Lifting the Veil of Linking Stakeholder Salience and Environmental Proactivity: The Perspectives of Attention-Based View

Amid escalating regulatory and stakeholder pressures, corporate environmental practices emerge as strategic competitive advantages. Yet, research lacks depth on the interactions among PLU (power, legitimacy, and urgency) attributes and resource-constrained decision pathways. Integrating stakeholder theory and the attention-based view (ABV), a pressure–attention–action model is developed in this study to explain the voluntary adoption of ultra-regulatory proactive environmental practices (PEPs). An analysis of 503 Taiwanese firms using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) reveals that (1) stakeholder legitimacy (β = 0.146, p < 0.01) and urgency (β = 0.215, p < 0.001) significantly increase perceived stakeholder pressure, whereas power exhibits no significant effect (β = 0.067, p > 0.05); (2) firm size positively moderates the pressure–resource linkage (β = 0.239, p < 0.001); and (3) urgency triggers partial mediation (57.4% VAF) through pressure and resources to drive proactive environmental practices. Firm size moderates pressure–resource linkages, with urgency prompting resource reallocation for environmental proactivity across scales. A dynamic PLU assessment tool and scale-sensitive strategies are proposed, challenging power-centric paradigms and aiding SMEs through collaborative networks. Limitations of the study include cross-sectional data and a regional focus, necessitating longitudinal and cross-industry validation.