"Comparing the Impact of Coercive, Mimetic and Normative Forces on EMS Adoption"

Using data from the chemical sector in Jordan, this research examines the relative contribution of institutional pressures – that is coercive, normative, and mimetic- to determine the strongest (or weakest) predictor that drives environmental management system (EMS) adoption. Our results show that mimetic institutional pressures motivate firms to adopt an EMS standard to a far greater extent than coercive and normative institutional pressures. Furthermore, our study shows that each of these three institutional pillars is a necessary, but not by itself a sufficient, condition for a real understanding of the institutional predictors that drives EMS adoption. It is the unification of all three that is powerful. And it is this unification that accurately predicts EMS adoption. Therefore, we believe that studying the relative contribution of the institutional pressures to EMS adoption would enhance our understanding of institutional theory to a much greater degree.