Mallory Flowers
Georgia Tech
GREENING THE IRON CAGE: Institutional Isomorphism in Certification Pathways for the Built Environment
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the relationship between motivations to obtain eco-certification and the environmental changes that result. Although early adopters seek market differentiation, institutional isomorphism expects late adopters to seek legitimation through conformity and symbolic gestures. Hypotheses predict the way that organizations select particular environmental strategies, based on evolving motivations to certify symbolically. High resolution, proprietary data on Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for green buildings permits detailed operationalization of symbolic adoption expectations. A variety of indices of homogeneity and diversity confirm the emergence of conformity in certification pathways. Evidence from logistic regression reveals that firms increasingly rely on resource efficiency measures towards certification, despite some expectations that firms will select strategies that are simply convenient or highly visible. Hazard models demonstrate that for-profit firms make this transition faster.
BIOGRAPHY
Mallory Elise Flowers is a doctoral student of public policy from Georgia Tech. Her dissertation addresses how firms pursue green certification, linking motivations to impacts of voluntary labeling. Past work has built on her NSF IGERT fellowship in nanomaterials for energy storage and conversion, through which she led a research team to a publication assessing how climate conditions impact the cost of solar photovoltaic technologies. Mallory joined Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy after completing her undergraduate work in applied mathematics and interdisciplinary studies at The University of Alabama, where her experiences in environmental advocacy shaped her current research interests in corporate social responsibility. When not hard at work, she can be found exploring Atlanta on her bike, and volunteering throughout the community. She currently serves as chair to the national Student Advisory Committee for the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management, policy’s flagship professional and research organization.