Stakeholder pressure and environmental proactivity

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Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to learn more about the relationship between managers' perception of stakeholder pressure related to environmental matters and the degree of proactivity of firms' environmental strategies. It seeks to analyse the moderating effect that managers' perception of environmental issues as competitive advantage opportunities can have on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling (SEM) is applied to verify the research framework. Findings – The results indicate that, only in the least polluting firms, managers' competitive advantage expectations derived from environmental management moderate the relationship between the degree of environmental proactivity and stakeholder pressure. However, it is not effective in high polluting firms, perhaps as a consequence of the high degree of stakeholders' environmental pressure perceived by managers. Practical implications – The results highlight the relevance of managers' subjective perceptions of the potential of environmental protection measures to generate competitive advantages. They suggest that the consideration of this variable is fundamental in order to better understand the degree of proactivity of firms' environmental strategies, as well as the influence of stakeholder pressure on environmental proactivity. The main limitation is the low response rate of the survey. Originality/value – This is an original contribution because, although there are studies analysing how stakeholder pressure and managers' perceptions and values affect choice of environmental strategy, none of them analyse the combined impact of both issues.

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