In this article we provide a comprehensive framework to explain, in China and in Western countries, how three antecedents – regulations, stakeholder norms, and managerial mindsets – differently affect proactive environmental strategies (PES) and subsequently influence firm performance. A meta-analysis of 68 studies involving 71 samples supports our hypotheses. In Western countries, top managerial mindsets have the strongest effect and regulations have the weakest effect on PES. In China, regulations, stakeholder norms, and managerial mindsets have similar effects on PES. For Western firms, the PES has stronger effects on environmental performance than on economic performance and the effect on environmental performance is stronger than that in Chinese firms. For firms in China, the PES has equally positively affects on environmental and economic performance, but the effect on economic performance is stronger than that of Western firms. Implications for future research are discussed.
