Abstract:
This study examines empirically the potential relationship between the environmental
altruism of a firm’s decision maker on environmental quality and the level of adoption of
enhanced environmental controls by the firm using the special case of adoption of solid waste
management practices (SWMPs) recommended by the Ministry of Environment of Sri Lanka
to the agri-food processing firms in Sri Lanka. The data collected from 275 firms by means of
an in-depth interview with the environmental manager/owner were used to formulate a
Weighted Environmental Altruism Index (WEAI) to estimate the degree of altruism of the
manager. The Count Data Model was specified to assess the relationship between altruism
and levels of adoption of SWMPs. The results suggest that the degree of environmental
altruism of these mangers was relatively low (i.e. 0.25, on an average, of the WEAI ranges
from -1 to 1) and the level of adoption of SWMPs was very unsatisfactory (i.e. Mean 1.2 with
47% of non-adopters) showing no significant relationship between these two factors. This
implies the importance of augmenting the perspective of a firm’s management beyond the
profits through a collaborative action of the firm and other social institutions to make sure
that the businesses will not be liable for the environment it operates.
