This thesis is based on cross-sectional data analyses by using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Method in order to determine the main drivers of the environmental performance and specifically the effects of environmental audits conducted by
Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) on sustainable development. Two general models are employed throughout the study that have the Environmental Performance Index
(EPI) as dependent variable and various sub-models for different income groups are produced to observe the individual and interactive effects of explanatory variables.
First model includes 150 countries regressing their EPI scores on income, population, literacy rate and indicators of the strength of institutional structure such as corruption
perceptions index or government effectiveness score. Then, second model which comprises 52 countries introduces the number of environmental audit reports as a new explanatory variable. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is also applied to highly correlated variables and the models are reestimated. The results indicate that well functioning environmental management systems and resulting positive effects on
the environmental performance can only be attained through strengthened governmental institutions with high transparency and accountability as well as rigid
implementation of the related regulations. More specifically, environmental audit reports generated by SAIs are of vital importance for especially improving the environmental management systems of the developing countries.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12613993/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 January 2012 |
| Creators | Erkan, Berna |
| Contributors | Gaygisiz, Esma |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for METU campus |
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