Examining the role of soft dimensions on the implementation of ISO 14000 environmental management systems: a graph-theoretic approach

Syed Mithun Ali; H M Belal; Sanjeeb Roy; Md Tayabur Rahman; Ahmed Shoyeb Raihan

doi:10.1007/s10479-022-04898-8

Examining the role of soft dimensions on the implementation of ISO 14000 environmental management systems: a graph-theoretic approach

Ann Oper Res. 2022 Sep 6:1-26. doi: 10.1007/s10479-022-04898-8. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Syed Mithun Ali¹, H M Belal², Sanjeeb Roy¹, Md Tayabur Rahman¹, Ahmed Shoyeb Raihan¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, 1000 Bangladesh.
² School of Business and Management, Liverpool Business School, Faculty of Business and Law, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, England.

Abstract

Organizations worldwide are now embracing different standards while approaching environmental management systems (EMS) to be environmentally and economically sustainable. The ISO 14001 EMS has captured much attention by offering efficient environmental practices organization-wide and throughout the supply chain. Human factors (HFs) are crucial behind implementing ISO 14001 EMS since research articles about ISO 14001 strongly emphasize different HFs. This study proposes a framework that solely focuses on those HFs. Influential HFs are extracted through content analysis of related literature and categorized into 5 main HFs. Opinions from experts in the relevant field about interrelationships and inheritances of the HFs are collected and converted into quantitative data. Incorporating the graph theoretic and matrix approach (GTMA), the data delivered permanent values corresponding to the main HFs and their best and worst possible values. Among the main HFs, EMS Training has been found to have the most scopes for improvement, followed by Employee Empowerment and EMS Teamwork. This study demonstrates a framework about how to assess the role of HFs behind internalizing ISO 14001 EMS and enables organizations to go for competitive benchmarking and to define and adjust goals for environmental management.

Keywords: EMS; Emerging economy; Graph-theoretic and matrix approach (GTMA); Human resource factor; ISO 14001.