Why Do Local Governments Design Their Sustainability Programs Differently?
Abstract
This study assessed which factors influence local governments’ strategic approaches to designing their sustainability programs to a broad array of environmental issues. To characterize distinctive sustainability strategies, we characterize exploitation and exploration strategies according to the breadth of environmental issues that local governments address in their sustainability programs. By analyzing 1,134 US local governments, we find that local governments tend to design their sustainability programs more broadly in response to pressures from external stakeholders and variations in internal organizational capacity. Findings also suggest that different stakeholders exert selective influences on local governments according to whether local governments pursue exploitation or exploration strategies. These findings indicate that stakeholder supports combined with strong internal organizational capacities may lead to the sustainability strategy that is more likely to generate broader social and environmental benefits to local communities.