Impact of Human Resource Factors on Perceived Environmental Performance: an Empirical Analysis of a Sample of ISO 14001 EMS Companies in Malaysia

Abstract

Increasing employee motivation for environmental endeavors continues to be poorly understood. The literature suggests that management commitment, employee empowerment, feedback and review, and rewards may be significant predictors of environmental performance and hence successful environmental management system (EMS) implementation. This paper aims to ascertain the relationships between the aforementioned human resource factors with perceived environmental performance using a sample of middle and lower level employees in five manufacturing companies. All five companies are currently certified to ISO 14001 EMS and moreover four are recipients of the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Hibiscus Award (PMHA). A total of two hundred and twenty three survey responses were analyzed using the SPSS computer program version 16. The results of the regression analysis suggest that management commitment, feedback and review, and empowerment have a significant positive relationship to perceived environmental performance. However, the relationship between rewards and perceived environmental performance was statistically insignificant.