A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of The Strategic Value of Beyond Compliance Occupational Health and Safety Programs

The present study examines the application of Resource Dependence Theoryand Institutional Theory relative to company involvement in an important voluntary,governmentally sanctioned employee safety program that goes by the acronymVPP. Utilizing this combined theory approach, the study empirically demonstrates,through a design incorporating correlation and multiple regressionanalysis, that Institutional Theory is useful for predicting program prevalencewithin a given industry, though Resource Dependence Theory complements theformer by offering an accounting of strategic firm behavior. Companies consideradoption of beyond compliance safety programs as a strategy to manage the expressionof resource control power on the part of powerful stakeholders, whileInstitutional Theory helps to explain the mechanisms by which such programsproliferate through a given institutional field.