National Culture, Economic Development, Population Growth and Environmantal Performance The Mediatin

NationalCulture,Economic

Development,PopulationGrowth

andEnvironmentalPerformance:

TheMediatingRoleofEducationYu-ShuPeng

Shing-ShiuanLin

ABSTRACT.Literatureonethicalbehaviorhaspaidlittleattentiontothemechanismbetweenmacro-environmentalvariablesandenvironmentalperformance.Thisstudyaimsatconstructingamodeltoexaminetherelationshipswhichlinkculturalvalues,populationgrowth,economicdevelopment,andenvironmentalperformancebyincorporatingthemediatingroleofeducation.Themultiplelinearregressionmodelwasemployedtotestthehypothesesona3-year-pooledsampleof51countries.Empiricalresultsconcludethatnationalculture,economicdevelopment,andpopulationgrowthwouldsignificantlyinfluenceenvironmentalper-formancedirectly.Inaddition,throughthemediatingeffectofeducation,populationgrowthandnationalcul-turewouldsignificantlyaffectenvironmentalperformanceindirectly.Thesefindingsprovidetheoreticalandmana-gerialimplicationsforconstructingthemechanismofculturalvaluesandethicalbehavioringeneralandenvi-ronmentalmanagementinparticular.

KEYWORDS:nationalculture,environmentalperfor-mance,education,cross-cultural,ethicalbehavior

Introduction

Previousstudiesonenvironmentalperformancehave

showedeconomicdevelopment(e.g.,Husted,2005;

Mendelsohn,1994)anddemographicgrowth(e.g.,

Burnsetal.,1994;Husted,2005)areimportant

predictorsofenvironmentaldegradationofacoun-

try.Beyondeconomicanddemographicdimensions,

Vitelletal.(1993)highlightedtheinfluenceofna-

tionalcultureonethicaldecision-makingandpro-

posedaconceptualmodeldiscussingtheeffectsofculturalvaluesonethicaldecision-making,asbased

onthetypologyofHofstede(1980).

UtilizingthepropositionsofVitelletal.(1993),

Husted(2005)verifiedthehypothesizedcorrelated

relationshipbetweennationalcultureandenviron-

mentalperformance.Notably,Husted(2005)isone

ofthefewstudiestodiscussthemaineffectofnational

cultureonmoralbehaviorattheanalyticallevelofa

countryamongtheabundantempiricalresearchesof

culture’sconsequencesforthepasttwodecades.

WhatHusted(2005)contributedhelpsusfigureout

thelogicconcerninghownationalcultureaffects

environmentaloutcomeofacountry:althoughthe

relationshipbetweenthemseemslikefatalism–we

couldnotchangeourenvironmentalbehaviorssince

ournationalculturehasbeenpredetermined.

Reviewing180studiesadoptingHoftstede’s

nationalcultureframework,Bradleyetal.(2006)

maderecommendationsforresearcherswhowilluse

Hofstede’sframeworkinthefuture.Oneofthe

proposedrecommendationsistoincludetheoreti-

callyrelevantcontextualmoderatorsandmediators.

Infact,CarrolandGannon(1997)hasproposedan

integratedmodelofcultureandethicalbehaviors

showingparenting,socialization,education,and

religionwouldbetheprimarymechanismsofcul-

turaltransmission.

Comparedwithmoreempiricalstudiesfocused

oncontextualmoderatingeffects(e.g.,Husted,

1999,2000,2005),fewstudieshavebeenconcerned

withifthereisamediatingrolebetweencultural

valuesandtheirconsequences(e.g.,Kirkmanand

Shapiro,2001;VanDyneetal.,2000).Thisdisre-

gardnotonlyreflectsthetheoreticalgapofnational

culturebutalsohindersourunderstandingofhowJournalofBusinessEthics(2009)90:203–219ÓSpringer2009DOI10.1007/s10551-009-0036-xenvironmentalmanagementpracticescouldstopthe

environmentaldegradationacrosscountries.Simi-

larly,althoughscholarshavearguedandprovedthat

economicdevelopmentandpopulationgrowthare

importantfactorsofdeterminingthelevelofthe

environmentalperformance(e.g.,Gnyawali,1996;

GraftonandKnowles,2004;Husted,2005),yetfew

studieshaveevertriedfurthertofindthepossible

mechanismbetweenthem.Nevertheless,thework

ofCarrolandGannon(1997)mayprovideimpor-

tantcluesforconstructingamediatedmodelamong

macro-environmentalvariables.

Givenitstheoreticalsignificanceandpractical

relevance,themechanismlinkingculturalvalues,

economicdevelopment,populationgrowth,andenvi-

ronmentaloutcomesdeservessystematicandin-

depthanalysis.Inparticular,weargueeducation

wouldbeoneofthebridgestoconnectthose

macro-environmentalvariablesaccordingtoCarrol

andGannon(1997).Specifically,thisstudyattempts

toanswerthefollowingtworesearchquestions:(1)

whatfactorsdeterminetheenvironmentalperfor-

manceofacountryand(2)iseducationamediating

variablewhichconnectsdemographic,socioeco-

nomicvariables,andenvironmentalperformance?In

thefollowingsection,wefirstreviewtheliterature

todevelopasetofhypotheses,throughavectorof

geographicfactors,andthentestthehypothesesona

3-yearpooledsampleof51countries.Finally,we

discussthefindingsandconcludethearticleby

suggestingnewdirectionsforfuturestudies.

Literaturereviewandhypothesis

construction

BasedonHofstede’s(1980)framework,manystudies

haveshownculturehasmainassociationsbetween

culturalvaluesandsocietaloutcomes,aswellas

culturalvaluesbeingamoderatorattheanalytical

levelsofindividual,group,andcountry.Mostpre-

viousstudieswereconductedattheindividualand

countrylevel,andonlyfewstudieswereconducted

atthegrouplevel.Atthecountrylevel,research

issueshavemainlyincludedorganizationbehavior,

humanresourcemanagement,internationalbusiness

studies,allianceformation,innovationandresearch

anddevelopment,andfinallysocietaloutcomes

(Bradleyetal.,2006),whileonlyrelativelyfewstudieshavefocusedontheethicalbehaviors(e.g.,

Husted,1999,2000,2005).

AdoptingtherevisedmodelproposedbyHunt

andVitell(1992),Vitelletal.(1993)provideda

conceptualframeworktoexaminehowculture

influencesone’sperceptionsandethicaldecision-

makinginbusiness.Inordertoaccomplishthetask,

theyfirstusedtheculturaltypologyproposedby

Hofstede(1980)butsubsequentlydevelopedspecific

propositionsrelatingHofstede’sculturaldimensions

toinformalandformalcodesofbehavior,theper-

ceptionofethicalproblems,theperceptionofthe

consequencesofbehavior,andtheevaluationofthe

relativeimportanceofstakeholders.Thepioneering

effortofVitelletal.(1993)hasthusfilledupthe

significantgapintheconceptualizationofbusiness

ethicsrelativetodifferentinfluences.

MainlyonthebasisofVitelletal.(1993),BryanW.

Hustedhasperformedastreamofempiricalstudieson

theassociationbetweenculturalvaluesandun/ethical

behaviorssuchascorruption,softwarepiracy,and

environmentalsustainability.Throughtheempirical

resultsofHusted(1999,2000,2005),someproposi-

tionsabouttherelationshipsbetweenculturalvalues

andethicalbehaviorshavebeenconfirmed.Briefly,

Husted(1999,2000,2005)haspaidmoreattentionto

themainandinteractingeffectsofculturalfactors,

whereashedidnottrytoexplorethemechanismof

connectingculturalvariablesandthoseethicalout-

comes.Furthermore,sinceHusted(1999,2000,

2005)adoptedcross-sectionalresearchdesign,the

hypothesizedrelationshipsbetweenculturalvalues

andoutcomeswouldbeunstableatdifferent

observingtimepoints.1

Inadditiontothediscussionabouttheassociation

betweennationalcultureandenvironmentalperfor-

mance,previousstudieshavealsodemonstratedthat

economicdevelopmentandpopulationgrowthare

crucialpredictorsofenvironmentalperformance.For

example,onecross-countrysurveyontherelation-

shipbetweensocialcapitalandenvironmentalper-

formancefoundthatmeasuresofpopulationdensity

andpercapitaincomeareshowntohaveasignifi-

cantlynegativeandasignificantlypositiveeffecton

severalmeasuresofenvironmentalperformance

(GraftonandKnowles,2004).Thesameargument

wasalsoproposedbyHusted(2005),andhefurther

emphasizedthemoderatingeffectsofmacro-

environmentalvariables.Accordingtomentioned204Yu-ShuPengandShing-ShiuanLin