SOFT EMS, HARD EMS, AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIPS: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

An environmental management system (EMS) provides the framework for continual environmental improvement through effective management of an organization?s environmental impacts. The most well-known and accepted EMS is the ISO 14001 standard on environmental management established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The literature suggest that the key components that impact on environmental management system (EMS) implementation are a synergistic blend of "hard? and "soft? elements. The elements of soft EMS are essentially dimensions of human resource management (HRM), while the "hard? elements are more technical-oriented. To ensure successful environmental management, the "hard? elements of an EMS must be accompanied by equal attention to the "soft? elements. At the present time, the nature of the relationship between the soft EMS elements, hard EMS elements and environmental performance remains unclear. Specifically more effort should be placed in formulating theoretical models that can represent the complex EMS practices-environmental performance relationships. This paper aims to provide a motivation for investigating the mediating effects of hard EMS elements in the relationship between soft EMS elements and environmental performance.