Exploring the Interplay of Stakeholder Pressure, Environmental Awareness, and Environmental Ethics on Perceived Environmental Performance: Insights from the Manufacturing Sector

This study explores the relationships among stakeholder pressure (SP), environmental awareness (EA), leadership commitment (LC), and environmental ethics (EE) and their influence on perceived environmental performance (PEP) in the manufacturing industry. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to examine the quantitative data collected from 386 managers across selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. The outcome of the study reveals that stakeholder pressure influences environmental ethics and perceived environmental performance but not leadership commitment, while environmental awareness influences environmental ethics but not perceived environmental performance and leadership commitment, with EE not impacted by LC. Meanwhile, EE mediate the relationship between EA and PEP as well as SP and PEP but not LC and PEP, while LC does not mediate any of the relationship, and innovative climate (IC) does not moderate the relationship between EE and PEP. The study recommends that organizations should focus on enhancing EA and SP to improve environmental ethics and PEP.