DRIVERS OF ISO 14001 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN INDIAN MANUFACTURING FACILITIES: INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Responding to the need for business firms to be environmentally responsive, many Voluntary Environmental Programs (VEPs) are practiced by business firms. ISO 14001 in one of the most widely VEP meant for improving environmental performance by business firms. India is one of the top ten countries in the world in the adoption of ISO 14001 standard. However the empirical research on drivers for adoption of the standard in India is missing. This paper, identifying the research gap, studies the external drivers for adoption of ISO 14001 standard by manufacturing facilities in India taking institutional theory lens. Institutional theory explains that organizations operating within similar social frameworks or norms, values and assumption often behave similarly to gain social approval known as institutional isomorphism. The findings from 150 respondents from 144 manufacturing facilities support that intuitional isomorphism plays an important role in adoption of ISO 14001