Carlos Wing-Hung Lo

THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE AND VALUES ON MANAGERIAL BEHAVIOURS ON BEHALF OF THE ENVIRONMENT: AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF MANAGERS IN CHINA

This study explores linkages between what Chinese managers generally know about environmental issues, how strongly they value environmental protection, and different types of behaviours/actions they may take within their organizations on behalf of the environment. From a sample of 305 managers in Guangzhou and Beijing, it was found that both environmental knowledge and values are more predictive of more personal managerial behaviours, such as keeping informed of relevant company issues and working within the system to minimize environmental impacts, than more overt behaviours. Moreover, for these more personal actions, environmental knowledge and values were found to have both main and interactive effects. By comparison, it was found that both environmental values and knowledge had additive effects on managerial tendencies to initiate new programs within their domain of responsibility. Only environmental values was found to have a modest influence environmental advocacy.

Environmental Agency and Public Opinion in Guangzhou: The Limits of a Popular Approach to Environmental Governance

Researchers on Chinas environmental governance have usually maintained that the inferior bureaucratic status of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) (formerly the National Environmental Protection Agency) and its local agencies have accounted for the limited enforcement of environmental regulations in China. Environmental agencies at all levels have found it difficult to obtain active support and co-operation from other bureaucratic authorities in charge of economic development to take a tough stand on tackling environmental problems. Strong and influential government agencies such as planning commissions ( jiwei ), economic commissions ( jingwei ), construction commissions ( jianwei ), and industrial and commercial authorities are known to be reluctant to endorse and enforce stringent environmental measures for fear that they might slow down economic growth. With a strong pro-growth orientation, both central and local governments have usually sided with these economic bureaus and have subordinated environmental protection to economic interests when the two have been in conflict.

Evaluating sustainability in waste management: the case of construction and demolition, chemical and clinical wastes in Hong Kong

Abstract This paper intends to set out clearly defined criteria for evaluating sustainability in solid waste management and have them illustrated by a modern Chinese city—Hong Kong. Following a thorough literature review, four evaluative criteria are derived: environmental desirability, economic optimization, social acceptability and equity and administrative diligence. These four criteria are then applied in the context of Hong Kong for the evaluation of the management performance of construction and demolition waste, clinical waste and chemical waste. Although the need to attain sustainability is compelling in Hong Kong, our analysis shows that the management of construction and demolition waste, clinical waste and chemical waste has failed in almost all the sustainability criteria. In terms of controlling the environmental impact from waste management, only end of pipe treatment is adequately delivered but preventive waste management programs are far from adequate. In terms of waste management economics, economic incentives have yet to be instituted for most waste generators. Thus, the present levels of waste generation in Hong Kong far exceed social and economic optimal. Furthermore, although Hong Kong has been commended by having an efficient government, the ability of the government to induce environmentally responsible behavior from private waste generators is weak and thus failing the administrative diligence criterion as well. In the management of the three types of waste, the welfare of future generations is often sacrificed for the narrower, sectoral or district community interests. The myopic environmental welfare view in the Hong Kong community is a logical result of the minimal effort devoted to build up social capital stock and environmental citizenship culture. The main causes for the unsatisfactory waste management performance in Hong Kong is closely related to the governance style of the government rather than some general causes such as a lack of technological know-how or financial constraints.

Fragile convergence: understanding variation in the enforcement of China's industrial pollution law

Official statistics and independent survey data show that in the last decade China has witnessed a remarkable change in its enforcement of environmental pollution violations, moving toward more formalistic and coercive law enforcement with more enforcement cases as well as higher fines. The data also show that there is considerable regional variation with coastal areas having more and higher punishments than those inland. This article explores these findings, seeking to understand the explanation and meaning of these temporal and regional variation patterns. The study shows how enforcement varies when there is a convergence of governmental, social, and economic institutional forces. The article argues that the basis for such convergence has been fragile, as national pressures have lacked consistency and local community and government support evaporates when dominant sources of income are at stake.

Institutional reform, economic changes, and local environmental management in China: the case of Guangdong province

Abstract The governing institutions in China have been undergoing many subtle transformations, especially in the past decade and a half, partly as a response to various challenges posed by the rapidly changing socio-economic landscapes. Many of these institutional transformations, together with related economic changes, have had an impact on environmental management work. Drawing on interviews with local Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) officials in five cities in Guangdong Province this article examines how their work has been affected by four sets of changes – (1) the introduction of the new system of ‘two separate lines for revenues and expenses’, in which local EPBs are no longer allowed to retain a portion of the pollution fees and fines they collect; (2) the increased spinning off of core functions from EPBs to service and enterprise organisations; (3) the introduction of a new environmental quality administrative leadership responsibility system; and (4) the gradual disappearance of state-owned enterprises. These changes can potentially create a more politically independent, but more accountable, administrative system for carrying out environmental management work. Yet many challenges remain that will limit the capacity of the Chinese environmental management system.

Cultural Heritage Assets in China as Sustainable Tourism Products: Case Studies of the Hutongs and the Huanghua Section of the Great Wall

Due to its rich stock of heritage assets, extraordinary pace of market liberalisation, and its political administration, the People’s Republic of China is at a crossroads in terms of the management of its heritage assets. In order to better understand the threats and opportunities that market liberalisation may pose for cultural heritage assets as future tourism products, this study examines two examples in the Beijing municipality; the Hutongs and the section of the Great Wall at Huanghua. These case studies are used to investigate the coordination of policy to balance modernisation and conservation of heritage assets in Beijing, and place it against a general model of stakeholder roles that can drive the sustainable use of heritage assets. Teasing out the nature of these roles has identified where tourism development aids or detracts from existing heritage conservation policies. Without better coordination of roles in policy implementation, the sustainability of many heritage assets as future tourism products is in question.

Commitment to corporate, social, and environmental responsibilities: an insight into contrasting perspectives in China and the US

This cross-national study investigates antecedents and outcomes of corporate responsibility (CR) practices to stakeholders and the natural environment in the contrasting contexts of China and the US. In general, we found partial support for the proposition that the divergence of CR stakeholder practices across nations is dependent on the institutional environments of business. Whereas customer and community stakeholder practices were found to be more prevalent in US companies, there were no significant country differences in the prevalence of employee, investor, and environmental CR practices. In addition, we found that the relationship between the prevalence of CR practices and business outcomes (financial performance, corporate reputation, and employee commitment) varied depending on the type of CR practice and country.

Governmental and Societal Support for Environmental Enforcement in China: An Empirical Study in Guangzhou

The enforcement behaviour of environmental officials in developing countries has not received adequate attention despite enormous challenges to regulatory enforcement in those areas. Accordingly, this article examines the relationship between perceptions of support from local governments and society and evaluations of enforcement effectiveness. A model in which organisational commitment partially mediates these relationships was tested using a sample of 202 enforcement officials in Guangzhou, China. The findings confirm a partial mediating role for organisational commitment and an interaction effect between government and societal support. A plot of this interaction reveals that when enforcement officials perceive high levels of governmental support, societal support further enhances their perceptions of enforcement effectiveness. However, when they perceive government support to be low, higher levels of societal support appear to diminish their assessments of enforcement effectiveness.

Enforcement Styles, Organizational Commitment, and Enforcement Effectiveness: An Empirical Study of Local Environmental Protection Officials in Urban China

The authors investigated the relationship between enforcement styles and perceptions of enforcement effectiveness in China by surveying three groups of environmental protection bureau officials from the major cities of Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Dalian. In general, it was found that organizational commitment partially mediates the relationship between the enforcement style of prioritization and perceptions of effectiveness. In this case, mediation and direct effects work together such that prioritization has by far the greatest positive total effect. In contrast, a coercive enforcement style is more completely mediated by organizational commitment, but this relationship is negative (that is, a coercive style appears to reduce organizational commitment, leading to lower perceptions of enforcement effectiveness). Although some differences are noted among the three samples, the overall pattern suggests that other enforcement styles (formalism, education, and external influence) appear to be much less influential in shaping perceptions of enforcement effectiveness.

The regulatory style of environmental governance in China: The case of EIA regulation in Shanghai

The body of literature that examines how institutional contexts affect environmental governance in advanced industrial countries finds that style of environmental regulation is country-specific. In the pluralist form of democracy like the United States, environmental policy formulation involves bargaining and compromises among interest groups and regulation enforcement through relatively formal and legalistic means. In the corporatist form of democracy like Sweden and Great Britain, in contrast, environmental policies are more accommodating to divergent societal interests and tend to be less formal in their enforcement. These variations in regulatory style have been attributed to differences in basic constitutional structures, regime types and cultures. How do institutional contexts affect the style of environmental regulation in China, which is both a non-democratic and developing country? This article examines Chinas regulatory style by focusing on environmental impact assessment (EIA) regulation in Shanghai. The Shanghai EIA system is analyzed in terms of policy ideology, policy content, regulatory process, public participation and policy consequences. It is shown that Chinas being a single-party regime with a ‘rule of persons’ tradition has heavily shaped its environmental governance. Based on Shanghai experience, Chinas style can be characterized as formal in requirement, agency-dominated in the regulatory process, legalistic in enforcement, and informal politics as the substance of regulation. Copyright