Linking environmental management practices to environmental performance: The interactive role of environmental audit

Drawing on institutional theory using data of S&P 500 listed firms over the period 2007 to 2018, this study examines the role of external environmental audit between environmental management practices (EMP) and environmental performance. In particular, we explore whether the integration of environmental audit with environmental management practices contribute to desire environmental performance. This study adopts generalized least squares (GLS), linear regression with random effects to examine the relationship among variables. Empirical findings suggest that firms adopting the external environmental audit instrument with the internal mechanism of EMP are found more effective to exhibit better environmental performance. Furthermore, the findings also confirm that the internal instrument of environmental management practices have valuable capability to produce better environmental performance. Finally, the results show that the operational implications of environmental audit need to be more focused by researchers.