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Corporate Social Responsibility pp 89–110Cite as

Environmental Performance: The Impact of R&D Intensity on Firms’ Environmental Concerns

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Part of the book series: CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance ((CSEG))

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between R&D intensity and firms’ environmental concerns conceptualized as negative environmental externalities resulting from manufacturing activities. The study uses a large sample of U.S. firms in manufacturing industries over the period of 1991–2009. Our finding, robust to a number of sensitivity analyses, is that environmental concerns tend to decrease with R&D intensity expenditures at the firm level. This finding supports previous research and fills a gap in that research linking R&D intensity to corporate environmental performance. The result strengthens the discussion about environmental performance—namely, the reduction of negative environmental externalities—and economic performance.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee, 8350 N. Tamiami Trail, SMC-C263, Sarasota, FL, 34243, USA

    Jean D. Kabongo

  2. Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Sutliff Hall, Room 358, 400 East Second Street, Bloomsburg, PA, 17815, USA

    John O. Okpara

Authors
  1. Jean D. Kabongo
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  2. John O. Okpara
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Correspondence to Jean D. Kabongo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Marketing, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, USA

    John O. Okpara

  2. Faculty of Business & Law, London Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom

    Samuel O. Idowu

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Kabongo, J.D., Okpara, J.O. (2013). Environmental Performance: The Impact of R&D Intensity on Firms’ Environmental Concerns. In: Okpara, J., Idowu, S. (eds) Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40975-2_6

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