ABSTRACT: We examined if local governments exercised de facto the role that the United Nations and European Union assigned to them in facing sustainable development challenge. In fact, municipalities could have difficulties in doing it, as the same UN acknowledged. We analyzed the phenomenon within the “public management” framework. In particular, the present work aimed at investigating whether the introduction of the “best green management practices” in a municipality was related to the factors identified in the current management literature which promoted the formulation and implementation of environmental safeguard strategies. We focused the attention on municipalities of the Apulia region, one of the earliest Italian regions to promote the adoption of green policies. We based our analysis on cross-sectional data. The questionnaires received were n. 79, so that the sample investigated represented 31.5% of the statistical population. Top managers and/or the assessors responsible for the environmental policies were involved in the survey. We opted for a multivariate analysis in order to test the theoretical model based on the management review. More specifically, the dependent variable was amenable to the Green Management Index (GMI), whilst the independent ones were attributable to certain fields, such as the employees’ training on green economy, the networking attitude of local governments, the average duration of the electoral term of office and the exercise of the decisional autonomy. According to several authoritative national and international sources analyzed in the literature review, these independent variables might have a significant influence on the adoption of best practices to protect the environment. We found that the attitude of municipalities to make investments in the employees’ training on green economy exerted a strong influence on the adoption of green management best practices. This empirical evidence confirmed the resource-based theory conceptual framework. Moreover, our results showed that the cooperation with other organizations (public or private) affected positively the adoption of a green management approach. The research pointed out the relative importance of the political regime stability to improve the voluntary adoption of green management practices. Finally, it is worthwhile noting that the attitude of fund-raising was an important contributor to the implementation of innovation on services/processes, such as green management practices. Overall, the research can help policy makers, managers and scholars to better examine local authority behaviors.
KEYWORDS: Green management, Local government, Networking
