Growing environmental pollution and ecological destruction have become major international…

Growing environmental pollution and ecological destruction have become
major international concerns. In response to a resolution of the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992 on the subject of designing an instrument for encouraging
sustainable development, the ISO 14001 International Standard was issued
and amended by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in
September 1996 and November 2004, respectively. ISO 14001 requires firms
to establish an Environment Management System (EMS) for supporting
environmental protection, pollution prevention and continual improvement in
managing the potential environmental hazards related to firm activities, products
or services. However, ISO 14001 is not a performance oriented standard; rather,
it focuses on management processes rather than specific environmental outcomes
(Bansal and Bogner, 2002).1 ISO 14001 is designed to be applicable to all types
and sizes of organizations, and to accommodate diverse geographical, cultural