THE IMPACT OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE: How much does your origin say about how green you are?

This paper aims to study the effect of national culture on corporate environmental responsibility practices and commitment. To this end, we employ the Hofstede framework of cultural dimensions in order to examine each cultural aspect’s power to predict a firm’s environmental performance. Furthermore, we explore the potential of national environmental commitment as a moderator of the relationship between national culture and corporate environmental performance. Our findings, deriving from a sample of 591 corporations of the S&P 1200 index, suggest that a firm’s environmental performance is influenced by the culture characterizing its country of origin. Among the cultural aspects that function as predictors of corporate environmental commitment, we identify the power distance dimension, as well as masculinity, long-term orientation and indulgence levels. Our study finds no support for moderation effects originating from national environmental efforts on the examined relationship. Finally, national culture dimensions remain significant in both models of analysis highlighting the strength of the liaison between a firm and its national culture context