National culture and environmental management activism of microfinance institutions

We examine whether national culture is material in the adoption of environmental management strategies in microfinance institutions' (MFIs’) activities. We empirically test a set of hypotheses based on Hofstede’s four national cultural dimensions using an unbalanced panel dataset of 1,139 MFI-year observations from 365 MFIs operating in 26 countries across the period 2007-2018. Our results suggest that uncertainty avoidance is positively associated, and individualism and power distance dimensions are negatively associated with the environmental management activism of MFIs. We also find weak evidence of a negative influence of masculinity on environmental management activism. In addition, we find that the profit orientation of MFIs effects the relationship between national culture and MFI environmental management activism. Our study demonstrates that policy-making bodies, regulatory authorities, and support organizations should consider a country's cultural context when developing policies and standards.