IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/reggov/v16y2022i3p910-929.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How do external conditions affect the design of local governments' sustainability strategies?

Author

Listed:
  • Hyunjung Ji
  • Nicole Darnall

Abstract

Local governments nationwide have been adopting a variety of sustainability practices in the absence of strong federal guidance. The collection of these practices, which differ in design, forms the local government's sustainability strategy. Some local governments may develop a more focused sustainability strategy to achieve more predictable environmental benefits around a narrower array of environmental issues. By contrast, other local governments are developing a more comprehensive sustainability strategy that is more broadly focused to address complex, interconnected environmental issues. However, the external conditions that give rise to these different strategies is not well understood. Drawing on data for more than 950 U.S. municipal governments, this study provides important evidence that local governments' comprehensive sustainability strategies are influenced more by their community contituents and external environmental settings, with greater pressures in particular from constituents in new economy industries and environmental NGOs. These strategies are also more strongly related to higher disaster risk in the external environmental setting than more focused sustainability strategies. These findings broaden our understanding about why local governments' sustainability strategies differ in their design, which may provide a starting point for understanding how different sustainability strategies relate to actual environmental performance outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Hyunjung Ji & Nicole Darnall, 2022. "How do external conditions affect the design of local governments' sustainability strategies?," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 910-929, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:16:y:2022:i:3:p:910-929
    DOI: 10.1111/rego.12334
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12334
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/rego.12334?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brent Kurapatskie & Nicole Darnall, 2013. "Which Corporate Sustainability Activities are Associated with Greater Financial Payoffs?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 49-61, January.
    2. repec:eme:aaaj00:09513570510609333 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Kahn, Matthew E., 1998. "A household level environmental Kuznets curve," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 269-273, May.
    4. Hyunjung Ji & Nicole Darnall, 2018. "All are not created equal: assessing local governments’ strategic approaches towards sustainability," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 154-175, January.
    5. Su Wild River, 2005. "Enhancing the sustainability efforts of local governments," International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(1/2), pages 46-64.
    6. Kahn, Matthew E., 1999. "The Silver Lining of Rust Belt Manufacturing Decline," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 360-376, November.
    7. Jeffrey M. Berry & Kent E. Portney, 2013. "Sustainability and Interest Group Participation in City Politics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-21, May.
    8. Wallsten, Scott & Kosec, Katrina, 2008. "The effects of ownership and benchmark competition: An empirical analysis of U.S. water systems," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 186-205, January.
    9. Violina P. Rindova & Charles J. Fombrun, 1999. "Constructing competitive advantage: the role of firm–constituent interactions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(8), pages 691-710, August.
    10. William L Swann & Aaron Deslatte, 2019. "What do we know about urban sustainability? A research synthesis and nonparametric assessment," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(9), pages 1729-1747, July.
    11. Graves, Philip E & Waldman, Donald M, 1991. "Multimarket Amenity Compensation and the Behavior of the Elderly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1374-1381, December.
    12. Jeffrey G. Covin & Dennis P. Slevin, 1989. "Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 75-87, January.
    13. Bantel, Karen A., 1998. "Technology-based, "adolescent" firm configurations: strategy identification, context, and performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 205-230, May.
    14. Janet Luft Mobus, 2005. "Mandatory environmental disclosures in a legitimacy theory context," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 18(4), pages 492-517, August.
    15. Matthew E. Kahn, 2000. "The environmental impact of suburbanization," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 569-586.
    16. Maria Manta Conroy & Philip R Berke, 2004. "What Makes a Good Sustainable Development Plan? An Analysis of Factors That Influence Principles of Sustainable Development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(8), pages 1381-1396, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrea Bernini & Laurent Bossavie & Daniel Garrote-Sánchez & Mattia Makovec, 2024. "Corruption as a push and pull factor of migration flows: evidence from European countries," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 263-281, February.
    2. Malte Brettel & Andreas Engelen & Florian Heinemann, 2009. "New entrepreneurial ventures in a globalized world: The role of market orientation," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 88-110, June.
    3. Palmer, Carolin & Niemand, Thomas & Stöckmann, Christoph & Kraus, Sascha & Kailer, Norbert, 2019. "The interplay of entrepreneurial orientation and psychological traits in explaining firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 183-194.
    4. Lin Song & Darline Augustine & Jing Yu Yang, 2016. "Environmental uncertainty, prospector strategy, and new venture performance: the moderating role of network capabilities," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 1103-1126, December.
    5. Hyunjung Ji & Mark Patrick Tate, 2021. "Spillover effects of central cities on sustainability efforts in a metropolitan area," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(1), pages 95-121, March.
    6. S. Arunachalam & Sridhar N. Ramaswami & Pol Herrmann & Doug Walker, 2018. "Innovation pathway to profitability: the role of entrepreneurial orientation and marketing capabilities," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 744-766, July.
    7. Shingo Yoshida & Hironori Yagi, 2021. "Long-Term Development of Urban Agriculture: Resilience and Sustainability of Farmers Facing the Covid-19 Pandemic in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-23, April.
    8. Lu, Jinfeng & Dimov, Dimo, 2023. "A system dynamics modelling of entrepreneurship and growth within firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3).
    9. Insoo Cho & Peter F. Orazem, 2021. "How endogenous risk preferences and sample selection affect analysis of firm survival," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1309-1332, April.
    10. Bryce, Cormac & Dowling, Michael & Lucey, Brian, 2020. "The journal quality perception gap," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(5).
    11. Abiodun Tope Samson, 2015. "The Impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation, Reconfiguring Capability and Moderation of Environmental Turbulence on Export Performance of SMEs in Nigeria," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 7(3), pages 76-87.
    12. Jonathan H. Reed, 2022. "Operational and strategic change during temporary turbulence: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 589-608, June.
    13. Kusa, Rafał & Suder, Marcin & Duda, Joanna, 2023. "Impact of greening on performance in the hospitality industry: Moderating effect of flexibility and inter-organizational cooperation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    14. Amaka Orakwue & Osarumwense Iguisi, 2020. "Conceptualizing entrepreneurship in human resource management," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 9(3), pages 85-93, April.
    15. Chahal, Hardeep & Gupta, Mahesh & Lonial, Subhash & Raina, Swati, 2019. "Operational flexibility-entrepreneurial orientation relationship: Effects and consequences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 154-167.
    16. LaPlue, Lawrence D., 2022. "Environmental consequences of natural gas wellhead pricing deregulation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    17. Francisco Javier Forcadell & Fernando Úbeda, 2022. "Individual entrepreneurial orientation and performance: the mediating role of international entrepreneurship," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 875-900, June.
    18. Bradford David F. & Fender Rebecca A & Shore Stephen H. & Wagner Martin, 2005. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve: Exploring a Fresh Specification," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-28, June.
    19. Kuminoff, Nicolai V. & Sumner, Daniel A., 2001. "What Drives Farmland Conversion: Farm Returns Versus Urban Factors?," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20659, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    20. Westhead, Paul & Wright, Mike & Ucbasaran, Deniz, 2001. "The internationalization of new and small firms: A resource-based view," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 333-358, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:16:y:2022:i:3:p:910-929. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-5991 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.