Model of Social and Environmental Scientific Research: A Theoretical test Applied to the Analysis of Environmental Public Policies and the Economic and Socio-Environmental Performance of Firms

Abstract

This theoretical essay aims to bring up an empirical investigative scientific model based on the approaches of systemic and Cartesian thinking to explain the construct system of government policies and actions related to socio-environmental issues and the economic and social-environmental performance of firms. In this context, it is necessary to highlight the relevance of proposing the construction of a scientific research model to evaluate how socio-environmental issues and public environmental policies influence the economic and social-environmental performance of firms, from the epistemological and theoretical perspectives based on systemic thinking to shape the abstract mental model (conceptual model) of the observed reality and through the Cartesian thought to determine the prescriptive elements of the logical (operational) model of the investigative process. The construction of an empirical research model is an efficient tool to establish connections of distinct realities and their practices associated to search for borderline knowledge, through the appropriation of the epistemological knowledge, theories and the underlying techniques applied to theories. The investigation tool built for research is based on the variables of the conceptual model and the set of problematic situations in the business point of view, covering questions about environmental legislation, institutional instruments for direct regulation in the market; responsibility for environmental damage; international and regional socio-environmental agreements; environmental marketing, economic, environmental and social performance.