A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of The Strategic Value of Beyond Compliance Occupational Health and Safety Programs

Abstract

The present study examines the application of Resource Dependence Theory
and Institutional Theory relative to company involvement in an important voluntary,
governmentally sanctioned employee safety program that goes by the acronym
VPP. Utilizing this combined theory approach, the study empirically demonstrates,
through a design incorporating correlation and multiple regression
analysis, that Institutional Theory is useful for predicting program prevalence
within a given industry, though Resource Dependence Theory complements the
former by offering an accounting of strategic firm behavior. Companies consider
adoption of beyond compliance safety programs as a strategy to manage the expression
of resource control power on the part of powerful stakeholders, while
Institutional Theory helps to explain the mechanisms by which such programs
proliferate through a given institutional field.