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Navigating through firm–environmental groups' relationships: The impact of societal trust on corporate environmental strategy

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  • Abubakr Saeed
  • Hammad Riaz

Abstract

This study examines the impact of societal trust on corporate environmental strategy with particular reference to the firm–environmental groups' relationship, which has received very little attention in trust literature. Using data on 2332 firms from 16 countries, we find that societal trust exerts a negative effect on the likelihood of ISO 14001 certification. The negative relationship between societal trust and the likelihood of ISO 14001 is more pronounced for firms having intense collaboration with environmental groups. However, this effect appears to be weak in higher market uncertainty. These findings, besides significantly adding to the literature, have practical and managerial implications.

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  • Abubakr Saeed & Hammad Riaz, 2021. "Navigating through firm–environmental groups' relationships: The impact of societal trust on corporate environmental strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3552-3568, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:30:y:2021:i:8:p:3552-3568
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2819
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    2. Huixiang Zeng & Xuemei Li & Qiong Zhou & Lin Wang, 2022. "Local government environmental regulatory pressures and corporate environmental strategies: Evidence from natural resource accountability audits in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3060-3082, November.
    3. Abubakr Saeed & Qasim Ali & Hammad Riaz & Muhammad Asif Khan, 2022. "Audit Committee Independence and Auditor Reporting for Financially Distressed Companies: Evidence From an Emerging Economy," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    4. Saeed, Abubakr & Riaz, Hammad & Baloch, Muhammad Saad, 2022. "Does big data utilization improve firm legitimacy?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).

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