ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY FACTORS OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS LISTED ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE OF THAILAND

Abstract

This research aims to study the prioritization of environmental management and sustainability factors of organizations listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). This study was quantitative research, which divided into 8 industry groups. A purposive random sampling among 148 companies during 2018-2020. The research tools were environmental management priority questionnaire with 16 main topics and 113 sub-issues.

The results showed that the industry category with the highest average score on the importance of factors involved in environmental management was the Industrials group: Resource, Property & Construction, Argo & Food Industry, Financials, Service, Technology and Consumer Products groups respectively. The highest average prioritization score in the environmental management factors were corporate social responsibility (CSR), Environmental management and Values and norms. Meanwhile, the lowest score in environmental management factors were Environmental issues for suppliers, Environmental management account and Green/Eco industry respectively.
The importance of factors of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were SDGs Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) had the highest average score followed by Goal 13 (Climate Action) and Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), with mean scores equal to 4.12, 3.95 and 3.37 respectively. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the lowest priority score were SDGs Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), Goal 14 (Life Below Water) and Goal 1 (No Poverty) with mean scores equal to 1.50, 1.51 and 2.05 respectively. The results of this study could be used as information or guidelines for the organization’s operations towards sustainability organization executives-could use them to set goals, activities and business development to achieve sustainability goals in the future.