Abstract
In this paper, we develop an argument to show why we expect that multinational companies will ensure that they communicate credibly about their environmental responsibility, across all their subsidiaries. Credible environmental communication helps to increase the firm’s legitimacy and reduce its liability of foreignness on an issue that is globally relevant. We develop a measure to test if there is a standardized level of environmental communication credibility on the country-specific web sites of MNC subsidiaries around the world and find, in fact, that there is considerable variation across countries, among subsidiaries of different firms and among subsidiaries of the same multinational. We discuss the reasons for this and the implications for firm legitimacy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bansal P., Clelland I. (2004) Talking Trash: Legitimacy, Impression Management, and Unsystematic Risk in the Context of the Natural Environment. Academy of Management Journal 47(1):93–103
Bansal P., Roth K. (2000) Why Companies Go Green: A Model of Ecological Responsiveness. Academy of Management Journal 43(4):717–736
Birkinshaw J. M., Morrison A. J. (1995) Configurations of Strategy and Structure in Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations. Journal of International Business Studies 26(4):729–754
Christmann P. (2004) Multinational Companies and the Natural Environment: Determinants of Global Environmental Policy Standardization. Academy of Management Journal 47(5):747–760
Christmann P., Taylor G. (2001) Globalization and the Environment: Determinants of Firm Self-regulation in China. Journal of International Business Studies 32(3):439–458
Deegan C., Rankin M. (1996) Do Australian Companies Report Environmental News Objectively? An analysis of Environmental Disclosures by Firms Prosecuted Successfully by the Environmental Protection Authority. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 9(2):50–68
Deegan C., Rankin M., Tobin J. (2002) An Examination of the Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosures of BHP from 1983–1997: A Test of Legitimacy Theory. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 15(3):312–343
Delmas M. (2001) Stakeholders and Competitive Advantage: The Case of ISO 14001. Production and Operations Management 10(3):343–358
DiMaggio P. J., Powell W. W. (1983) The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. American Sociological Review 48(2):147–160
Elsbach K. D. (1994) Managing Organizational Legitimacy in the California Cattle Industry: The Construction and Effectiveness of Verbal Accounts. Administrative Science Quarterly 39(1):57–88
Esrock S. L., Leichty G. B. (2000) Organization of Corporate Web Pages: Publics and Functions. Public Relations Review 26(3):327–344
Fornell C., Larcker D. F. (1981) Evaluating Structural Equation Models With Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error. Journal of Marketing Research 18(1):39–50
Geringer J. M., Hebert L. (1989) Control and Performance of International Joint Ventures. Journal of International Business Studies 20(2):235–254
Hart S. L. (1995) A Natural Resource-Based View of the Firm. Academy of Management Review 20(4):986–1014
Hayduk L. (1987) Structural Equation Modelling with LISREL: Essentials and Advancements. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Hooghiemstra R. (2000) Corporate Communication and Impression Management-New Perspectives Why Companies Engage in Corporate Social Reporting. Journal of Business Ethics 27(1/2):55–68
Hoskisson R. E., Hitt M. A., Johnson R. A., Moesel D. D. (1993) Construct Validity of an Objective (Entropy) Categorical Measure of Diversification Strategy. Strategic Management Journal 14(3):215–235
Hymer S. (1976) The International Operations of National Firms. The MIT Press, Cambridge
Ilinitch A. Y., Soderstrom N. S., Thomas T. E. (1998) Measuring Corporate Environmental Performance. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy 17(4,5):383–408
King A. A., Shaver J. M. (2001) Are Aliens Green? Assessing Foreign Establishments’ Environmental Conduct in the United States. Strategic Management Journal 22(11):1069–1085
Kostova T., Roth K. (2002) Adoption of an Organizational Practice by Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations: Institutional and Relational Effects. Academy of Management Journal 45(1):215–233
Krippendorff K. (1980) Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills
Livesey S. M., Kearins K. (2002) Transparent and Caring Corporations? A Study of Sustainability Reports by The Body Shop and Royal Dutch/Shell. Organization and Environment 15(3):233–258
Massey J. E. (2001) Managing Organizational Legitimacy: Communications Strategies for Organizations in Crisis. The Journal of Business Communication 38(2):153–182
McGuire J. (1997) Legitimacy Through Obfuscation: The Presentation of Executive Compensation. International Journal of Organizational Analysis 5(2):115–133
McMillan S. J. (2000) The Microscope and the Moving Target: The Challenge of Applying Content Analysis to the World Wide Web. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 77(1):80–98
Milne M. J., Patten D. M. (2002) Securing Organizational Legitimacy: An Experimental Decision Case Examining the Impact of Environmental Disclosures. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 15(3):372–405
Nebenzahl I. D., Jaffe E. D., Lampert S. I. (1997) Towards a Theory of Country Image Effect on Product Evaluation. Management International Review 37(1):27–49
O’Donovan G. (2002) Environmental Disclosures in the Annual Report: Extending the Applicability and Predictive Power of Legitimacy Theory. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 15(3):344–371
Payne D. M., Raiborn C. A. (2001) Sustainable Development: The Ethics Support the Economics. Journal of Business Ethics 32(2):157–168
Russo M. V., Fouts P. A. (1997) A Resource-Based Perspective on Corporate Environmental Performance and Profitability. Academy of Management Journal 40(3):534–559
Scott W. R. (1995) Institutions and Organizations. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks
Segars, A. H.: 1994, ‘Scale Development in Information Systems Research: A Paradigm Incorporating Unidimensionality and its Assessment’, in Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Information Systems (Vancouver), pp. 1–12
Wilmshurst T. D., Frost G. R. (2000) Corporate Environmental Reporting: A Test of Legitimacy Theory. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 13(1):10–26
Zaheer S. (1995) Overcoming the Liability of Foreignness. Academy of Management Journal 38(2):341–363
Zaheer S., Mosakowski E. (1997) The Dynamics of the Liability of Foreignness: A Global Study of Survival in Financial Services. Strategic Management Journal 18(6):439–464
Zyglidopoulos S. C. (2002) The Social and Environmental Responsibilities of Multinationals: Evidence from the Brent Spar Case. Journal of Business Ethics 36(1–2):141–151
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Trevor Hunter is an assistant professor of business and coordinator of the Management and Organizational Studies program at King’s University College. He received his Ph.D. from the Richard Ivey School of Business. His research interests include the environmental management practices of MNCs and corporate governance.
Pratima Bansal is an associate professor and the Shurniak Professor in International Business at the Richard Ivey School of Business. She received her doctorate from the University of Oxford. Her research interests are primarily in the areas of sustainable development and international business.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hunter, T., Bansal, P. How Standard is Standardized MNC Global Environmental Communication?. J Bus Ethics 71, 135–147 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9130-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9130-5