Influência das capacidades absortiva e de aprendizagem organizacional na relação entre práticas de gestão ambiental e desempenho

Abstract

This research aimed to analyze the influence of the absorptive and organizational learning capacities on the relationship between environmental management practices and performance. The methodology used to carry out the study was a descriptive research, carried out by means of a survey and with quantitative approach of the data, from the use of the software SPSS® and AMOS®. The study sample comprised 147 professionals responsible for the environmental management of industries in Brazil. The data collection was carried out by applying a questionnaire with questions based on González-Benito and González-Benito (2005) to measure the environmental management practices Lin and Wu (2014) to obtain learning capacity, Garrido (2016) to measure the absorptive capacity, the research of Zhu et al. (2007; 2008) to measure environmental performance and, finally, Llach et al. (2013) to achieve financial performance. To achieve the objectives of the study, a theoretical model of analysis was elaborated, containing nine hypotheses, which were tested using the structural equation modeling technique. The results show that environmental management practices directly influence the absorptive capacity, learning ability and environmental performance. Already the absorptive capacity influences the learning capacity and the financial performance. Learning ability influences environmental performance. Only the absorptive capacity (potential and realized) influences the financial performance, which indicates that the companies that identify the technical and scientific knowledge in the external environment and apply them internally of the organization provides the increase of the market value of the company, its profit and annual sales. Regarding the indirect effects of organizational (absorptive and learning) capacities, the results revealed that the absorptive capacity and learning capacity have mediating effects on the relationship between environmental management practices and performance. This mediation suggests that organizational capabilities enhance the relationship between practice and performance. Thus, Brazilian industries must improve these capacities in the work environment, as they have relevant impacts on the adoption of environmental management practices and on environmental and financial performance. These results allow us to conclude that managers with environmental responsibilities that have better absorptive and learning capacities tend to adopt greater adoption of environmental management practices and, consequently, contribute to the performance of Brazilian industries.