Civil Regulation, the Environment and the Compliance Orientations of SMEs

Gary Lynch-Wood () and David Williamson ()

Journal of Business Ethics, 2014, vol. 125, issue 3, 467-480

Abstract: The article explores the impact of civil regulation on the environmental behaviour of SMEs. It shows that although civil regulatory pressures are generally subdued, and that conventional regulation continues to be an important driver of behaviour, there are circumstances where civil pressures nevertheless produce a ‘regulatory’ stimulus. Where they do, it appears that civil regulatory pressures tend to derive from stakeholders pursuing relatively narrow self-interest (rather than public interest) mandates; and they normally target particular issues rather than ‘social responsibility’ in any broad sense. SME responses typically take the form of compliance-reinforcing (rather than beyond compliance) measures. For SMEs, it is suggested that, in some circumstances, civil regulation provides a bespoke regulatory mechanism which is more likely to bring about changes in basic practices on narrow issues. It can also be seen as producing a particular type of consensual micro-social contract and public interest service. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Keywords: Civil regulation; SMEs; Environment; Regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1925-6

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