The effectiveness of voluntary programs: Program impact and the characteristics of target entities

Voluntary programs are designed to move beyond what has been or can be achieved under existing regulatory schemes. In the 1990s, these programs represented an important policy instrument for regulatory and administrative reform. Despite their wide use in the area of environmental protection, however, the precise impact of these programs has remained controversial. This study has been designed to fill the knowledge gap with respect to the effectiveness of these programs and to serve as a guide for the proper use and design of these programs as we enter a new decade. Two main nested research questions are dealt with: (1) What is the impact of voluntary programs? (2) What are the relationships of characteristics of target entities to program impact?; This study has chosen to examine the 33/50 Program and the Climate Challenge Program due to their widely acclaimed and measurable success. It adopts a new institutionalist perspective to map rival explanations for observed program impact and critically assesses the independent contribution of these programs to behavioral change in individual target entities. This study assembles a unique multiple-year data set for individual entities targeted by each program. This panel data set, analyzed with appropriate statistical techniques, allows for dealing with the problems of selection bias and for ascertaining independent program impact.; The findings of this study confirm that voluntary programs do work. However, their independent impact constitutes only a portion of what is claimed by the agencies that administer them. A large entity under direct regulatory threat has tended to make reductions as desired by the program. Good financial condition and involvement in industry-wide environmental programs, however, seem to have impeded target entities' continual reductions. The results suggest the special importance of distinguishing the type and nature of regulatory threat. Another lesson is the complementary role that a voluntary program plays to existing regulation in focusing or catalyzing reduction efforts.