Claver E., López M.D., Molina

The Influence of the Environmental Regulation on Environmental Management in Spain

Claver E., López M.D., Molina
J.F. Department of Business Management.
Alicante University, Spain.
Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences
Campus de San Vicente del Raspeig, Ap. 99, 03080 Alicante, Spain
E-mail: md.lopez@ua.es; enrique.claver@ua.es; jf.molina@ua.es
Telephone (Fax): 0034 965903606

Abstract

Although most of the literature related to the environmental regulation stands out the effect of the legislation in the managers´ attitude about the environment as a competitive opportunity, there isn’t strong empirical evidence supporting this argumentation. For that reason, the aim of this work is to test this affirmation, distinguishing between environmental legislation and voluntary normative. The first phase of the study involve comparative case studies of different sectors through indepth interviews in eight firms in Spain. This study is intended to examine the linkages between environmental normative and manager´s interpretation by sectors, and understand the nature of the relations. The second phase involve testing the propositions emergent in the first phase through a structural equation model of the 239 hotels and 208 enterprises affected by IPPC law in Spain. The results show that in both samples the voluntary normative has a positive and a significative influence in the generation of the managers´ interpretation about the environment as a competitive opportunity. The impact of the environmental legislation is negative and significative in the hotel sector. On the contrary, it does not happen in the enterprises of the sector affected by IPPC law.