2017 Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 13-33
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of intangible assets on environmental performance using a sample of Japanese manufacturing industries. Researchers have different definitions of intangible assets. This study focuses on human resources as intangible assets, which is defined as employees’ job performance skills and productivity. On the other hand, environmental performance refers to a firm’s effectiveness in meeting and exceeding society’s expectations with regard to concerns for the natural environment. The hypothesis that human resources affect environmental performance using three types of proxy for human resources and a proxy for environmental performance is examined. In particular, human resources as intangible assets are defined by total employees, revenues, and total assets. Environmental performance is measured using data from the “Nikkei Environmental Management Survey” report released by Nikkei Research. To examine the hypothesis in detail, this study conducted additional regressions using quartiles scaled by the number of total employees, which also avoided and controlled for the influences of extreme observations. The results of this study statistically support the hypothesis. After considering the implications of these results, this study concludes that the intangible asset of human resources enhances environmental performance.
