Corporate Environmentalism in a Small Emerging Economy: Stakeholder Perceptions and the Influence of Firm Characteristics

This study presents a neo-institutional perspective of the perceptions of corporate environmentalism held by stakeholder groups relative to each other and the influence that specific firm-level characteristics, such as size, ownership, compliance record, and location, have on these perceptions. Empirical evidence is gathered from the emerging economy context of Trinidad and Tobago and its pollution-intensive oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors. Results indicate that non-governmental and community-based organizations (NGOs/CBOs) are most critical and business chains least critical of corporate environmentalism. All stakeholders perceive larger firms and those with strong compliance records as having stronger corporate environmentalism, while government stakeholders perceive foreign-owned firms, business chain perceives urban-based firms, and NGOs/CBOs perceive state-owned firms as having stronger corporate environmentalism. These preliminary findings can guide corporate managers in handling stakeholder relations and can guide policy-makers seeking to circumvent industry-stakeholder friction in emerging economies. Copyright (c) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.