Categorizing Variables Affecting the Proactive Environmental Orientation of Firms

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

1 Faculty of Social Sciences. University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

2 Faculty of Economics and Business Studies. University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

3 Management Department, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain

Abstract

Despite several authors having studied the strategic approach to environmental orientation and,
considering that environmental proactivity is emerging in business strategy, it still remains unclear which real
actions influence a firm’s environmental orientation. An empirical analysis of a sample of 126 Spanish companies shows that firms’ actions are explained as training, information and divulgation actions; firms’ goals are understood as actions to improve business competitiveness, and agents’ implications and firms’ management implications explain the environmental proactivity of firms, while obstacles with negative effects are also identified. This paper undertakes a questionnaire-based study of environmental proactivity to explain the relations among variables through a Structural Equation Modeling (EQS) model.

Keywords