Time compression diseconomies in environmental management: The effect of assimilation on environmental performance

•We focus on the relations between the assimilation, experience and environmental performance.•Assimilation and experience have a positive impact on environmental performance.•The relationship between assimilation and environmental performance depends on experience.•Obtaining greater assimilation in a shorter time leads to time compression diseconomies.•We provide empirical evidence based on 154 Spanish plants subject to EU ETS.

This research addresses the relationship between an organisation's assimilation of its environmental management system (EMS), the experience it gains through it, and its environmental performance. Assimilation here refers to the degree to which the requirements of the management standard are integrated within a plant's daily operations. Basing ourselves on the heterogeneity of organisations, we argue that assimilation and experience will inform environmental performance. Furthermore, we posit that the relationship between assimilation and environmental performance depends on experience. The attempt to obtain greater assimilation in a shorter time leads an organisation to record a poorer environmental outcome, which we shall refer to as time compression diseconomies in environmental management. We provide empirical evidence based on 154 plants pertaining to firms in Spain subject to the European Union's CO2 Emissions Trading System.