Drivers of corporate environmentalism: The case of the Polish economy in transition

At the beginning of the 1990s, the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries went through significant changes that were supposed to mould them into liberal market democracies. Those changes that took place in the legal-institutional, market and civil society fields have also significantly affected the sphere of environmental protection and management (Clark and Cole, 1998). As a result, also corporate behaviour towards the natural environment has changed significantly. Apart from changes determined explicitly by legal developments, Poland has witnessed a rapid increase in voluntary corporate initiatives protecting the natural environment, such as ISO 14001 environmental management systems (EMS). The purpose of this study is to uncover the drivers of corporate environmentalism as well as its specificity and dynamics during the transition period in Poland. In order to reach this goal, 283 Polish-based companies were surveyed. The conducted study showed that they tended to 'go green' in order to improve their environmental performance and meet the ever-changing environmental regulations, expecting to capitalise on this type of corporate activity. The latter was reflected in the corporate expectation to enhance their image. Surprisingly, the research revealed that the importance of strictly economic drivers, such as cost reduction and the market share, was rather minor. The findings also show that the pressure from various stakeholder groups was of little importance. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.