From necessity to responsibility: Evidence for corporate environmental citizenship activities from a developing country perspective

The objective of this study is to focus on corporate activities conducted to protect and preserve the environment, and to evaluate these activities with respect to social responsibility in a developing country setting. This study also tries to find out whether corporations take part in these activities due to social expectations and legal obligations or due to their own social awareness. The data was collected from Turkey, which is a good example of a developing country with its economic situation. Corporations from the automotive, pharmaceutical and textile industries were studied, as the products and the process of production of these industries pose a threat to the environment. The research findings show that in adopting environmental citizenship policies corporations are more influenced by 'obligatory regulations' coming from institutional forces than by 'voluntary regulations' coming from their own social awareness.