Abstract
Climate change has become one of the dominant themes of our time, and the way how companies respond to it may have major implications for their success in the future. This paper aims to better understand the response of companies in a highly exposed sector, i.e. the gas sector, to institutional pressures of climate change. To do so, it adopts a qualitative research design that builds on 29 expert interviews with senior managers of Austrian gas sector companies. Based on an existing typology, we argue that most companies exhibit one of the following responses: ‘minimalist,’ ‘regulation shaper,’ ‘pressure manager’ or ‘emission avoider.’ Additionally, we develop and extend the typology with a fifth response type: ‘trade-off seeker.’ This ensures a thorough classification of all responses observed and acknowledges the increasing relevance of hybrid organizations. Thus, we manage to categorize the strategic responses of companies that have to address climate change while being exposed to complex institutional fields with plural institutional logics. To better understand decoupling in the context of strategic responses to climate change, the paper also explores whether, how, and to which extent the observed responses deviate from the theoretical ideal of conformity with institutional pressures and show indications of decoupling. We find that decoupling is inherent to most strategic responses to climate change. However, the purpose and intensity of decoupling differ for every response type.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdullah M, Zailani S, Iranmanesh M, Jayaraman K (2016) Barriers to green innovation initiatives among manufacturers: the Malaysian case. Rev Manag Sci 10:683–709. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-015-0173-9
Abreu MCSd, Freitas ARPd, Rebouças SMDP (2017) Conceptual model for corporate climate change strategy development: empirical evidence from the energy sector. J Clean Prod 165:382–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.133
Alexius S, Cisneros Örnberg J (2015) Mission(s) impossible? Configuring values in the governance of state-owned enterprises. Int Jnl Public Sec Manag 28:286–306. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-08-2015-0151
Alexius S, Grossi G (2018) Decoupling in the age of market-embedded morality: responsible gambling in a hybrid organization. J Manag Gov 22:285–313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-017-9387-3
Argento D, Culasso F, Truant E (2016) Competing logics in the expansion of public service corporations. Util Policy 40:125–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2016.02.007
Babl C, Schiereck D, von Flotow P (2014) Clean technologies in German economic literature: a bibliometric analysis. Rev Manag Sci 8:63–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-012-0095-8
Battilana J, Dorado S (2010) Building sustainable hybrid organizations: the case of commercial microfinance organizations. Acad Manag J 53:1419–1440. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.57318391
Battilana J, Lee M (2014) Advancing research on hybrid organizing–insights from the study of social enterprises. Acad Manag Ann 8:397–441
Boxenbaum E, Jonsson S (2017) Isomorphism, Diffusion and Decoupling: Concept Evolution and Theoretical Challenges. In: Greenwood R, Oliver C, Lawrence TB, Meyer RE (eds) The SAGE handbook of organizational institutionalism, 2nd edn. Sage, London, pp 77–101
Buerke A, Straatmann T, Lin-Hi N, Müller K (2017) Consumer awareness and sustainability-focused value orientation as motivating factors of responsible consumer behavior. Rev Manag Sci 11:959–991. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-016-0211-2
Child J (1972) Organizational structure, environment and performance: the role of strategic choice. Sociology 6:1–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/003803857200600101
European Commission (2019) The European green deal. https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/european-green-deal-communication_en.pdf. Accessed 1 Aug 2020
Correljé A (2016) The European natural gas market. Curr Sustain Renew Energy Rep 3:28–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40518-016-0048-y
DiMaggio P, Powell W (1983) The iron cage revisited: institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. Am Sociol Rev 48:147–160. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101
Dubois A, Gadde L-E (2002) Systematic combining: an abductive approach to case research. J Bus Res 55:553–560. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(00)00195-8
Escobar LF, Vredenburg H (2011) Multinational oil companies and the adoption of sustainable development: a resource-based and institutional theory interpretation of adoption heterogeneity. J Bus Ethics 98:39–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0534-x
Esmaeilifar R, Iranmanesh M, Shafiei MWM, Hyun SS (2020) Effects of low carbon waste practices on job satisfaction of site managers through job stress. Rev Manag Sci 14:115–136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-018-0288-x
European Public Service Union (2017) Public services and adaptation to climate change. https://www.epsu.org/sites/default/files/article/files/2_EPSU%20Public%20services%20and%20adaptation%20to%20climate%20change%20for%20reading.pdf. Accessed 1 Aug 2020
Fiss PC, Zajac EJ (2004) The diffusion of ideas over contested terrain: the (non)adoption of a shareholder value orientation among german firms. Adm Sci Q 49:501–534
Fiss PC, Zajac EJ (2006) The symbolic management of strategic change: sensegiving via framing and decoupling. Acad Manage J 6:1173–1193. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2006.23478255
Freeman RE (1984) Strategic management: a stakeholder approach. Pitman, Boston
Gasbarro F, Pinkse J (2016) Corporate adaptation behaviour to deal with climate change: the influence of firm-specific interpretations of physical climate impacts. Corp Soc Resp Env Ma 23:179–192. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1374
Goodstein JD (1994) Institutional pressures and strategic responsiveness: employer involvement in work-family issues. Acad Manage J 37:350–382
Greening DW, Gray B (1994) Testing a model of organizational response to social and political issues. Acad Manage J 37:467–498
Greenwood R, Raynard M, Kodeih F, Micelotta ER, Lounsbury M (2011) Institutional complexity and organizational responses. Acad Manag Ann 5:317–371. https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2011.590299
Grossi G, Thomasson A (2015) Bridging the accountability gap in hybrid organizations: the case of Copenhagen Malmö Port. Int Rev Adm Sci 81:604–620. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852314548151
Han J, Koo J (2010) Institutional isomorphism and decoupling among Korean firms: adoption of performance compensation system. Korean J Sociol 44:27–44
Hillman AJ, Hitt MA (1999) Corporate political strategy formulation: a model of approach, participation, and strategy decisions. Acad Manag Rev 24:825–842. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1999.2553256
Hillman AJ, Withers MC, Collins BJ (2009) Resource dependence theory: a review. J Manag 35:1404–1427. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309343469
Hockerts K, Wüstenhagen R (2010) Greening goliaths versus emerging davids—theorizing about the role of incumbents and new entrants in sustainable entrepreneurship. J Bus Ventur 25:481–492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2009.07.005
Hsu AW-h, Wang T (2013) Does the market value corporate response to climate change? Omega 41:195–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omega.2011.07.009
Ingram P, Simons T (1995) Institutional and resource dependence determinants of responsiveness to work-family issues. Acad Manage J 38:1466–1482
Jeswani HK, Wehrmeyer W, Mulugetta Y (2008) How warm is the corporate response to climate change? evidence from Pakistan and the UK. Bus Strat Env 17:46–60. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.569
Judge WQ, Zeithaml CP (1992) Institutional and strategic choice perspectives on board involvement in the strategic decision process. Acad Manage J 35:766–794
Kickert W (2001) Public management of hybrid organizations: governance of quasi-autonomous executive agencies. Int Public Manag J 4:135–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7494(01)00049-6
Kolk A, Mauser A (2002) The evolution of environmental management: from stage models to performance evaluation. Bus Strat Env 11:14–31. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.316
Kolk A, Pinkse J (2004) Market strategies for climate change. Eur Manag J 22:304–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2004.04.011
Kolk A, Pinkse J (2005) Business responses to climate change: identifying emergent strategies. Calif Manage Rev 47:6–20. https://doi.org/10.2307/41166304
Koppell JGS (2003) The politics of quasi-government: hybrid organizations and the control of public policy theories of institutional design. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Kraatz MS, Block ES (2013) Organizational implications of institutional pluralism. In: Greenwood R, Oliver C, Suddaby R, Sahlin-Andersson K (eds) The SAGE handbook of organizational institutionalism, Paperback. Sage, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, pp 243–275
Lebelhuber C, Steinmüller H (2019) How and to which extent can the gas sector contribute to a climate-neutral European energy system? A Qual Approach Energ Sustain Soc 9:1207. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13705-019-0207-2
Lee S-Y (2012) Corporate carbon strategies in responding to climate change. Bus Strat Env 21:33–48. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.711
Lee SY, Rhee SK (2007) The change in corporate environmental strategies: a longitudinal empirical study. Manage Decis 45:196–216. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251740710727241
Levy DL, Kolk A (2002) Strategic responses to global climate change: conflicting pressures on multinationals in the oil industry. Bus Politics 4:275–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369525021000158391
Lounsbury M (2008) Institutional rationality and practice variation: New directions in the institutional analysis of practice. Account Organ Soc 33:349–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2007.04.001
Maon F, Lindgreen A, Swaen V (2010) Organizational stages and cultural phases: a critical review and a consolidative model of corporate social responsibility development. Int J Manag Rev 12:20–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2009.00278.x
Marschan-Piekkari R, Welch C (2004) Qualitative research methods in international business: the state of the art. In: Marschan-Piekkari R, Welch C (eds) Handbook of qualitative research methods for international business, 1st edn. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp 5–24
Martínez-Ferrero J, García-Sánchez I-M (2015) Is corporate social responsibility an entrenchment strategy? Evidence in stakeholder protection environments. Rev Manag Sci 9:89–114. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-014-0120-1
Meyer JW, Rowan B (1977) Institutionalized organizations: formal structure as myth and ceremony. Am J Sociol 83:340–363. https://doi.org/10.1086/226550
Miles RE, Snow CC, Meyer AD, Coleman HJ (1978) Organizational strategy, structure, and process. Acad Manag Rev 3:546. https://doi.org/10.2307/257544
Oliver C (1991) Strategic responses to institutional processes. Acad Manag Rev 16:145–179. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1991.4279002
Oliver C (1997) Sustainable competitive advantage: Combining institutional and resource-based views. Strat Mgmt J 9:697–713
Osborne SP, Brown K (2005) Managing change and innovation in public service organizations. Routledge, Newyork
Pache A-C, Santos F (2013) Inside the hybrid organization: selective coupling as a response to competing institutional logics. Acad Manage J 56:972–1001. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.0405
Paul A, Lang JWB, Baumgartner RJ (2017) A multilevel approach for assessing business strategies on climate change. J Clean Prod 160:50–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.04.030
Pfeffer J, Salancik GR (1978) The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective. Harper and Row Publishers, New York, Hagerstown, San Francisco, London
Pitsakis K, Biniari MG, Kuin T (2012) Resisting change: organizational decoupling through an identity construction perspective. J Organ Change Manag 25:835–852. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534811211280591
Reichard C (2006) Strengthening competitiveness of local public service providers in Germany. Int Rev Adm Sci 72:473–492. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852306070079
Rockström J, Gaffney O, Rogelj J, Meinshausen M, Nakicenovic N, Schellnhuber HJ (2017) A roadmap for rapid decarbonization. Science 355:1269–1271. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah3443
Schneider F, Volkert J (1999) No chance for incentive-oriented environmental policies in representative democracies? a public choice analysis. Ecol Econ 31:123–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(99)00047-6
Scott WR (1995) Institutions and organizations foundations for organizational science. Sage, Newbury Park
Scott WR (2001) Institutions and organizations. Sage, Newbury Park
Scott C, Medaugh M (2017) Axial Coding. In: Matthes J, Davis C, Potter RF (eds) The international encyclopedia of communication research methods, vol 18. Wiley Blackwell. Hoboken, NJ, pp 1–2
Shah SK, Corley KG (2006) Building better theory by bridging the quantitative?qualitative divide. J Manag Stud 43:1821–1835. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00662.x
Sprengel DC, Busch T (2011) Stakeholder engagement and environmental strategy–the case of climate change. Bus Strat Env 20:351–364. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.684
Starik M, Rands GP (1995) Weaving an integrated web: multilevel and multisystem perspectives of ecologically sustainable organizations. Acad Manag Rev 20:908–935. https://doi.org/10.2307/258960
Stern NH (2007) The economics of climate change: the Stern review. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge
Strauss A, Corbin J (1998) Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Thornton PH, Ocasio W, Lounsbury M (2012) The institutional logics perspective: A new approach to culture, structure and process. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Tolbert PS, Zucker LG (1983) Institutional sources of change in the formal structure of organizations: the diffusion of civil service reform. Adm Sci Q 28:1880–1935. https://doi.org/10.2307/2392383
Weinhofer G, Hoffmann VH (2010) Mitigating climate change-how do corporate strategies differ? Bus Strat Env 19:77–89. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.618
Westphal K (2014) Institutional change in European natural gas markets and implications for energy security: Lessons from the German case. Energy Policy 74:35–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.08.032
Westphal JD, Zajac EJ (2001) Decoupling policy from practice: the case of stock repurchase programs. Adm Sci Q 46:202–228. https://doi.org/10.2307/2667086
Wijesiri M, Martínez-Campillo A, Wanke P (2019) Is there a trade-off between social and financial performance of public commercial banks in India? a multi-activity DEA model with shared inputs and undesirable outputs. Rev Manag Sci 13:417–442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-017-0255-y
Winn M, Kirchgeorg M, Griffiths A, Linnenluecke MK, Günther E (2011) Impacts from climate change on organizations: a conceptual foundation. Bus Strat Env 20:157–173. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.679
Zailani S, Iranmanesh M, Foroughi B, Kim K, Hyun SS (2019) Effects of supply chain practices, integration and closed-loop supply chain activities on cost-containment of biodiesel. Rev Manag Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-019-00332-9
Zardini A, Ricciardi F, Bullini Orlandi L, Rossignoli C (2020) Business networks as breeding grounds for entrepreneurial options: organizational implications. Rev Manag Sci 14:1029–1046. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-018-0317-9
Acknowledgement
The authors express sincere thanks to the interviewees for their time and the open discussion. Moreover, we thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.
Funding
The authors funded this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. DG designed the questionnaire for the semi-structured interviews while data collection and analysis were performed by CL. The manuscript was drafted by CL and DG made integral revisions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lebelhuber, C., Greiling, D. Strategic response to institutional pressures of climate change: an exploration among gas sector companies. Rev Manag Sci 16, 863–905 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-021-00449-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-021-00449-w