Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:39:05.315Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Self-Regulation by Associations: Collective Action Problems in European Environmental Regulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Adrienne Héritier  and
Sandra Eckert
Adrienne Héritier
Affiliation:
European University Institute
Sandra Eckert
Affiliation:
Free University Berlin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How and to what effect do firms coordinate their actions to deal with the negative external effects of productive activity? Under which conditions do associations engage in self-regulation and how do they tackle the specific regulatory challenges at stake? When developing hypotheses, we first vary attributes of the information environment in which private actors interact; and, secondly, actors' preferences as a function of the problem type at hand. With respect to the environmental conditions, our findings show that a regulatory threat matters when developing associative action, whilst the evidence is less clear as regards NGO campaigns. In terms of the problem type, we find that redistributive issues and prisoner's dilemma situations are much more conflict prone than coordination/win-win type of problems. Industry actors recur to various governance devices such as flexible contract design and compensation mechanisms to solve redistributive problems. Prisoner's dilemma (PD) problems may only partially be addressed by governance devices to the extent that free-riding is controlled and sanctioned within an association. We conclude that private actors engaging in self-regulation will not successfully manage all types of conflicts. They lack powerful sanctioning tools to deal with PD situations, but prove to be able to flexibly handle redistributive problems.

Keywords

collective actiongovernanceregulatory threatself-regulationtransaction cost theory
Type
Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , April 2009 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2009 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, Stephen. 2008. Rethinking the Role of the State: Explaining Business Collective Action at the Business Council of Australia. Polity 40 (4): 464–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brousseau, Eric, and Fares, M'hand. 2000. Incomplete Contracts and Governance Structures: Are Incomplete Contract Theory and New Institutional Economics Substitutes or Complements? In Institutions, Contracts and Organizations: Perspectives from New Institutional Economics, edited by Ménard, C. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Doner, Richard F, and Ross Schneider, Ben. 2000. Business Associations and Economic Development: Why Some Associations Contribute More Than Others. Business and Politics 2 (3): 261–88.Google Scholar
Granovetter, Mark S. 1985. Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology 91: 481–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halfteck, Guy. 2006. A Theory of Legislative Threats. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University.Google Scholar
Héritier, Adrienne, and Lehmkuhl, Dirk. 2008. New Modes of Governance and the Shadow of Hierarchy. Sectoral Governance and Territorially Bound Democratic Government. Special Issue. Journal of Public Policy 28 (1): 1–17.Google Scholar
Lake, David A., and Powell, Robert. 1999. International Relations: A Strategic-Choice Approach. In Strategic Choice and International Relations, edited by Lake, D. A. and Powell, R. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Leadbitter, Jason. 2002. PVC and Sustainability. Progress in Polymer Science 27: 2197–226.Google Scholar
National Centre for Business & Ecology. 1999. An Environmental Charter for UK PVC Manufacturers. Prepared for the PVC Co-ordination GroupGoogle Scholar
North, Douglass C. 1996. Epilogue: Economic Performance through Time. In Empirical Studies in Institutional Change, edited by Alston, L. J., Eggertson, T. and North, D. C. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
North, Douglass C. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pohle, Horst. 1997. PVC und Umwelt. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.Google Scholar
Polsky, Andrew. 2000. When Business Speaks: Political Entrepreneurship, Discourse and Mobilization in American Partisan Regimes. Journal of Theoretical Politics 12 (4): 455–76.Google Scholar
Simmons, Beth A., and Elkins, Zachary. 2004. The Globalization of Liberalization: Policy Diffusion in the International Political Economy. American Political Science Review 98 (1): 171–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vogel, David. 1978. Why Businessmen Distrust Their State: The Political Consciousness of American Corporate Executives. British Journal of Political Science 8 (1): 45–78.Google Scholar
Williamson, Oliver E. 1975. Markets and hierarchies, analysis and antitrust implications: a study in the economics of internal organization. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, Oliver E. 1996. The mechanisms of governance New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, Oliver E. 2002. The Theory of the Firm as Governance Structure. Journal of Economic Perspectives 16 (3): 171–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar