Salient stakeholder voices: Family business and green innovation adoption

One striking finding from recent natural environmental management research is that family firms are more likely to engage in environmentally friendly practices. However, the source of such difference is less clear. The primary objective of our research is to investigate if family firms react to stakeholder pressures differently when making natural environmental management decisions. We survey 235 manufacturing firms from the chemical, and the electronic and information technology industries in Taiwan to test our hypotheses. The results of regression analysis show that family firms pay much more attention to their internal stakeholders than non-family firms. This finding complements the current discussions on family business uniqueness. It also contributes to provide a more comprehensive framework of stakeholder salience.

[1]  M. Drumwright Socially Responsible Organizational Buying: Environmental Concern as a Noneconomic Buying Criterion , 1994 .

[2]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[3]  Petra Christmann,et al.  Globalization and the Environment: Determinants of Firm Self-Regulation in China , 2001 .

[4]  Shankar Ganesan Determinants of Long-Term Orientation in Buyer-Seller Relationships , 1994 .

[5]  J. Kimberly,et al.  Organizational innovation: the influence of individual, organizational, and contextual factors on hospital adoption of technological and administrative innovations. , 1981, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[6]  R. Freeman Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach , 2010 .

[7]  Petra Christmann MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT: DETERMINANTS OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY STANDARDIZATION , 2004 .

[8]  Mark C. Suchman Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches , 1995 .

[9]  Perry Sadorsky,et al.  The Relationship Between Environmental Commitment and Managerial Perceptions of Stakeholder Importance , 1999 .

[10]  Aracruz Celulose S.A Changing course: a global business perspective on development and the environment , 1992 .

[11]  Ronald K. Mitchell,et al.  Who Matters to Ceos? An Investigation of Stakeholder Attributes and Salience, Corpate Performance, and Ceo Values , 1999 .

[12]  Susan Kitchell Corporate culture, environmental adaptation, and innovation adoption: A qualitative/quantitative approach , 1995 .

[13]  R. MacCallum,et al.  THE APPLICATION OF EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS IN APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY: A CRITICAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS , 1986 .

[14]  C. A. Ramus Organizational Support for Employees: Encouraging Creative Ideas for Environmental Sustainability , 2001 .

[15]  María de la Cruz Déniz Déniz,et al.  Corporate Social Responsibility and Family Business in Spain , 2005 .

[16]  T. Gladwin,et al.  Shifting Paradigms for Sustainable Development: Implications for Management Theory and Research , 1995 .

[17]  Carole Howorth,et al.  Ownership and Management Issues Associated With Family Firm Performance and Company Objectives , 2006 .

[18]  U. Steger,et al.  The Roles of Supervisory Support Behaviors and Environmental Policy in Employee “Ecoinitiatives” at Leading-Edge European Companies. , 2000 .

[19]  Downsizing and Stakeholder Orientation Among the Fortune 500: Does Family Ownership Matter? , 2007 .

[20]  Glen Taylor,et al.  Globalization and the Environment: Determinants of Firm Self-Regulation in China , 2001 .

[21]  Ronald K. Mitchell,et al.  Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts , 1997 .

[22]  J. Jaccard,et al.  Interaction effects in multiple regression , 1992 .

[23]  Johan Wiklund,et al.  Entrepreneurial Orientation, Risk Taking, and Performance in Family Firms , 2007 .

[24]  J. Aragón-Correa Strategic proactivity and firm approach to the natural environment , 1998 .

[25]  Marc J. Epstein,et al.  Managing corporate environmental performance:: A multinational perspective , 1998 .

[26]  J. Aragón-Correa RESEARCH NOTES. STRATEGIC PROACTIVITY AND FIRM APPROACH TO THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. , 1998 .

[27]  A. Marcus,et al.  Introduction to the Special Research Forum on the Management of Organizations in the Natural Environment: A Field Emerging From Multiple Paths, With Many Challenges Ahead , 2000 .

[28]  Perry Sadorsky,et al.  The Determinants of an Environmentally Responsive Firm: An Empirical Approach , 1996 .

[29]  Shaker A. Zahra,et al.  Entrepreneurship in Family vs. Non–Family Firms: A Resource–Based Analysis of the Effect of Organizational Culture , 2004 .

[30]  Larry E. Toothaker,et al.  Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions , 1991 .

[31]  Daniel L. McConaughy,et al.  Founding Family Controlled Firms: Performance, Risk, and Value , 2001 .

[32]  G. Tomas,et al.  A Research Agenda for the Nexus of Product Development and Supply Chain Management Processes , 2003 .

[33]  Irene Henriques,et al.  Stakeholder influences on sustainability practices in the Canadian forest products industry , 2005 .

[34]  Chad Nehrt,et al.  Maintainability of First Mover Advantages When Environmental Regulations Differ Between Countries , 1998 .

[35]  Martina Blum-Kusterer,et al.  Innovation and corporate sustainability: An investigation into the process of change in the pharmaceuticals industry , 2001 .

[36]  S. Hart A Natural-Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1995 .

[37]  Peter S. Davis,et al.  The Influence of Family on the Family Business Succession Process: a Multi-Generational Perspective , 1998 .

[38]  Stephen Fineman,et al.  GREEN STAKEHOLDERS: INDUSTRY INTERPRETATIONS AND RESPONSE* , 1996 .

[39]  M. Starik,et al.  Weaving An Integrated Web: Multilevel and Multisystem Perspectives of Ecologically Sustainable Organizations , 1995 .

[40]  Jianwen Liao,et al.  Organizational Culture and Patterns of Information Processing: The Case of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises , 2004 .

[41]  Richard Whitley,et al.  Eastern Asian Enterprise Structures and the Comparative Analysis of Forms of Business Organization , 1990 .

[42]  Jeff Frooman Stakeholder Influence Strategies , 1999 .

[43]  D. Pujari Eco-innovation and new product development: understanding the influences on market performance , 2006 .

[44]  L. Gómez-Mejia,et al.  Socioemotional Wealth and Business Risks in Family-controlled Firms: Evidence from Spanish Olive Oil Mills , 2007 .

[45]  M. Polonsky A stakeholder theory approach to designing environmental marketing strategy , 1995 .

[46]  J. Elkington Towards the Sustainable Corporation: Win-Win-Win Business Strategies for Sustainable Development , 1994 .

[47]  M. Khanna,et al.  Corporate Environmental Management: Regulatory and Market-Based Incentives , 2002, Land Economics.

[48]  Terry S. Overton,et al.  Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys , 1977 .

[49]  W. Dyer,et al.  Culture and Continuity in Family Firms , 1988 .

[50]  John L. Ward,et al.  The family business : its governance for sustainability , 1998 .

[51]  E. Iyer,et al.  Corporate Environmentalism: Antecedents and Influence of Industry Type , 2003 .

[52]  Justin B. Craig,et al.  The Natural Environment, Innovation, and Firm Performance: A Comparative Study , 2006 .

[53]  Petra Christmann Multinational Companies and the Natural Environment: Determinants of Global Environmental Policy , 2004 .

[54]  F. Damanpour,et al.  Organizational innovation and performance: The problem of "organizational lag." , 1984 .

[55]  S. Bell,et al.  STAKEHOLDER SALIENCE REVISITED: TOWARD AN ACTIONABLE TOOL FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF STAKEHOLDERS. , 2004 .

[56]  J. H. Davis,et al.  TOWARD A STEWARDSHIP THEORY OF MANAGEMENT , 1997 .

[57]  J. Child Organizational Structure, Environment and Performance: The Role of Strategic Choice , 1972 .

[58]  S. Baines,et al.  The Family Business Tradition in Britain and Norway , 1997 .

[59]  P. Bentler,et al.  Significance Tests and Goodness of Fit in the Analysis of Covariance Structures , 1980 .

[60]  S. Zahra International expansion of U.S. manufacturing family businesses: the effect of ownership and involvement , 2003 .

[61]  Geoff Taylor,et al.  An integrated systems approach to environmental management: A case study of IBM UK , 1993 .

[62]  Rolph E. Anderson,et al.  Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings , 1979 .

[63]  A. Schwab,et al.  Turnaround Strategies in Established Small Family Firms , 2008 .

[64]  Monder Ram,et al.  Relative Merits: Family Culture and Kinship in Small Firms , 1993 .

[65]  M. Gallo The Family Business and Its Social Responsibilities , 2004 .

[66]  E. Stavrou,et al.  Securing the Future of the Family Enterprise: A Model of Offspring Intentions to Join the Business , 1998 .

[67]  Carolyn P. Egri,et al.  Leadership in the North American Environmental Sector: Values, Leadership Styles, and Contexts of Environmental Leaders and their Organizations , 2000 .

[68]  P. Shrivastava CASTRATED Environment: GREENING Organizational Studies , 1994 .

[69]  C. Lei,et al.  On "Green Marketing" , 2006 .

[70]  C. Aronoff Self-Perpetuation Family Organization Built on Values: Necessary Condition for Long-Term Family Business Survival , 2004 .

[71]  D. Pujari,et al.  Green and competitive: Influences on environmental new product development performance , 2003 .

[72]  Dennis A. Kaufman Negative externalities and welfare improving preference changes , 1995 .

[73]  A. Verbeke,et al.  Proactive environmental strategies: a stakeholder management perspective , 2003 .

[74]  Peter P. Groenewegen,et al.  Product waste in the automotive industry: Technology and environmental management , 1993 .

[75]  Stanley G. Harris,et al.  Organizational Culture and Individual Sensemaking: A Schema-Based Perspective , 1994 .

[76]  Anita D. Bhappu,et al.  The Japanese Family: An Institutional Logic for Japanese Corporate Networks and Japanese Management , 2000 .

[77]  Wendi Bukowitz,et al.  Women, Family Culture, and Family Business , 1990 .

[78]  J. Nunnally Psychometric Theory (2nd ed), New York: McGraw-Hill. , 1978 .