Power of sustainable development: Does environmental management system certification affect a firm's access to finance?
研究环境管理体系认证能否帮助企业更容易获得融资，发现认证通过获得利益相关者认可而缓解资金约束，且政府环保重视度、企业环保记录和财务状况会增强这一效果。
Abstract Although prior research generated inconclusive findings between a firm's environmental management system and firm financial performance, attention to resolve this inconsistency by examining the internal channels is limited. Thus, this study focuses on a firm's access to finance and investigates whether a firm's environmental management system certification (EMS) leads to better access to finance. Based on the organizational legitimacy perspective, we hypothesize that this certification will benefit a firm with stakeholder approval and support and consequently alleviate its financial capital constraints. We further posit that the proposed relationship will be moderated by three types of legitimacy environments pertaining to how stakeholders and investors make the judgment on the environmental management system certification. We document that the proposed relationship, that is, the positive relationship between environmental management system certification and access to finance, will be stronger when the government attaches larger importance to environmental protection ( regulative legitimacy ), better environmental record ( moral legitimacy ), and better financial position ( pragmatic legitimacy ). Empirical analyses provide strong corroborating evidence for our predictions. These findings have important theoretical and managerial implications that are well discussed in this study.