Voluntary environmental decision making in firms: green electricity purchases and the role of champions

Travis Gliedt, Tom Berkhout, Paul Parker and Joseph Doucet

International Journal of Business Environment, 2010, vol. 3, issue 3, 308-328

Abstract: This study investigates the corporate decision to voluntarily purchase premium-priced Green Electricity (GE) by examining the internal and external factors which influence environmental decision making. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight paired firms in Alberta, Canada. Firms purchasing GE typically employed a top-down decision-making process, while firms characterised by a participative process did not. An internal driver (environmental champion) was more significant than external factors (regulations, stakeholder pressure) at influencing firms to voluntarily adopt GE purchasing, while organisational culture was found to moderate the effect of drivers. Cost is a common inhibitor to green purchase decisions, but customer (oil industry) perceptions and government regulations were also identified in some cases.

Keywords: environmental champions; green electricity; corporate decision making; environmental decision making; green organisational culture; Canada; green organisations; voluntary purchasing; costs; green purchasing; customer perceptions; government regulations. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijbenv:v:3:y:2010:i:3:p:308-328

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