University of Minnesota, United States

Assessment of the varying impact of internal motivation and external pressures and the scope of environmental externalities

• View Narae's summary

Abstract

Previous research has separately examined two forces that determine an establishment’s environmental performance, internal motivation and external pressure. By expanding the current dichotomy distinction of ownership types and differentiating pollutants by their scope of environmental externalities, I investigate how two forces jointly impact an establishment’s polluting activities. Using toxic chemical and greenhouse gases emission data from the Environmental Protection Agency, I show that establishments of foreign ownership emit less greenhouse gases than the establishments of local or non-local domestic ownership, but the same pattern did not exist for toxic chemical emissions. Following supplementary analyses support the underlying mechanisms that lead to the main effect.

Biography

Narae Lee is a PhD candidate in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management of the University of Minnesota. Her research interests relate to heterogeneity in environmental performances. Prior to joining her PhD program, Narae had an extensive career in promoting the private sector’s engagement in environmental sustainability. Most recently, she worked at the Inter-American Investment Corporation where she focused on developing and executing projects to help the small and medium size companies to invest in energy efficiency projects. Narae holds a MSc in Energy and Climate Change from the Johns Hopkin University, a MA in international affairs from Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (Switzerland) and a BA in Business from the Seoul National University (South Korea).