The Impact of National Culture on The Growth of a Nation’s Environmental Performance

The primary objective of this paper is to examine the relationship that national culture has with growth rates in environmental performance over a 10-year period. Given the global climate challenges touching virtually every continent, the urgency for countries to improve their environmental performance has never been greater. A country’s citizens, its organizations - both governmental and non-governmental - increasingly recognize the importance of finding ways to improve performance on a national basis. This study examines the potential role that national cultural values play in relation to improving a nation’s environmental performance over time. In this study, differences in a country’s environmental performance over the period of a decade are examined in relationship to a county’s cultural values. In addition, an economic component, a measure of gross domestic product, is also used in this study’s research model. Using a variety of statistical analysis procedures, including necessary condition analysis, the results of this study suggest national culture does make a significant difference in environmental growth rates. Results suggest that all but one of the cultural dimensions examined in a 69-country database are necessary for growth of environmental performance to take place. In addition, the results also suggest there is one specific cultural dimension which may be particularly significant in contributing specifically to the rate of growth in environmental performance over a 10-year period. Potential implications of this research for researchers, organizations, and governments are briefly discussed.