Fecha de publicación: 22/11/2024 Fuente: Journal of Sustainable Development Abstract
Globally, Environmental Management Practices (EMPs) are rapidly promoting due to the strengthened legislations and public awareness. Several research initiatives have addressed these issues in the manufacturing industry context. However, most of the previous studies investigated environmental pollution from manufacturing industries and green initiatives/ecofriendly practices. This study investigated the existing EMPs, their drivers and driving mechanisms, and perceived benefits from green practices in the manufacturing industries. A semi-structured questionnaire survey was carried out to collect the required data. A convenient purposive sampling method was employed to collect data from the industries. Results demonstrated that 96% industries were independently owned and self-managed. Amidst, 52% industries were under red category that pose the highest threat to environment and health. The majority (64%) of the industries were involved in Internal Environmental Management (IEM) for more than 11 years. The most widely adopted EMP was providing environmental training programs to employees, followed by monitoring and record keeping. The industries established general EMPs are not much involved in technical environmental practices due to lack of skilled manpower and big initial investment for green practices and defective monitoring activities of the regulatory authority. The green practices have positive impacts on market share, industrial environment, and safe and healthy work. Organizational involvement in IEM and the management perceptions of profitability are positively correlated. Respondents also believe that IEM has less benefits in terms of contribution to improve service quality and reduce operational costs. However, there is a negative correlation between occupancy rate and involvement in IEM. The Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was 0.737 for executive management’s perceived benefits. Most of the respondents perceived that they gained various benefits from IEM both for the corporate and from a social standpoint. In addition, the key driving forces in EMPs are environmental certifications, customers/ buyers and government regulations.