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Cited by 249Quality and Management SystemsManagement and Organizational StudiesEnvironmental Sustainability in Business

An Institutional Perspective on the Diffusion of International Management System Standards: The Case of the Environmental Management Standard ISO 14001

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Delmas, Magali A., Montes-Sancho, Maria J.·2011·Business Ethics Quarterly
DOI 10.5840/beq20112115
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Abstract

This paper analyzes how national institutional factors affect the adoption of the international environmental management standard ISO 14001, using a panel of 139 countries from 1996 to 2006. The analysis emphasizes that during the emerging phase of the standard, the potential lack of consensus within the constituents of the national institutional environment concerning the value of a new standard could send mixed signals to firms about the standard. The results show that in the early phase of adoption, regulative and normative forces within the institutional environment can work against each other. Results also show that regulative or coercive forces play a relatively more important role in the early phase of adoption of the standard than in the subsequent phases of diffusion. In the later phases of diffusion of ISO 14001, normative forces, such as the diffusion of other management standards, as well as factors related to trade, play a more important role. Because of the similarities between environmental management standards and corporate social responsibility standards, this study can help identify some of the challenges for diffusion of ISO management standards in the area of social responsibility.

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  • Environmental management systems (EMS) are other forms of mimetic isomorphism.

    “Environmental management systems (EMS) are other forms of mimetic isomorphism (Delmas & Montes-Sancho 2011).”

    From Conceptualising the adoption of sustainable procurement: an institutional theory perspective (2014) · cites this paper as Delmas & Montes-Sancho 2011

    In “Hypotheses: In Search of ISO” (page unavailable), the paper says firms may mimic competitors by adopting ISO 14001; its “ISO 14001” section identifies that standard as describing an environmental management system. This supports mimetic adoption of an EMS standard, but not the broader claim that EMS themselves are forms of mimetic isomorphism. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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4 of the 69 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 23

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Authors
Delmas, M. A., & Montes-Sancho, M. J.
Affiliations
University of California, Los Angeles (US)
ORCID
Delmas, Magali A.
Venue
Business Ethics Quarterly
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
2011-01
Volume
21
Issue
1
Pages
103-132
ISSN
  • 1052-150X (ISSN-L)
  • 2153-3326
DOI
10.5840/beq20112115
OpenAlex
W2150649775
Cited by
249
References
69
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 13
FWCI
51.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 1483 d)
Locations
  • Business Ethics Quarterly (publishedVersion)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • e-Archivo (Carlos III University of Madrid) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Quality and Management Systems
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
Keywords
ISO 14001, environmental management standards, institutional theory, normative force, coercivity, international standards adoption, corporate social responsibility standards

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