{"title":"Examining the adoption of PEFC chain of custody certification in the Italian forest-based industry: An empirical study on motivations and impacts","authors":"Stefano Bruzzese , Filippo Brun , Antonino Galati , Valeria Borsellino , Claudio Mirabella , Antonio Brunori , Simone Blanc","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103385","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>PEFC is the world's largest forest certification system, with more than 295 million hectares of certified forests and over 28,000 companies currently involved in the Chain of Custody (CoC). In this context, this research investigated the governance mechanisms influencing the decisions of Italian forest-based industry operators to adopt such certification and the results of its adoption. A questionnaire was administered to 1326 PEFC-certified Italian companies of forest-based sector between November 2022 and March 2023, and 236 valid responses were collected. The main findings highlighted that internal values and beliefs within the company primarily influence the decision to adopt the scheme through the ‘Moral’ mechanism. Key motivational levers included the environmental awareness of employees, the improvement of environmental quality, and the way the company communicates its brand and products on the market. There was also good alignment between pre-adoption expectations and outcomes achieved after CoC certification, demonstrating the effectiveness of PEFC's role as a ‘Signalling’ and ‘Moral’ mechanism. The adoption of the CoC certification scheme significantly enhanced corporate image and highlighted the need to train employees in the management of Environmental Management Systems. The study makes a significant contribution from a theoretical point of view, enriching the literature in this line of research, but also from a practical point of view by providing useful information for practitioners wishing to strengthen their certification system or for companies wishing to adopt a more sustainable approach to their business through the adoption of certification schemes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"170 ","pages":"Article 103385"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Forest Policy and Economics","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934124002399","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
PEFC is the world's largest forest certification system, with more than 295 million hectares of certified forests and over 28,000 companies currently involved in the Chain of Custody (CoC). In this context, this research investigated the governance mechanisms influencing the decisions of Italian forest-based industry operators to adopt such certification and the results of its adoption. A questionnaire was administered to 1326 PEFC-certified Italian companies of forest-based sector between November 2022 and March 2023, and 236 valid responses were collected. The main findings highlighted that internal values and beliefs within the company primarily influence the decision to adopt the scheme through the ‘Moral’ mechanism. Key motivational levers included the environmental awareness of employees, the improvement of environmental quality, and the way the company communicates its brand and products on the market. There was also good alignment between pre-adoption expectations and outcomes achieved after CoC certification, demonstrating the effectiveness of PEFC's role as a ‘Signalling’ and ‘Moral’ mechanism. The adoption of the CoC certification scheme significantly enhanced corporate image and highlighted the need to train employees in the management of Environmental Management Systems. The study makes a significant contribution from a theoretical point of view, enriching the literature in this line of research, but also from a practical point of view by providing useful information for practitioners wishing to strengthen their certification system or for companies wishing to adopt a more sustainable approach to their business through the adoption of certification schemes.
期刊介绍:
Forest Policy and Economics is a leading scientific journal that publishes peer-reviewed policy and economics research relating to forests, forested landscapes, forest-related industries, and other forest-relevant land uses. It also welcomes contributions from other social sciences and humanities perspectives that make clear theoretical, conceptual and methodological contributions to the existing state-of-the-art literature on forests and related land use systems. These disciplines include, but are not limited to, sociology, anthropology, human geography, history, jurisprudence, planning, development studies, and psychology research on forests. Forest Policy and Economics is global in scope and publishes multiple article types of high scientific standard. Acceptance for publication is subject to a double-blind peer-review process.