The Adoption of ISO 14001 Across Korean Business Firms

This study asks why Korean organizations adopt environmental self-regulation programs; I focus specifically on ISO 14001. My analysis draws on a unique longitudinal data set to offer a new institutional explanation of the spread of ISO 14001 across Korean business firms. I argue that Korean firms have adopted this program in response to the passage of The Promotion Act for Conversion to Environmental-Friendly Industry Structure of 1995. ISO 14001 is more to have been adopted when large firms in that industry have adopted it and when firms have a connection with management standards consultants who have marketed international standards. These findings extend recent theorizing about legal ambiguity and the mechanisms of “coercive isomorphism.”