A voluntary public-private partnership: Do state policy regimes matter?

초록

To explain a recent trend of corporate voluntary actions toward environmental protection, academic literature pays little attention to the context in which state environmental policy is formulated. State government activities have been important for controlling pollutions and the variation in environmental protection can influence firms’ decisions to undertake voluntary environmental initiatives (VEI). This paper examines This paper examines how state regulatory regimes influence a firm's decision to participate in a public-private voluntary environmental partnership -- National Environmental Performance Track (NEPT) program -- that EPA initiated in 2001. In the program, top environmental leaders are recognized and encouraged to achieve higher levels of environmental protection through the use of environmental management systems and local community involvement. It particularly focuses on environmental regulatory pressures, community environmental pressures, and peer environmental pressures that shape state regulatory regimes.