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Does Adoption of Management Standards Deliver Efficiency Gain in Firms’ Pursuit of Sustainability Performance? An Empirical Investigation of Chinese Manufacturing Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoling Wang

    (School of Economics and Management, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Haiying Lin

    (School of Environment, Enterprise & Development, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Olaf Weber

    (School of Environment, Enterprise & Development, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada)

Abstract
Building on longitudinal data from 73 Chinese manufacturing firms during 2009–2012, we assess whether and how firms gain higher efficiency in achieving their sustainability goals by adopting management practice standards (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and/or OHSAS 18001). We propose four pathways for firms to gain sustainability efficiency in their certification journey: participation, qualitative integration, quantitative expansion, and temporal accumulation. Our results confirm that firms certifying management standards gain higher efficiency in pursuing their sustainability goals than firms without these standards. We also find some support for increased efficiency effect in firms with diverse management systems over firms with only a single certificate in 2011. Finally, our results highlight the experiential and temporal accumulation effect of such efficiency gains, that is, firms with prior certification experience or having a longer certification history demonstrate higher efficiency gains in pursuing their sustainability goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoling Wang & Haiying Lin & Olaf Weber, 2016. "Does Adoption of Management Standards Deliver Efficiency Gain in Firms’ Pursuit of Sustainability Performance? An Empirical Investigation of Chinese Manufacturing Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:7:p:694-:d:74360
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