Individual Competencies for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Literature and Practice Perspective

Because corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be beneficial to both companies and its stakeholders, interest in factors that support CSR performance has grown in recent years. A thorough integration of CSR in core business processes is particularly important for achieving effective long-term CSR practices. Here, we explored the individual CSR-related competencies that support CSR implementation in a corporate context. First, a systematic literature review was performed in which relevant scientific articles were identified and analyzed. Next, 28 CSR directors and managers were interviewed. The literature review complemented with interview data resulted in the following eight distinct CSR-related competencies: (1)Anticipating CSR challenges; (2) Understanding CSR-relevant systems and subsystems; (3) Understanding CSR-relevant standards; (4) CSR management competencies, including (4a) Leading CSR programs, (4b) Managing CSR programs, and (4c) Identifying and realizing CSR-related business opportunities; (5) Realizing CSR-supportive interpersonal processes; (6) Employing CSR-supportive personal characteristics and attitudes; (7) Personal value-driven competencies, including (7a) Ethical normative competencies, (7b) Balancing personal ethical values and business objectives, and (7c) Realizing self-regulated CSR-related behaviors and active involvement; and (8) Reflecting on personal CSR views and experiences. Based on these results, implications for further research on this topic, as well as implications for practitioners, are discussed.     

From Bounded Morality to Consumer Social Responsibility: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Socially Responsible Consumption and Its Obstacles

Corporate social responsibility has been intensively discussed in business ethics literature, whereas the social responsibility of private consumers appears to be less researched. However, there is also a growing interest from business ethicists and other scholars in the field of consumer social responsibility (ConSR). Nevertheless, previous discussions of ConSR reveal the need for a viable conceptual basis for understanding the social responsibility of consumers in an increasingly globalized market economy. Moreover, evolutionary aspects of human morality seem to have been neglected despite the fact that private consumers are undoubtedly human beings. In addition to that, empirical studies suggest that many consumers believe themselves to be responsible but do not act according to their alleged values or attitudes. This raises the question of what deters them from doing so. Therefore, the contribution of this conceptual paper is threefold: we (i) (re-)conceptualize ConSR in terms of a combination of a Max Weber-inspired approach (social action and the ethic of responsibility) with the social connection approach to shared responsibility proposed by Iris Marion Young; (ii) shed light on the previously neglected implications of an evolutionarily induced bounded morality for ConSR, and (iii) identify potential obstacles to socially responsible consumption, particularly against the backdrop of shared social responsibility and bounded morality. In this latter respect, the paper focuses specifically on the obstacles of low moral intensity, moral stupefaction, informational complexity, and the lack of perceived consumer effectiveness. In sum, the paper advances knowledge in the field of ConSR by using a transdisciplinary, literature-based approach.     

The Prametric-Based GDM Procedure Under Fuzzy Environment

The prametric is an ‘almost metric’ which does not necessarily satisfy the triangle inequality but able to describe the consensus intransitivity in group decision making (GDM) such as Tom and Jack have preferences in common, also Jack and John have preferences in common, but, Tom and John do not necessarily have preferences in common. A prametric-based consensus formation procedure for GDM was presented in a literature. This paper considers the procedure under fuzzy environment where the individuals’ preferences are provided as fuzzy numbers. The Yager defuzzification method is used for constructing the preference sequence matrix where the (i, j)-th entry indicates the alternative i’s position(s) assigned by individual j. An illustrative example for application is also included.     

What is the CSR’s Focus in Healthcare?

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been the subject of several academic contributions, but in the health sector the development of an interest in this subject is very recent. Although many practices in healthcare are already socially responsible, progressing from a series of socially responsible behaviours to a socially responsible organization entails a more consolidated awareness of the health sector’s mission and the needs of its participants. In this paper, we will review the different studies published that address the relationship between the healthcare sector’s corporate responsibility and society, with the aims of individuating the prevailing foci that are emerging and categorizing the proposed contributions according to these foci: social responsibility and organization; social responsibility and social impact; social responsibility and competitiveness. Finally, the paper finishes with a personal definition of CSR and its correlated ethical roots.     

Rebuilding Trust: Ireland’s CSR Plan in the Light of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Caritas in Veritate</Emphasis>

This paper seeks to contribute to the discussion on national corporate social responsibility (CSR) plans from the perspectives of the three logics as articulated in Caritas in Veritate, by using the Irish national CSR plan as an example. Good for Business, Good for the Community: Ireland’s National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility 2014–2016 maintains that CSR activities can enable organisations to build relationships and trust with communities. One of the consequences of the 2008 financial crisis was the decrease in trust in banking systems and in business more broadly. It is well recognised that relationships of trust are essential to the life of the market, the state and civil society. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate contends that corresponding to the life of the market, the state and civil society are three logics: the logic of exchange (i.e. giving to acquire), the logic of public obligation (i.e. giving through duty) and the logic of gift (i.e. giving due to solidarity). This paper proposes that the normative framework of the three logics of Caritas in Veritate can be read into the Irish national CSR plan. This paper argues that the examples of CSR initiatives proffered by the plan could point organisations in the direction of the logic of gift and therefore enable the rebuilding of relationships of trust with citizens and communities.     

Investor Reactions to Concurrent Positive and Negative Stakeholder News

This paper examines the impact on firm value created by investor reaction to same day news of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) activities. First, using trading volume, the authors establish that the perceived value of moral capital generated by news involving institutional (e.g., environmental and community) stakeholders is less clear to investors than that of the news involving technical (e.g., customers and employees) stakeholders. Subsequently, the authors analyze abnormal returns from 565 unique firm events—each comprising at least one positive and one negative stakeholder news item. Using signaling theory, the authors demonstrate that news of the number of CSR activities involving institutional groups counteracts the effects of same day CSiR news in an inverted U-shaped fashion. In contrast, they find that news of the number of CSR activities involving technical groups mitigates the effects of same day CSiR news in a U-shaped fashion.     

Business Cases and Corporate Engagement with Sustainability: Differentiating Ethical Motivations

This paper explores links between different ethical motivations and kinds of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to distinguish between different types of business cases with regard to sustainability. The design of CSR and corporate sustainability can be based on different ethical foundations and motivations. This paper draws on the framework of Roberts (Organization 10:249–265, 2003) which distinguishes four different ethical management versions of CSR. The first two ethical motivations are driven either by a reactionary concern for the short-term financial interests of the business, or reputational, driven by a narcissistic concern to protect the firm’s image. The third responsible motivation works from the inside-out and seeks to embed social and environmental concerns within the firm’s performance management systems, and the fourth, a collaborative motivation, works to bring the outside in and seeks to go beyond the boundaries of the firm to create a dialogue with those who are vulnerable to the unintended consequences of corporate conduct. Management activities based on these different ethical motivations to CSR and sustainability result in different operational activities for corporations working towards sustainability and thus have very different effects on how the company’s economic performance is influenced. Assuming that corporate managers are concerned about creating business cases for their companies to survive and prosper in the long term, this paper raises the question of how different ethical motivations for designing CSR and corporate sustainability relate to the creation of different business cases. The paper concludes by distinguishing four different kinds of business cases with regard to sustainability: reactionary and reputational business cases of sustainability, and responsible and collaborative business cases for sustainability.     

A Falling of the Veils: Turning Points and Momentous Turning Points in Leadership and the Creation of CSR

Contemporary organizations often reciprocate to society for using resources and for affecting stakeholders by engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR). It has been shown that CSR has a positive impact on employee attitudes. However, not all employees may react equally strongly to CSR practices. Based on socio-emotional selectivity theory (Carstensen in Science 312:1913–1915, 2006), we contend that the effect of CSR on employee satisfaction will be more pronounced for older than for younger employees, because CSR practices address those emotional needs and goals that are prioritized when people’s future time perspective decreases. In one multi-source field study (N = 143) and one experimental study (N = 500), we demonstrate that CSR indeed has a stronger positive effect on employee satisfaction for older relative to younger employees. Accordingly, engaging in CSR can be an attractive tool for organizations that aim to keep their aging workforce satisfied with their job.     

An Investigation of the Yield Shift Theory of Satisfaction Using Field Data from the United States and the Netherlands

Yield shift theory (YST) is a relatively new theory that offers logic to predict and explain satisfaction effects for which prior theories could not fully account. We investigate the degree to which the propositions of YST are consistent with observed outcomes in a study of satisfaction with technology-supported collaboration among 322 knowledge workers from the Netherlands and 300 from the USA. Participants worked in natural groups on real tasks assigned in the course of their professional duties. All organizations used professional facilitators to guide the groups through complex collaborative tasks. Facilitators distributed a brief survey to measure the dependent variables satisfaction-with-outcome and satisfaction-with-process and the independent variables changes-in-utility and changes-in-likelihood. We validated the instrument in Dutch and English. Findings were consistent with the YST proposition that satisfaction responses are a function in shifts-in-yield for an individual’s set of active goals. We also observed that satisfaction responses also varied by national culture—on average, Netherlanders reported satisfaction responses of lower magnitude than did US participants. We discuss implications of YST for researchers and practitioners, and use its logic to reason why, in context of workplace collaboration, there may be differences in satisfaction responses by national culture.     

Why and How Does Social Responsibility Differ Among SMEs? A Social Capital Systemic Approach

Research suggests that organizational justice (procedural, distributive, and interactional justice) has important impacts on work-related attitudes and behaviors, such as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). In this article, we explore the extent to which individualism moderates the relationship between organizational justice and OCB (organizational obedience, participation, and loyalty) among citizens in Kyrgyzstan. We make additional contributions to the literature because we know very little about these constructs in this former Soviet Union country, Kyrgyzstan, an under-researched and under-represented region of the world. Results of our data collected from 402 managers and employees in Kyrgyzstan offer the following new discoveries. All three justice constructs are related to OCB. Individualism moderates only the distributive and interactive justice to OCB relationships. We develop an intricate theory with provocative implications: Procedural justice produces obedience. For “individualists,” interactional justice inspires loyalty and, interestingly, distributive justice “can only buy” participation, but “can’t buy” loyalty. Therefore, for individualists, interactional justice outweighs distributive justice for organizational loyalty. Based on Kyrgyz citizens’ justice, OCB, and individualism, our theory reveals novel insights regarding culture, money attitude, and intrinsic motivation and provides critical and practical implications to the field of business ethics.     

The palette that stands out: Color compositions of online curated visual UGC that attracts higher consumer interaction

Photos posted by consumers on social media, like Instagram, often include brands. Despite the substantial increase in such photos, there have been few investigations into how prospective consumers respond to this visual UGC. We begin to address this gap by investigating the role of the color compositions of visual UGC in consumer response. Consumer response is operationalized as the click-rate for a photo by a consumer when it is curated on the online site of the brand that it includes. This is the proportion of visitors who click on it for an enlarged view. Composition is operationalized as the specific combination of levels of the photo’s color attributes: hue, chroma, and brightness. Our goal is to identify the color compositions of photos, ceteris paribus, which get more clicks when they are curated. Data for our investigation comes from clicks over a one-year period on photos posted on Instagram curated by fifteen brands in six product categories on their sites. We assume Beta distributed proportions and calibrate a Beta regression using MCMC methods for our investigation.We find that click-rates are higher for photos that include higher proportions of green and lower proportions of red and cyan. We also find that chroma of red and blue are higher in photos with higher click-rates. Findings from our research led the sponsoring firm to modify its proprietary curation algorithm for client brands. The firm informed us that, post-modification, there has been a substantial increase in click-rates of curated photos for brands in several categories.     

(Re)discovering the Social Responsibility of Business in Germany

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a relatively recent addition to the agenda in Germany, although the country has a long history of companies practicing social responsibilities. The expectations of society had remained stable for many years, encapsulated in laws, societal norms, and industrial relations agreements. But the past decade has seen significant changes in Germany, challenging established ways of treating the role of business in society. This contribution reviews and illustrates the development of diverse forms of social responsibility in German corporations and analyzes how actors in business and society can build on traditional strengths to find new institutional arrangements for sharing tasks and responsibilities in the interests of achieving a better balance between societal, economic, and environmental needs.     

Social Entrepreneurship: The Role of Institutions

A relatively small segment of business, known as social entrepreneurship (SE), is increasingly being acknowledged as an effective source of solutions for a variety of social problems. Because society tends to view “new” solutions as “the” solution, we are concerned that SE will soon be expected to provide answers to our most pressing social ills. In this paper we call into question the ability of SE, by itself, to provide solutions on a scope necessary to address large-scale social issues. SE cannot reasonably be expected to solve social problems on a large scale for a variety of reasons. The first we label the organizational legitimacy argument. This argument leads to our second argument, the isomorphism argument. We also advance three other claims, the moral, political, and structural arguments. After making our arguments, we explore ways in which SE, in concert with other social institutions, can effectively address social ills. We also present two examples of successful ventures in which SEs partnered with governments and other institutions.     

Harnessing Wicked Problems in Multi-stakeholder Partnerships

Despite the burgeoning literature on the governance and impact of cross-sector partnerships in the past two decades, the debate on how and when these collaborative arrangements address globally relevant problems and contribute to systemic change remains open. Building upon the notion of wicked problems and the literature on governing such wicked problems, this paper defines harnessing problems in multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) as the approach of taking into account the nature of the problem and of organizing governance processes accordingly. The paper develops an innovative analytical framework that conceptualizes MSPs in terms of three governance processes (deliberation, decision-making and enforcement) harnessing three key dimensions of wicked problems (knowledge uncertainty, value conflict and dynamic complexity). The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil provides an illustrative case study on how this analytical framework describes and explains organizational change in partnerships from a problem-based perspective. The framework can be used to better understand and predict the complex relationships between MSP governance processes, systemic change and societal problems, but also as a guiding tool in (re-)organizing governance processes to continuously re-assess the problems over time and address them accordingly.     

On the Credibility Determinants of a Quality Label: a Quasi-Natural Experiment Using the Example of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Stiftung Warentest</Emphasis>

In 2013, Stiftung Warentest, which is one of the most important consumer organizations in Germany, tested hazelnut chocolate for their leading magazine called test. The hazelnut chocolate of Ritter Sport, which is a high-quality producer of chocolate in Germany, failed the test and received the grade “unsatisfactory.” Stiftung Warentest accused Ritter Sport of labelling an artificial flavouring as a natural flavouring. Ritter Sport rejected the accusation, went to court, and won the trial. Stiftung Warentest had to withdraw the issue in question of test magazine. The affair received broad media coverage from December 2013 to September 2014. Using the case Ritter Sport versus Stiftung Warentest, it is analysed whether negative headlines really undermine the credibility of a quality label by examining Stiftung Warentest and their quality label called test. In addition, it is examined what can be done to restore or, more generally, increase the credibility of a quality label. Based on a quasi-natural experiment, it is found that the negative headlines regarding Stiftung Warentest have undermined the credibility of the test label. It is also found that the credibility of the test label can be increased by providing reference values to the tests, strengthening the independence of Stiftung Warentest, and using laboratory methods for the tests. For the most part, the same holds true for any quality label. High-quality producers, quality-conscious consumers, and the awarding organization of the quality label can benefit from an increased credibility of a quality label.     

The Face of Fairness: Self-Awareness as a Means to Promote Fairness among Managers with Low Empathy

Although managing fairness is a critical concern for organizations, not all managers are predisposed to enact high levels of fairness. Emerging empirical evidence suggests that personality characteristics can be an important antecedent of managers’ fair behavior. However, relatively little attention has been devoted to understand how to promote fairness among managers who are naturally predisposed to engage in lower levels of fairness. Building upon self-awareness theory, we argue that increasing managers’ self-awareness can motivate managers with low trait empathy to engage in greater levels of justice. We test the interactive effects of trait empathy and state self-awareness using an experimental study (N = 76) in which individuals were asked to communicate negative news. In support of our hypothesis, our results indicate that increasing self-awareness through self-focusing situations can help promote interactional justice when communicating negative news for individuals with low trait empathy. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The digital entrepreneurial ecosystem

A significant gap exists in the conceptualization of entrepreneurship in the digital age. This paper introduces a conceptual framework for studying entrepreneurship in the digital age by integrating two well-established concepts: the digital ecosystem and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The integration of these two ecosystems helps us better understand the interactions of agents and users that incorporate insights of consumers’ individual and social behavior. The Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystem framework consists of four concepts: digital infrastructure governance, digital user citizenship, digital entrepreneurship, and digital marketplace. The paper develops propositions for each of the four concepts and provides a theoretical framework of multisided platforms to better understand the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. Finally, it outlines a new research agenda to fill the gap in our understanding of entrepreneurship in the digital age.     

Analyzing the Essence of Stakeholder Relationships: What do we Need in Addition to Power,Legitimacy, and Urgency?

This article contributes to the body of stakeholder literature by providing an in-depth analysis of the dynamics of stakeholder relationships as a part of change in value creation. The article presents an argument that the stakeholder salience model as a tool for analyzing stakeholder relationships is not sufficient for understanding business value creation. In the recent stakeholder literature, understanding business value creation has become an important theme. Through an analysis of an empirical case, the article shows how the three stakeholder relationship attributes, legitimacy, power and urgency help to reveal the definitive stakeholders and to capture dynamics of stakeholder relations. However, in the case of strategic change, where the value creation of a firm is in transition, a more profound understanding of stakeholder relationships is needed. As a result of our empirical analysis, six characteristics of stakeholder relationships were identified. To conclude, the question of who and what really counts should be replaced by the question of how value is created in stakeholder relationships.     

Erratum to: Exploring Factors Affecting Digital Piracy Using the Norm Activation and UTAUT Models: The Role of National Culture

The model emphasizes the ethical dynamics of compassion in hospitality settings by suggesting that under an organizational ethical climate, the hotel staff will be more morally aware of peers’ pain and suffering, and motivated to participate in delivering compassion. Based on the positive psychology focus on compassion as individual states and traits supporting interpersonal dealings, the paper operationalizes compassion based on four individual factors involved in the compassionate process: (a) empathic concern, or an other-oriented emotional response elicited by and congruent with the perceived welfare of a person in need; (b) mindfulness, a state of consciousness in which attention is focused on present-moment phenomena occurring both externally and internally; (c) kindness, or understanding the pain or suffering of others; and (d) common humanity, or seeing others’ experiences as part of the larger human experience. Data were collected from 280 employees at ten hotels in the Canary Islands (Spain). With the exception of self-interest, results of multiple linear regressions demonstrate that each of the six interpreted factors of ethical climate has substantive effects on any of the studied elements of staff compassion. The egoistic-related and principle-related climate factors generated a more consistent and intense compassionate reaction, suggesting that the staff is moved to act out of compassion either to assure that the team succeeds or to support each other out of moral obligation.