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Proactive Environmental Strategies in Healthcare Organisations: Drivers and Barriers in Italy

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  • Marta Pinzone
  • Emanuele Lettieri
  • Cristina Masella

Abstract

This study sheds new light on why healthcare organisations are having difficulty responding to the growing pressure from stakeholders to proactively address their responsibility to deliver high-quality services without harming the environment. Basing our work on past research on stakeholder pressure and environmental barriers, we conceptualise and empirically test the effect of the interplay between stakeholder pressure and internal barriers on healthcare organisations’ adoption of proactive environmental strategies (PESs). To test the proposed hypotheses, a survey was carried out among medical directors of Italian healthcare organisations in 2012. Our results show that the lack of commitment to environmental issues within the organisation represents the main barrier to healthcare organisations’ implementing PESs. Furthermore, the difficulties in evaluating the impacts of advanced environmental practices negatively moderate the influence of stakeholders on developing PESs. Our findings contribute to extending previous knowledge on PESs in two ways: (i) focusing on the healthcare sector, our study investigates the phenomenon in a research context that has been largely overlooked in the sustainability literature; and (ii) cross-cutting previous research on stakeholder pressure and internal barriers, the study conceptualises and tests a more complete framework for understanding the adoption of PESs. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

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  • Marta Pinzone & Emanuele Lettieri & Cristina Masella, 2015. "Proactive Environmental Strategies in Healthcare Organisations: Drivers and Barriers in Italy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(1), pages 183-197, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:131:y:2015:i:1:p:183-197
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2275-8
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    4. Christin Seifert, 2018. "The Barriers for Voluntary Environmental Management Systems—The Case of EMAS in Hospitals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, May.
    5. 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.
    6. Christin Seifert & Matthias Damert & Edeltraud Guenther, 2020. "Environmental Management in German Hospitals—A Classification of Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-24, May.
    7. Zakaria Elkhwesky, 2022. "A systematic and major review of proactive environmental strategies in hospitality and tourism: Looking back for moving forward," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3274-3301, November.
    8. Ana Nave & João Ferreira, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility strategies: Past research and future challenges," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 885-901, July.
    9. Yiğit Kazançoğlu & Muhittin Sağnak & Çisem Lafcı & Sunil Luthra & Anil Kumar & Caner Taçoğlu, 2021. "Big Data-Enabled Solutions Framework to Overcoming the Barriers to Circular Economy Initiatives in Healthcare Sector," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-21, July.
    10. Oksana Seroka‐Stolka & Kamil Fijorek, 2020. "Enhancing corporate sustainable development: Proactive environmental strategy, stakeholder pressure and the moderating effect of firm size," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2338-2354, September.
    11. Teena Bharti & Satish Chandra Ojha & Aviral Kumar Tiwari, 2022. "Interplay of Workplace Sustainability, Sustainable Work Performance, Optimism, and Resilience: The Moderating Role of Green Creativity in Luxury Hotels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-15, November.
    12. Ying Guo & Lifang Wang, 2022. "Environmental Entrepreneurial Orientation and Firm Performance: The Role of Environmental Innovation and Stakeholder Pressure," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440211, February.
    13. Antonia Madrid‐Guijarro & Antonio Duréndez, 2024. "Sustainable development barriers and pressures in SMEs: The mediating effect of management commitment to environmental practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 949-967, February.
    14. Jesús Valero-Gil & Pilar Rivera-Torres & Conchita Garcés-Ayerbe, 2017. "How Is Environmental Proactivity Accomplished? Drivers and Barriers in Firms’ Pro-Environmental Change Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, July.
    15. Caterina Cavicchi & Chiara Oppi & Emidia Vagnoni, 2022. "Back and Forth on Sustainable Development: A Focus on Healthcare Organisations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, April.

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