What Makes a Smart Mix? Public Perception of Private Sector Agreements in Managing the Environmental Commons

The question how to best preserve the environmental commons is pivotal to the 21st century. To ensure sustainability in economic activity a restraining of current business practices seems necessary. An important question that follows in this regard is whether business activities should be restricted by public regulation (authoritative government action that forcibly governs procedure or behavior) or private regulation (voluntary action by business actors to restrain their own behavior). Opponents of extending public regulation often argue that voluntary measures by companies can achieve the same environmental goals at lower cost. Indeed, as well from the public’s perspective, private and public regulation seem to be substitutes (Malhotra et al. 2019; Kolcava et al. 2019). But previous research has mostly looked at this issue from the perspective of either the state or the private sector. We examine how the public evaluates cooperation between the state and business sectors, i.e. a smart mix, linking research to current practice: The management of environmental problems in many developed societies increasingly relies on broad sector agreements. Hence, we examine public opinion towards a more complex and realistic policy approach, which combines (voluntary) private and (obligatory) public regulation and involves multiple actors (companies, governments, environmental associations). In doing so, we ask to what extent the public values policy designs that recognize the collective action problems inherent in these designs. In addition, we examine important accountability aspects of this debate, which have hardly been taken into account in research to date. Do these new modes of governance dilute accountability and do citizens hold their elected politicians in parliament accountable for the political success or failure of such smart mix policies? We study this question drawing on a survey experimental approach drawing on vignette and conjoint experiments. Fielding a survey in late 2019, we collect data through a quota sample of about 4000 Swiss citizens, representative for the population with respect to age, regional provenance and education. Our research contributes to understanding an increasingly relevant policy tool and sheds light on the public perception of this policy – this is important, as current governance practice of encouraging more (voluntary) private sector engagement relies on the public support of delegating this authority to businesses.