| This dissertation studies how regulatory institutions, non-regulatory institutions, and market factors represented themselves in the process of institutionalizing a voluntary environmental management standard, ISO14000 certification, in the context of Taiwan and US Information technology industries. Drawing upon institutional perspectives, network and diffusion theory, three classes of factors are identified to account for the adoption variation for the two countries. The three classes of factors are: (a) formal regulatory institutions; (b) non-regulatory institutions; and (c) competitive market forces. Formal regulatory institutions include measures of governmental incentives and environmental regulatory pressures. Data were compiled from various resources including Compustat, Dunn & Bradstreet, Taiwan Economic Journal data. Event history discrete time models and panel data analysis were utilized in this research.; The main finding is that the values and meanings ascribed to the ISO14000 certification by the State agencies coincided with the way in which organizations rationalized this voluntary environmental management standard and thus the organizational form of change. This finding is suggested by the empirical evidence that, holding other variables constant, global presence and brand effects are significant in influencing Taiwan IT firms' adoption but not found to be significant in influencing their counter parts in the US. This agrees with the observed variation in the way the governmental agencies within the two countries legitimate, inform about, and support the standards. In addition, analytical results gained from event history discrete time models on panel data indicated congruent results with institutional research in various studies on the diffusion of social practices that the early adoption and later adoption followed different principles in both countries. Overall, organizational size exerted the biggest effect on the adoption. Non-regulatory mimetic institutionalization has been an ongoing mechanism to diffuse the ISO14000 certification across space and time. Regulatory institutions do not appear to exert their effects through regulatory coercive and incentive measures but through the shared value and meaning structure with organizations in the field. Lastly, the underlying mechanisms impacting the adoption of ISO14000 certification resemble those of ISO9000 in Taiwan's case, as most ISO empirical research suggested. However, this is not the case for the US. |
