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The purpose of this paper is to understand how external and internal drivers influence the implementation of the environment management system by selected local councils in Malaysia from the institutional theory and national culture perspectives.

This research used a multiple case study approach focusing on three selected Malaysian local councils. The data collection method included semi-structured interviews with officers directly involved in the environment management system implementation.

Organizations are more influenced by external rather than internal drivers in implementing the environment management system, and dominated by the normative pressure. This study offers insights into the effectiveness of the identified drivers in the environment management system implementation process, by relating to the type of conformance, either by “compliance” or “convergence.”

This study demonstrates the effect of national culture on the isomorphic influences of the internal and external motivations by local councils to implement the environment management system, namely, large power distance, collectivism, short-term normative orientation, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance.

The outcomes can be useful to managers of local councils with responsibilities for environmental decision making.

Institutional theory and national culture values are used successfully to explain the implementation of the environment management system in the three selected Malaysian councils in this study, in line with the public sector reform agenda undertaken by the Malaysian Government.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of environmental literacy among business lecturers in Malaysia.

A survey, which involved a combination of newly developed items and items adopted from past studies, was used to collect data from 35 respondents (out of 70).

The overall mean score for environmental literacy is 3.22 (out of 5), indicating that the respondents' level of literacy is slightly more than just fair knowledge. The most widely understood environmental literacy term is corporate social responsibility (CSR). The respondents were apparently aware of the recent mandatory disclosure requirement, i.e. to include the environmental information in companies' annual reports and the initiative moving towards “Green Malaysia”.

Universities in Malaysia could learn from environmental initiatives undertaken by universities in developed countries in terms of implementation, organizational policies and strategies. It is important for business lecturers to influence students to favourably perceive environmental issues as one of the core business activities, using a participative approach in teaching and learning.

This paper adds to the limited literature of CSR education research, particularly in Malaysia, by filling the gap with the development of 13 items to determine the level of awareness toward environmental initiatives in Malaysia.