We meta-analyze research on why firms join voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) to assess the impact of program stringency, or the extent to which they have rigorous, enforceable standards on these decisions. Stringency creates trade-offs for firms by affecting programs’ effectiveness, legitimacy, and adoption costs. Most research considers singular programs and lacks cross program variation needed to analyze program stringency’s impact. Our meta-analysis addresses this by sampling 127 studies and 23 VEPs. We begin by identifying common institutional and resource-based drivers of participation in the literature, and then analyze how program stringency moderates their impacts. Our results suggest that strictly governed VEPs encourage participation among highly visible and profitable firms, and discourage it when informal institutional pressures are higher, and firms have prior experience with other VEPs or quality management standards. We demonstrate that VEP stringency has nuanced effects on firm participation based on the institutional and resource-based factors facing them.

我们对有关企业为何加入自愿性环境计划（VEP）来评估计划严格性的影响，或对这些决定制定严格，可执行标准的程度的研究进行荟萃分析。严格性会通过影响程序的有效性，合法性和采用成本来为公司带来折衷。大多数研究都考虑单一程序，缺乏分析程序严格性影响所需的跨程序变异。我们的荟萃分析通过采样127个研究和23个VEP来解决这个问题。我们首先确定参与文献的常见制度和基于资源的推动因素，然后分析计划严格性如何缓和其影响。我们的结果表明，严格监管的VEP会鼓励知名度高且利润丰厚的公司参与其中，当非正式机构的压力更高，并且公司具有其他VEP或质量管理标准的经验时，不鼓励这样做。我们证明，VEP严格性基于其所面临的制度性和基于资源的因素对公司参与产生细微影响。