Institutional pressures and support from industrial zones for motivating sustainable production among Chinese manufacturers

Institutional pressures drive manufacturers to implement sustainable production (SP) practices. Support from an industrial zone where a manufacturer is located is also important, but the role of industrial zones for SP practices lacks of related studies. This paper aims to understand how institutional pressures (coercive, normative and mimetic) and support from industrial zones, respectively and collectively, motivate SP practices. Using 422 samples of Chinese manufacturers from 31 provinces, an exploratory factor analysis indicates five factors on SP related to efficient consumption of materials, water, energy and land from the life cycle perspective. Results of hierarchical regression analysis reveal that normative pressure motivates most SP practices except land saving practices without the need of support from industrial zones. Coercive pressure can bring SP practices related to saving of resources including water, land and energy while support from industrial zones is needed for land and energy saving practices. Mimetic pressure only motivates SP practice on land saving while support from industrial zones is necessary. This paper defines SP considering the Chinese context, including practices on efficient consumption of materials, water, energy and land from the life cycle perspective. It also extends institutional theory to include support from industrial zones to examine motivation mechanism for SP practices among manufacturers, especially in emergent economies. Empirical results provide implications for governments that support from industrial zone should be highlighted to promote SP practices among manufacturers.