Environmental management systems in South African small and medium-sized businesses
- Authors: Lillah, Riyaadh
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Business enterprises -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa , Environmental management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/2909 , vital:20362
- Description: Businesses have been criticised for their contribution towards the ever-increasing rate of destruction of the natural environment. Although businesses have responded by adapting their management practices, production processes and products, they still face a number of challenges in reducing their environmental impact. One way in which businesses have responded to the environmental crisis is by implementing environmental management systems. Despite the importance of environmental management implementation, researchers have neglected to identify the antecedents that could lead to environmental management system implementation in South African small and medium-sized businesses. Indeed, much of the research on environmental management has concentrated on large business in Europe or the United States. The limited research that has been conducted on environmental management in small and medium-sized businesses has been descriptive in nature, and fails to produce results that are generalisable and that advance the understanding on this topic. Given this situation, the objective of this study was to develop and empirically test a theoretical model to explain the implementation of environmental management systems in small and medium-sized businesses. A quantitative survey methodology was adopted in this study to test the proposed theoretical model empirically. In total, 417 small and medium-sized businesses participated in the survey; 326 of these were not implementing an environmental management system, and 91 were implementing such a system. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the sample data. The findings of this analysis suggest that the respondents had a favourable attitude toward environmental management systems; they were aware of environmental issues; they perceived themselves and their businesses as able to deal with the barriers to environmental management system implementation; they felt personally obligated to reduce their business‟ environmental impact; and they perceived actions aimed at reducing their businesses‟ environmental impact as socially desirable. To test the hypothesised relationships in the theoretical model, correlation and multiple regression analyses were used. The hypotheses dealing with the relationship between the environmental antecedents and the owner-manager‟s intention to implement an environmental management system, and the actual implementation of an environmental management system, were supported in this study. Thus, the environmental antecedents were found to be positively related to the small and medium-sized business owners‟ intention to implement an environmental management system; to their formal and informal implementation of an environmental management system; and to their practices related to waste management and legal compliance. Empirical evidence to support the hypothesised effect of resource constraints as a moderating variable was found in this study. In terms of environmental values, support was found for the moderating effect of egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric values. In terms of the biographical characteristics of the business owners, significant moderating effects were found for gender and age, but not for education. Gender influenced the relationships between the environmental antecedents, attitude towards an environmental management system and personal pro-environmental norms, and the intention to implement an environmental management system. Age moderated the relationship between subjective pro-environmental norms, waste management, and legal compliance. Given the empirical evidence provided in this study, it is recommended that greater awareness of environmental issues be fostered among small and medium-sized business owners as well as the individuals who influence their decision-making. There is also a need to reinforce the positive business outcomes of environmental management system implementation, as well as the personal and social obligations to protect the natural environment among small and medium-sized business owners.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Lillah, Riyaadh
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Business enterprises -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa , Environmental management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/2909 , vital:20362
- Description: Businesses have been criticised for their contribution towards the ever-increasing rate of destruction of the natural environment. Although businesses have responded by adapting their management practices, production processes and products, they still face a number of challenges in reducing their environmental impact. One way in which businesses have responded to the environmental crisis is by implementing environmental management systems. Despite the importance of environmental management implementation, researchers have neglected to identify the antecedents that could lead to environmental management system implementation in South African small and medium-sized businesses. Indeed, much of the research on environmental management has concentrated on large business in Europe or the United States. The limited research that has been conducted on environmental management in small and medium-sized businesses has been descriptive in nature, and fails to produce results that are generalisable and that advance the understanding on this topic. Given this situation, the objective of this study was to develop and empirically test a theoretical model to explain the implementation of environmental management systems in small and medium-sized businesses. A quantitative survey methodology was adopted in this study to test the proposed theoretical model empirically. In total, 417 small and medium-sized businesses participated in the survey; 326 of these were not implementing an environmental management system, and 91 were implementing such a system. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the sample data. The findings of this analysis suggest that the respondents had a favourable attitude toward environmental management systems; they were aware of environmental issues; they perceived themselves and their businesses as able to deal with the barriers to environmental management system implementation; they felt personally obligated to reduce their business‟ environmental impact; and they perceived actions aimed at reducing their businesses‟ environmental impact as socially desirable. To test the hypothesised relationships in the theoretical model, correlation and multiple regression analyses were used. The hypotheses dealing with the relationship between the environmental antecedents and the owner-manager‟s intention to implement an environmental management system, and the actual implementation of an environmental management system, were supported in this study. Thus, the environmental antecedents were found to be positively related to the small and medium-sized business owners‟ intention to implement an environmental management system; to their formal and informal implementation of an environmental management system; and to their practices related to waste management and legal compliance. Empirical evidence to support the hypothesised effect of resource constraints as a moderating variable was found in this study. In terms of environmental values, support was found for the moderating effect of egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric values. In terms of the biographical characteristics of the business owners, significant moderating effects were found for gender and age, but not for education. Gender influenced the relationships between the environmental antecedents, attitude towards an environmental management system and personal pro-environmental norms, and the intention to implement an environmental management system. Age moderated the relationship between subjective pro-environmental norms, waste management, and legal compliance. Given the empirical evidence provided in this study, it is recommended that greater awareness of environmental issues be fostered among small and medium-sized business owners as well as the individuals who influence their decision-making. There is also a need to reinforce the positive business outcomes of environmental management system implementation, as well as the personal and social obligations to protect the natural environment among small and medium-sized business owners.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Environmental literacy: a needs analysis
- Authors: Lillah, Riyaadh
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Environmental education , Environmental sciences , Human ecology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:9290 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011029 , Environmental education , Environmental sciences , Human ecology
- Description: An impending environmental crisis has been predicted by many which has led to an increased awareness and concern regarding the ability of the planet to sustain human development. Furthermore, organisations expected to be leaders in society, such as businesses and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), have been identified as some of the main drivers behind the ever increasing rate of destruction of the natural environment. Business schools have even been singled out as some of the main drivers behind the degradation of the natural environment by not addressing the knowledge gap of managers in this regard. Given this, the problem statement of this research is to determine how effective existing NMMU curricula are at shaping environmentally literate business graduates. The problem will be investigated from two perspectives. Firstly, from a supply side perspective - investigating the pro-environmental behaviours, ecological and business knowledge, „green‟ management skills and environmental values that students registered in the Business and Economics Sciences faculty at NMMU exhibit. Secondly, the problem will be investigated from a demand side perspective – investigating the pro-environmental behaviours, ecological and business knowledge, "green‟ management skills and environmental values that potential employers of NMMU students require. The focus will be on prospective employers in the mining and automotive industries. To address the problem to be investigated in this study a theoretical framework was developed and tested. This theoretical framework was based on the assumption that environmental literacy is measurable in terms of the behaviours of individuals towards the natural environment and that these behaviours are in turn dependent upon the ecological and business knowledge, "green‟ management skills and environmental values that the individual possesses. To test the theoretical framework an online survey was conducted amongst students registered in the Business and Economic Sciences Faculty at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), while semi-structured personal interviews were used to assess the demand for environmentally literate business graduates in the mining and automotive industries. In total 308 business students participated in the online survey. The findings suggest that students are highly sensitive to moral issues pertaining to the natural environment and have a better understanding of traditional ecological concepts than "green‟ business concepts. It was also found that ecological and business knowledge had the greatest influence on pro-environmental behaviours followed by environmental values and "green‟ management skills. The findings of this study will be used to enhance environmental literacy in the faculty. In terms of the semi-structured personal interviews, the views of eight environmental experts in the South African mining industries were obtained. The general analytical procedure was applied to identify prominent themes which existed in the qualitative data. This involved developing codes and identifying data which related to those specific codes in order to provide a description of and provide some dimension to these codes. Codes were categorised according to their similarity to each other. The different categories identified were ecology, legal compliance, technology, environmental management, sustainable development, pollution and waste management, financial implications and corporate citizenship. Some of these themes were not entirely expected based on the literature review. These additional insights add depth to the analysis of environmental education in South Africa and highlight the gaps in environmental literacy literature. In terms of environmental literacy, these categories had implications for the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours of business graduates. From the findings of this study the researcher concluded that a certain level of enthusiasm for environmental education exists among NMMU students, as well as individuals in the mining and automotive industries in South Africa. However, the level of environmental literacy exhibited by students registered in the Business and Economic Sciences Faculty at NMMU (between nominal and functional) was not considered to be sufficient to operate effectively in the mining and automotive industries.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Lillah, Riyaadh
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Environmental education , Environmental sciences , Human ecology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:9290 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011029 , Environmental education , Environmental sciences , Human ecology
- Description: An impending environmental crisis has been predicted by many which has led to an increased awareness and concern regarding the ability of the planet to sustain human development. Furthermore, organisations expected to be leaders in society, such as businesses and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), have been identified as some of the main drivers behind the ever increasing rate of destruction of the natural environment. Business schools have even been singled out as some of the main drivers behind the degradation of the natural environment by not addressing the knowledge gap of managers in this regard. Given this, the problem statement of this research is to determine how effective existing NMMU curricula are at shaping environmentally literate business graduates. The problem will be investigated from two perspectives. Firstly, from a supply side perspective - investigating the pro-environmental behaviours, ecological and business knowledge, „green‟ management skills and environmental values that students registered in the Business and Economics Sciences faculty at NMMU exhibit. Secondly, the problem will be investigated from a demand side perspective – investigating the pro-environmental behaviours, ecological and business knowledge, "green‟ management skills and environmental values that potential employers of NMMU students require. The focus will be on prospective employers in the mining and automotive industries. To address the problem to be investigated in this study a theoretical framework was developed and tested. This theoretical framework was based on the assumption that environmental literacy is measurable in terms of the behaviours of individuals towards the natural environment and that these behaviours are in turn dependent upon the ecological and business knowledge, "green‟ management skills and environmental values that the individual possesses. To test the theoretical framework an online survey was conducted amongst students registered in the Business and Economic Sciences Faculty at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), while semi-structured personal interviews were used to assess the demand for environmentally literate business graduates in the mining and automotive industries. In total 308 business students participated in the online survey. The findings suggest that students are highly sensitive to moral issues pertaining to the natural environment and have a better understanding of traditional ecological concepts than "green‟ business concepts. It was also found that ecological and business knowledge had the greatest influence on pro-environmental behaviours followed by environmental values and "green‟ management skills. The findings of this study will be used to enhance environmental literacy in the faculty. In terms of the semi-structured personal interviews, the views of eight environmental experts in the South African mining industries were obtained. The general analytical procedure was applied to identify prominent themes which existed in the qualitative data. This involved developing codes and identifying data which related to those specific codes in order to provide a description of and provide some dimension to these codes. Codes were categorised according to their similarity to each other. The different categories identified were ecology, legal compliance, technology, environmental management, sustainable development, pollution and waste management, financial implications and corporate citizenship. Some of these themes were not entirely expected based on the literature review. These additional insights add depth to the analysis of environmental education in South Africa and highlight the gaps in environmental literacy literature. In terms of environmental literacy, these categories had implications for the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours of business graduates. From the findings of this study the researcher concluded that a certain level of enthusiasm for environmental education exists among NMMU students, as well as individuals in the mining and automotive industries in South Africa. However, the level of environmental literacy exhibited by students registered in the Business and Economic Sciences Faculty at NMMU (between nominal and functional) was not considered to be sufficient to operate effectively in the mining and automotive industries.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
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