How Environmental Management Controls contribute to Resource Efficiency - A literature based review of empirical evidence

Description

Although there exists a long tradition on analysing management control systems (MCS) in the literature, the link to environmental or sustainability-related issues still remains fragmented, especially concerning the interaction between environmental management controls (EMC) and outcomes like corporate environmental or financial performance and resource efficiency. In this paper, we develop a framework for resource efficiency and its relation to corporate environmental performance (CEP) in order to clarify the interactions and to build on a clear conceptual foundation. We further identify tested relationships between EMC and outcomes based on an integrative literature review of 101 empirical studies related to environmental management control systems (EMCS). By synthesising and structuring the hypotheses of the empirical studies according to the framework of Malmi and Brown (2008), we provide a compact overview of tested and significant relationships illustrated as maps. In order to provide additional value and suggestions for future empirical studies, we deduce hypotheses from the specific angle of increasing corporate resource efficiency. The main contribution of the paper is the in-depth examination of relationships between EMC, which enables a better understanding of the complexity of EMCS in relation to environmental issues, like resource efficiency. In addition, the findings reveal that the most common EMC addressed are administrative, cultural, and planning management controls and that there are still various relationships that have not been examined up to date and that could be subject to further studies.

Period	12 May 2017
Event title	40th European Accounting Association Annual Congress 2017
Event type	Conference
Location	SpainShow on map