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2025-11-25
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Copyright (c) 2025 Haider Abdulkareem Alobaidi, Khalis Kadhim, Ali Abdul-Jabbar Raheem, Jaafer Kadhem Jasim, Waleed Nassar, Dmytro Khlaponin

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How to Cite
Corporate Governance and Legal Compliance as Psychological Drivers of Environmental Awareness and Sustainable Behavior
Haider Abdulkareem Alobaidi
Al-Turath University, Baghdad 10013, Iraq
Khalis Kadhim
Al-Mansour University College, Baghdad 10067, Iraq
Ali Abdul-Jabbar Raheem
Al-Mamoon University College, Baghdad 10012, Iraq
Jaafer Kadhem Jasim
Al-Rafidain University College, Baghdad 10064, Iraq
Waleed Nassar
Madenat Alelem University College, Baghdad 10006, Iraq
Dmytro Khlaponin
Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Kyiv 03037, Ukraine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59429/esp.v10i11.3974
Keywords: Corporate governance; legal obligations; environmental psychology; compliance; sustainability performance; stakeholder engagement; Sustainable Development Goals
Abstract
Corporate governance has emerged as a decisive factor in advancing sustainability, particularly as regulatory frameworks increasingly require organizations to demonstrate measurable reductions in environmental impacts. While governance has traditionally been examined through the lenses of compliance and reporting, this study emphasizes its additional role as a behavioral framework that shapes attitudes, perceptions, and identities within organizations and stakeholder networks. Using the organizational identification theory, social norms theory, and legitimacy theory, this analysis examines how the governance structures contribute to employees' sense of belonging to sustainability objectives, how regulations are internalized as behavioral norms, and how fairness and transparency lead to trust and voluntary cooperation.
To test this two-fold role, in five corporations a multidimensional approach was made to incorporate composite indices related to governance performance (GPI), compliance effectiveness (CER), sustainability outcomes (SPS), stakeholder engagement (EII), and risk adaptability (RAC). The data set consisted over 120 environmental indicators that are in terms of emissions, energy-efficiency, waste management, and water use. The results suggest that companies with a GPI score of higher than 0.80 had an average of 25 percent cutback carbon emissions, 18 percent elevated water efficiency and 22 percent utilized renewable energy than firms with a score of 0.65 and below. And the findings suggest that those firms that rank high in EII values have up to 30 percent higher levels of stakeholder satisfaction, and those that score high in RAC score ranked quicker by 40 percent in adjusting to compliance demands.
The paper has concluded that governance can reach its transformative potential provided legal accountability is complemented with psychological participation to enable corporations to translate into compliance with the legal requirements into long-term ecological conduct and to play a major role in Sustainable Development Goals.
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