 Communicating environmental management certification: Signaling without signals?Iñaki Heras‐Saizarbitoria, Olivier Boiral, Erlantz Allur and María García Business Strategy and the Environment, 2020, vol. 29, issue 2, 422-431 Abstract: This article analyzes how organizations communicate their voluntary environmental management certification. Previous research suggests that firms use certification to signal and to create a better public image as one of their main objectives in adopting environmental management standards. How organizations communicate their certification to their stakeholders has not been fully researched. To fill this gap, this work focuses on the hospitality industry, one of the most relevant sectors for environmental certification, and Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme, one of the most demanding certification schemes. On the basis of the analysis of the communication practices of 201 certified European hotels and 37 interviews with managers from certified hotels, the findings are surprising. The great majority of organizations included in the study engage in no significant communication activity. The results cast doubt in the idea that improving corporate image is one of the main drivers to adopt third‐party voluntary certification. Date: 2020 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:29:y:2020:i:2:p:422-431 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Business Strategy and the Environment is currently edited by Richard Welford More articles in Business Strategy and the Environment from Wiley Blackwell |
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