipalities’ surveyors 5.Training & financial incentives to surveyors Response Rate: 76 % (March to September, 2005) Random checks to companies were made to verify the responses submitted by the surveyors INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY THE SURVEY :

INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY Questionnaire 1: Firm’s environmental practices Manager in charge of environmental affairs 300 questions, 60 minutes to complete Questionnaire 2: Managers’ environmental values Senior manager empowered to take strategic decisions on environmental issues at company level 98 questions, 20 minutes to complete TWO QUESTIONNAIRES THE SURVEY :

INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY THE ESTIMATED VAICA MODEL OF ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR

INTENDED BEHAVIOUR (EMI) INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY CORE VALUES POLICY VARIABLES CONTEXT VARIABLES DEPENDENT VARIABLE INDEPENDENT VARIABLES REGRESSION EQUATION:

INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY A hierarchical regression model was built in five distinct stages MODEL 1: Control variables MODEL 2: Stage 1 +environmental values (H1) MODEL 3: Stage 2 + policy variables (H2) MODEL 4: Stage 3 + pressures and obstacles (H3) MODEL 5: Stage 4 + demographic variables Model 1Model 2 Model 3Model 4Model 5 REGRESSION

INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY SUMMARY STATISTISTICS REGRESSION MODELS 1-5

INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY Location: Firms located in areas where household have a higher number of dependents (children, pensioners) will tend to invest more heavily in environmental management systems (Higher EMI). Ownership and Size: High EMI firms will tend to be larger with headquarters overseas. Supply Chain: Firms that are located towards the start of the supply chain are associated with higher environmental investments levels Firms with high EMI index will also tend to be proactive on health and safety issues and will routinely participate in CSR projects Firms with higher levels of stakeholder integration will also have more developed environmental management systems RESULTS: Firms’ characteristics

INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY Ethics: Firms with managers who care about the environment (on ethical, profits, or legal grounds) tend to have more developed environmental management systems than firms populated by managers who treat the environment either as a replenishable resource or as a minor priority dominated by either social concerns (e.g. poverty). Obstacles: The representative managers at these firms also typically agree that the Argentinean market environment does not provide the incentives to be more proactive and hampers firms’ attempts at doing so. Governance: At the same time, they do not endorse the notion that we are experiencing the symptoms of an environmental crisis requiring systematic changes in the way we conduct our business activities. Locus of Control: Firms which managers feel empowered to act (authority, resources, ability to improve) will have higher EMS RESULTS: Managers

The explanatory power of our analysis in documenting variations in the scale and scope of environmental management across firms (fluctuating around 50%) is promising. Environmental performance is preceded by environmental intentions reflecting corporate environmental values that have been amplified/dampened by context factors Core environmental values and policy level variables are key determinants of environmental behavioural intentions Policy level variables, notably managers’ locus of control (i.e. the extent to which they feel empowered to act in matters of the environment) and the principles of governance they adhere to (i.e. how should Nature be managed) will amplify or dampen pro-environment core value thereby affecting the translation of values into intentions to behave Stakeholder pressures, particularly those applied by suppliers and buyers in the firm’s vertical chain will substantially influence a firm’s EMI lending support to the ‘cascade effect’ associated with environmental standards INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY CONCLUSIONS

Policy variables can be manipulated and any insight on how they impact upon environmental behaviour is potentially useful Education programmes that explicitly target the inter-phase values-intentions may become efficient regulatory tool Raising managers’ awareness on environmental aspects is necessary but not sufficient to improve performance. Managers should feel they are empowered to act and can make a difference with their actions Supply chain related pressures will be particularly important in a developing country like Argentina who is primarily concerned with securing access to markets in Europe and the US.. INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY IMPLICATIONS

13th International Conference of The Greening of Industry July 2-5, 2006 CARDIFF - WALES An Attitudinal-Discursive Approach to Sustainability: The Case of Argentina’s Polluting Firms THANKS! Vazquez, D.A. – Royal Holloway, University of London Liston-Heyes, C. – Royal Holloway, University of London

INTRODUCTIONTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORKRESULTSCONCLUSIONSMETHODOLOGY Streamlined Regression Model

Table 3: Policy Variables-Locus of Control

Table 4: Policy Variables-Governance Principles