Moving from Intention to Action: Insights on Firms’ Active Pro-Environmental Behavior

Organizations' pro-environmental intentions, like declaring environmental policies, are vital in determining organizations' pro-environmental behavior. However, the number of firms that move from intention to action is small. This study seeks to determine the organization's characteristics that influence firms' probability of declaring environmental policies and establish whether these policies or pro-environmental intentions are a good predictor of active pro-environmental behaviors. Findings suggest that large firms, managed by men, export-oriented, family-owned, and belonging to a corporate group have a higher probability of announcing environmental policies. Further, we found that pro-environmental intention (policy) strongly predicts firms' active pro-environmental behavior (invest). Moreover, our findings can facilitate public policy design targeted toward specific segments of the business ecosystem, thus more effectively promoting and stimulating active pro-environmental actions.