Heterogeneous behavioral patterns influencing the proactive environmental orientation of firms: How does your company look?

• Published in: Innovation (North Sydney) Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 69 - 80
• Main Authors: Segarra-Oña, María-del-Val, Mondéjar-Jiménez, José, Peiró-Signes, Ángel, Mondéjar-Jiménez, Juan-Antonio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Maleny Routledge 02-01-2015; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Algorithms; Attitudes; Behavior; Competition; Competitive advantage; Environment management; Environmental aspects; environmental drivers; Environmental management; environmental orientation; environmental proactivity; Environmental regulations; Environmentalism; Estimates; Estimation; FIMIX analysis; Hypotheses; Industrial plants; Influence; Innovations; Joints; Mathematical models; Methodology; Modelling; Orientation; PLS study; Regulation; Segments; Spanish industrial firms; Stakeholders; Studies; sustainable behavior; Sustainable development; Spain
• ISSN: 1447-9338; 2204-0226
• DOI: 10.1080/14479338.2015.1012187

Components related to sustainable development - such as environmental attitude, eco-innovation or environmental management - are considered key variables at the competitive level, which is why it has become urgent to study which factors motivate companies to move towards a more proactive environmental attitude. The identification of different groups in connection with estimates in the inner path model constitutes a critical issue when applying the path modelling methodology. In this paper, we identify groups of firms with similar behaviour (that is, firm segments) using the FIMIX-PLS algorithm, allowing companies to identify their environmental behaviour and therefore to make proper decisions when enhancing their environmental approach. We surveyed and interviewed 135 industrial companies located in the Valencia region of Spain. The results indicate that companies belong to three different groups that are defined by their motivation towards environmental proactivity, namely "environmental opponents", "environmental driven" and "environmental trainers".