Public confidence in institutions of the enviromental protection system

Sa？etak In this paper, the results of the empirical research investigating the awareness, attitudes and confidence of the interested public towards authorized companies who carry out the monitoring and controlling of environmental protection in the economy are interpreted, on the example of Croatian largest cement plant. A survey research was conducted on a target sample using an in-depth interview and participant observation. One of the research aims was to determine whether the interested public believes that inspection services monitor the activity of the cement plan adequately and whether they believe their reports. In the analysis of the empirical material a grounded theory method was used, quantification of qualitatively analyzed coded material was performed using the Statistica ver 11.00, and finally, SWOT analysis was conducted. By analyzing the aforementioned results, it can be stated that representatives of the target groups differ from each other in the variables used, and that their attitude and opinion about content items depends on the group to which they belong. The variable referring to the confidence towards inspection services had the highest projection in the first discriminant function, and the greatest differences among the target groups occur in relation to this coded question. The second discriminant function has the highest relation to the variable referring to the alignment of Croatian and EU legislation, and therefore, it contributes the most in differentiating the target groups. The variable referring to the reliability of the measurement performed by authorized institutes and laboratories has the highest correlation to the third discriminant function and the highest projection of differences. The majority of subjects believe that inspection services monitor the activity of the cement plant adequately and they believe their reports. The results of the SWOT analysis show that the strengths overcome the weaknesses and the opportunities overcome the threats, supporting the growth strategy