Isomorphic or dissimilar implementation among environmental management scheme adopters? Empirical evidence from the European context

The research assessed the extent to which an environmental management scheme (EMS) had been implemented in 242 Environmental Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)-registered companies in Europe. The actions taken by the surveyed enterprises to comply with the EMAS Regulation (1221/2009) and to implement the Deming cycle that characterizes the environmental management system and the EMAS standard were analyzed. We exploited a new institutional theory, which suggests that a firm's operations exert ongoing pressure on its decisions, leading to isomorphic behavior. The survey results were processed using cluster analysis, thereby enabling us to classify the companies into four groups. The classification of the groups is based on the implementation of Deming cycle composed of four main steps ("plan-do-check-act"). These steps were totally or partially adopted by the EMAS companies. So, different level of EMAS implementation emerged from the research. The cluster analysis confirmed that EMSs can be implemented in different ways and that EMAS achievements can be discretionary. If the scheme is not integrated into the organization, then a firm's adoption of EMS is likely to be only symbolic.