The values held collectively by a country's society become explicit in its governance. The parties that are formed and ultimately elected to parliament are a force of collective normative pressure of that country's population and organizations.
Green parties are a case in point. In countries like Germany, Sweden, Austria, and Norway public awareness of environmental issues has given rise to the popularity of Green Parties as a conduit for environmental advocates to influence legislation and to act as a pressure group that impacts firms’ strategic choices.
Andrew Inkpen, Kannan Ramaswamy (Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University) and I (EBS Business School, EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht) find that level of environmental awareness expressed as the election of a green party to parliament in a country is a sign of salience to oil and gas firms evaluating entry into the renewables segment. Results show that high normative pressure through green parties is positively related to management commitment to renewable energy by oil and gas companies. The figure below highlights this effect.
More insights on what drives oil and gas companies to transition to renewable energy can be found in our most recent Journal of International Business Studies publication available here.
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