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Green Purchasing by MNC Subsidiaries: The Role of Local Tailoring in the Presence of Institutional Duality
Author(s) -
Hsu PeiFang,
Hu Paul JenHwa,
Wei ChihPing,
Huang JhihWei
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
decision sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.238
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1540-5915
pISSN - 0011-7315
DOI - 10.1111/deci.12088
Subject(s) - subsidiary , purchasing , multinational corporation , business , context (archaeology) , extant taxon , industrial organization , globalization , marketing , economics , market economy , paleontology , finance , evolutionary biology , biology
To examine the essential determinants of green purchasing by multinational corporations’ (MNC) subsidiaries, this study takes institutional theory as a foundation and focuses on the institutional duality associated with localization and globalization. Specifically, we develop a model to explain subsidiaries’ green purchasing and empirically test the model with data from 141 purchasing managers and senior purchasing staff members from subsidiaries in 39 countries. Our results suggest that pressures from headquarters and the local environment do not affect subsidiaries’ green purchasing directly; rather, they exert indirect influences through local tailoring. This study contributes to extant literature by revealing the significance of local tailoring in an MNC context. In addition, our findings offer several implications for practice by providing a roadmap for disseminating green purchasing across the subsidiaries of an MNC, as well as highlighting the importance of both clear communication about the benefits of green purchasing and internal audits.