The effectiveness of environmental management / By Man (Amy) Tung.

The thesis examines the environmental management practices of Australian manufacturing organisations with emphasis placed on the effectiveness of such practices and the role of organisational factors and the use of environmental performance measures in enhancing such effectiveness. The study also examines the effect of the adoption of environmental management systems on environmental performance. Data were collected by mail survey questionnaire from a random sample of senior financial officers in Australian manufacturing organisations. The thesis adopts the ‘thesis by publication’ format and consists of three research papers. Paper One examines the association between five specific organisational factors with the effectiveness of environmental management. Paper Two examines the association between the extent to which environmental performance measures (EPMs) are used and the purpose of using EPMs with the effectiveness of environmental management. The first two papers examine the effectiveness of environmental management from two perspectives, environmental performance and the effectiveness of environmental management processes. The results of both papers highlight the significance of the effectiveness of environmental management processes as an antecedent of environmental performance and a mediator of the association between the examined factors and environmental performance. Specifically, in Paper One, top management support, training and the link of performance to rewards exhibit a direct positive association with the effectiveness of environmental management processes and an indirect association with environmental performance, while teamwork exhibits a direct positive association with environmental performance. In Paper Two, using operational EPMs to a greater extent and using EPMs for environmental decision making purposes exhibit a direct positive association with the effectiveness of environmental management processes and an indirect association with environmental performance. Paper Three examines the effect of the adoption of environmental management systems (EMSs) on environmental performance. The results show that organisations that have an EMS achieve higher environmental performance than organisations that do not have an EMS. However, organisations that have an ISO 14001 certified EMS did not achieve higher environmental performance than organisations with a non-certified EMS. The results also reveal five specific environmental management initiatives that contribute to enhanced environmental performance. The thesis contributes to the environmental management literature by empirically examining the contingency factors that influence the effectiveness of environmental management. The findings provide managers with an insight into the need to apply specific organisational factors, use operational EPMs to a greater extent, use EPMs for decision making, and to adopt EMSs, as a means to enhance the effectiveness of environmental management. The thesis also contributes to the limited empirical research by examining the effectiveness of environmental management from two perspectives: the effectiveness of environmental management processes and environmental performance. In particular, the identified mediating role of the effectiveness of environmental management processes in the association between specific organisational factors and EPMs with environmental performance highlights the need for systematic and formalised environmental management processes in Australian manufacturing organisations.