Papers by Magali A . Delmas
Organization & Environment, 2019
Air pollution has a significant impact on health but is often invisible to the naked eye. Real-ti... more Air pollution has a significant impact on health but is often invisible to the naked eye. Real-time air quality information can help people take action to protect their health. However, little is known on how to most effectively frame air quality information to promote public health. We conducted a field experiment to study people’s engagement with real-time air quality information provided through a smartphone application (app). We tested 12 different messaging strategies on both intent to engage with air quality information (through a survey), and actual engagement with air quality information tracked through the app in response to the messaging strategies. Our results, based on 835 survey respondents and 2,740 app users, show that intent to engage and actual engagement differ. Overall, users’ demographics were the most important predictor of engagement with messages. This research demonstrates the significance of testing messaging strategies through field experiments rather than ...
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2017
Environmental information disclosure programs seek to motivate firms to reduce their environmenta... more Environmental information disclosure programs seek to motivate firms to reduce their environmental impact. A variety of environmental impacts are reported in these programs and often this information is aggregated into a composite environmental index (CEI) for easier communication. The challenge is to create a meaningful index that allows environmental performance to be compared over time and space without ambiguity. In this paper, we argue that it is important to develop a cardinally meaningful and standardized CEI and use a nonparametric frontier approach to constructing such an index. This approach has the advantage to handle issues associated with data irregularity and the mixed measurability of underlying variables. We apply this approach to construct a CEI for evaluating the environmental performance of manufacturing facilities in different industrial sectors in Los Angeles based on data from the toxic release inventory. We show how the CEI can be used to improve facility-level environmental performance. A sensitivity analysis is conducted with respect to the uncertainty in data accuracy, which demonstrates the robustness of the nonparametric frontier approach in constructing meaningful environmental indices.
Revue des oenologues et des techniques vitivinicoles et oenologiques: magazine trimestriel d'information professionnelle, 2016
Case Studies in Sustainability Management and Strategy, 2017
This case was written as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effectiv... more This case was written as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Numbers in the case have been modified and disguised to protect proprietary information.
Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2022
We evaluate 2010-2015 multiple residential energy efficiency subsidy programs using more than 11 ... more We evaluate 2010-2015 multiple residential energy efficiency subsidy programs using more than 11 million households' electricity billing records in Southern California. We find that these programs reduce overall electricity usage by 4 percent. However, there are significant differences in their effectiveness. Pool pumps and refrigeration programs generate the largest savings (12 percent, and 6 percent, respectively). Lighting and HVAC retrofits programs generate less than 1 percent savings. We also find electricity consumption increases for dishwashers and clothes washers upgrades, building shell, and whole house retrofits. Program impact varies during certain time of the year and for certain building types.
Information programs are promising strategies to encourage investments in energy e ciency in comm... more Information programs are promising strategies to encourage investments in energy e ciency in commercial buildings. However, the realized e ectiveness of these programs has not yet been estimated on a large scale. Here we take advantage of a large sample of monthly electricity consumption data for 178,777 commercial buildings in Los Angeles to analyse energy savings and emissions reductions from threemajor programs designed to encourage e ciency: the USDepartment of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program and the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. Usingmatching techniques, we find energy savings that range from 18% to 30%, depending on the program. These savings represent a reduction of 210 million kilowatt-hours or 145 kilotons of CO2 equivalent emissions per year. However, we also find that these programs do not substantially reduce emissions in small and medium sized bu...
Eco-labeling signals that a product has been eco-certified. While there is increasing use of eco-... more Eco-labeling signals that a product has been eco-certified. While there is increasing use of eco-labeling practices, there is still little understanding of the conditions under which eco-labels can command price premiums. In this paper, we argue that the certification of environmental practices by a third party should be analyzed as a strategy distinct from although related to the advertisement of the eco-certification through a label posted on the product. By assessing eco-labeling and eco-certification strategies separately, we are able to identify benefits associated with the certification process independently from those associated with the actual label. More specifically, we argue in the context of the wine industry that eco-certification can provide benefits, such as improved reputation in the industry or increased product quality, which can lead to a price premium without the need to use the eco-label. We estimate this price premium of wine due to the eco-certification of gra...
Journal of Business Ethics, 2019
Air pollution is one of the largest environmental health risks globally but is often imperceptibl... more Air pollution is one of the largest environmental health risks globally but is often imperceptible to people. Air quality smartphone applications (commonly called apps) provide real-time localized air quality information and have the potential to help people learn about the health effects of air pollution and enable them to take action to protect their health. Hundreds of air quality apps are now available; however, there is scant information on how effective these mobile apps are at educating stakeholders about air pollution and promoting behavioral change to protect their health. In this paper, we test how intrinsic and extrinsic motivations can enhance users' engagement with air quality information through the app, and favor changes in protective behavior. We developed an air quality app, AirForU, with a built-in research study that was downloaded by 2,740 users. We found that engagement was higher for users with intrinsic motivations, such as those who are health conscious, either because they are suffering from heart disease or other conditions aggravated by air pollution, or because they exercise often and want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Extrinsic motivations such as notifications were also effective. App users stated that they frequently shared air quality with others, learned about the Air Quality Index (AQI), and took measures to protect their health while using the app.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2019
Air pollution is one of the largest environmental health risks globally but is often imperceptibl... more Air pollution is one of the largest environmental health risks globally but is often imperceptible by people. Air quality smartphone applications (commonly called apps) provide real-time localized air quality information and have the potential to help people learn about the health effects of air pollution and take action to protect their health. Hundreds of air quality apps are now available, however, there is scant information on how effective these mobile apps are at educating stakeholders about air pollution and at promoting behavioral change to protect their health. In this paper, we test how intrinsic and extrinsic motivations can enhance users' engagement with air quality information and favor changes in protective behavior. We developed an air quality app, AirForU, with a built-in research study that was downloaded by 2,740 users. We found that user engagement, measured as checking the app, and talking to someone about air pollution, was strong in the first few weeks after downloading the app but faded significantly after 12 weeks. Engagement was higher for users with intrinsic motivations, such as those who are health conscious, either because they are suffering from heart disease or other conditions aggravated by air pollution, or because they exercise often and want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Extrinsic motivations such as notifications were also effective. App users stated that they shared air quality frequently with others while using the app, learned information about the Air Quality Index (AQI), and took measures to protect their health.
Data in brief, 2018
The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled: "Informatio... more The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled: "Information strategies for energy conservation: a field experiment in India" (Chen et al., 2017) [1]. The availability of high-resolution electricity data offers benefits to both utilities and consumers to understand the dynamics of energy consumption for example, between billing periods or times of peak demand. However, few public datasets with high-temporal resolution have been available to researchers on electricity use, especially at the appliance-level. This article describes data collected in a residential field experiment for 19 apartments at an Indian faculty housing complex during the period from August 1, 2013 to May 12, 2014. The dataset includes detailed information about electricity consumption. It also includes information on apartment characteristics and hourly weather variation to enable further studies of energy performance. These data can be used by researchers as training d...
Academy of Management Discoveries, 2015
In 2013, the energy and natural resources sector spent $359 million lobbying. Such spending is la... more In 2013, the energy and natural resources sector spent $359 million lobbying. Such spending is largely perceived as a strategy by industry to oppose regulation. Research has barely begun to investigate how firm-level performance on salient political issues affects corporate political strategy. In this paper, we address this issue in the context of the recent climate change policy debate in the United States. We hypothesize a U-shaped relationship between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and lobbying expenditures. To test our hypothesis, our study leverages novel data on firm-level GHG emissions and lobbying expenses aimed specifically at climate change legislation. Our results based on 3,194 firm-observations during a 4 year-period, suggest that both dirty and clean firms are active in lobbying, which challenges the view of adversarial corporate strategy.
Organization & Environment, 2015
While corporate sustainability has been defined as an approach that creates long-term value with ... more While corporate sustainability has been defined as an approach that creates long-term value with minimum environmental damage, there is still little understanding of the time horizon over which improved environmental performance leads to improved financial performance. We investigate the relationship between environmental and financial performance under increasing likelihood of environmental regulation. We leverage longitudinal data for 1,095 U.S. corporations from 2004 to 2008, a period of increasing activity for climate change legislation, in order to estimate the effect of greenhouse gas emissions on short- and long-term measures of financial performance. We find that during this period, improving corporate environmental performance causes a decline in an indicator of short-term financial performance, return on assets. Nonetheless, investors see the potential long-term value of improved environmental performance, manifested by an increase in Tobin’s q. These results suggest that ...
Research in Economics, 2017
Rising greenhouse gas emissions raise the risk of severe climate change. The household sector's g... more Rising greenhouse gas emissions raise the risk of severe climate change. The household sector's greenhouse gas emissions have increased over time as more people drive gasoline cars and consume electricity generated using coal and natural gas. The household sector's emissions would decline if more households drove electric vehicles and owned solar panels. In recent years automobile manufacturers have been producing high-performance electric vehicles, and solar panels are becoming more efficient and less expensive. Using several data sets from California, we document evidence of the growth of the joint purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles and solar panels. We discuss pricing and quality trends for these green durable goods.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2016
Ecolabels are part of a new wave of environmental policy that emphasizes information disclosure a... more Ecolabels are part of a new wave of environmental policy that emphasizes information disclosure as a tool to induce environmentally friendly behavior by both firms and consumers. Little consensus exists as to whether ecocertified products are actually better than their conventional counterparts. This study seeks to understand the link between ecocertification and product quality. We use data from three leading wine-rating publications (the Wine Advocate, Wine Enthusiast, and Wine Spectator) to assess quality for 74,148 wines produced in California between 1998 and 2009. Our results indicate that ecocertification is associated with a statistically significant increase in wine quality rating. Being ecocertified increases the scaled score of the wine by 4.1 points on average.
We the members of the Emissions Reduction Group would like to acknowledge those individuals who p... more We the members of the Emissions Reduction Group would like to acknowledge those individuals who provided us with valuable information and services. We would like to thank the employees at the SCAQMD and California EPA who helped us gather information and better direct ...
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2016
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2012
In this paper we analyze the factors that drive the adoption of resource efficiency practices in ... more In this paper we analyze the factors that drive the adoption of resource efficiency practices in constrained economic times. We uncover the 'paradox' of lower investments in resource efficiency practices in a downturn market and identify the characteristics of firms that seek the opportunity to invest more in such conditions. We argue that even though the attractiveness of resource efficiency practices should increase in downturn market conditions, such practices require complementary capabilities, strategies and organizational structure for their successful adoption. We test our framework using data from a French survey with responses from 5, 877 firms. Our results show that only 6% of the firms in our sample invest in resource efficiency practices in downturn markets, and that those firms are more likely to be vertically integrated, and to have a main focus on cost leadership strategies, have adopted environmental standards and conduct their research internally. We provide recommendations to encourage more widespread adoption of such models of frugal strategies.
Family Business Review, 2014
Business sustainability has been defined as meeting current needs while providing the ability of ... more Business sustainability has been defined as meeting current needs while providing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, few firms invest in practices geared at sustainability. In this article, we investigate how family ties to future generations via the intention of transgenerational succession can be associated with the adoption of sustainable practices. Using data from 281 wineries in the United States collected through a survey questionnaire, we show that ties to future generations, measured as the intention of the winery owner to pass down the winery to their children, are associated with the adoption of sustainable certification.
We thank Matthew Shepherd for excellent research assistance. We thank the UCLA Ziman Center for R... more We thank Matthew Shepherd for excellent research assistance. We thank the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate and the UCLA Transdisciplinary Seed Grant for generous funding. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.
Stakeholders, the Environment and Society
Why do some firms adopt environmental management practices that go beyond regulatory compliance w... more Why do some firms adopt environmental management practices that go beyond regulatory compliance while other firms decide to comply to regulations? This paper leverages institutional theory by proposing that firms respond to the pressure of institutional actors such as politicians, regulators, customers, competitors, and local communities. However, the way in which plants perceive and act upon these pressures depends upon plant-and parent company-specific factors, including their track record of environmental performance, the competitive position of the parent company and the organizational structure of the plant. We examine several firm characteristics that are expected to have moderating effects on the relationship between the institutional pressures and facilities' environmental practices. For example, multinational corporations, leading companies, and firms with high brand equity are often held to higher standards for social and environmental responsibility. We also assess how companies frame stakeholder pressures by measuring the extent to which facility-level environmental management decisions are coordinated with various corporate departments. Facilities can respond to these institutional pressures by adopting different sets of environmental management practices. They can adopt practices of conformance to existing regulations or voluntary environmental management practices. As an example of voluntary management practices, they can implement varying elements of an environmental management system such as creating an environmental policy, a formal training program, and instigating routine environmental auditing. They can also choose to signal their dedication to environmental management by pursuing ISO 14001 certification or by participating in voluntary environmental programs sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency, industry associations, or nongovernmental organizations. Our approach complements institutional theory as it shows the diversity of both the institutions driving environmental pressures including external and internal pressures to the organization and the corresponding organizational responses developed within each company.
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Papers by Magali A . Delmas
Framing product benefits to motivate behavior is the key. Combining insights from sustainable business and behavioral economics, Delmas and Colgan show managers how to lead buyers from information to action. If you are looking to win over the convenient consumer or understand how companies can create the next tipping point in green consumption, this is the research-based, practical guide for you.