The HR role in corporate social responsibility and sustainability: A boundary‐shifting literature review

Although research on human and social sustainability has flourished in the past decade, the role that human resource management departments play (or should play) in facilitating more socially responsible and sustainable organizations remains unclear. In practice, this lack of clarity is due to the multiple features and dimensions of potential HR contributions to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability (CS), as well as widespread failure to integrate HR and CSR functions. Theoretically, the absence of a framework that articulates the HR role in CSR and CS and the substantial separation between HRM and CSR/CS studies among academics act as a reinforcing mechanism. The present study contributes to the growing research on this topic, presenting a framework and a typology to classify the potential HR roles in CSR and CS and comprehensively reviewing the literature at the intersection of HR with CSR and CS. The results of the review provide a broader perspective on the role HR might play in CSR and CS as well as its impact beyond organizational boundaries.     

Contracting and Farmers’ Perception of Unfair Trading Practices in the EU Dairy Sector

It is commonly asserted that unfair trading practices (UTPs) emerge largely as a result of contract incompleteness. In line with this view it is claimed that making contracts more complete will represent an antidote to UTPs. In this paper we argue that this does not need to be the case. This is because contracts, except for their potential to increase the surplus generated in the transaction, determine how this surplus will be divided. This, in turn, makes it possible for both trading partners to use contractual terms to turn the distributional conflict to their advantage. In the presence of unequal distribution of bargaining power this may lead to a situation in which the stronger party may succeed in tilting the contract in its favour by including UTPs in the contract content. Drawing insights from data collected in 2017 through a field survey among dairy farmers in France, Germany, Poland and Spain, we find support for this argument. Our estimation results show that contract completeness increases the likelihood of farmers reporting that their contracts with processors include the practices that may be considered as UTPs. Further, and also in line with this argument, contract completeness does not seem to affect UTPs during the contract execution or its termination.     

Safety Reloaded: Lean Operations and High Involvement Work Practices for Sustainable Workplaces

Starting from the recent quest to investigate the human side of organizational sustainability, this study applies a variety of regression analyses to investigate the effects of Lean Operations, High Involvement Work Practices, and management behaviors on occupational safety. It tests and finds support for the hypotheses that Lean Production systems, High Involvement Work Practices, and two specific management behaviors—workers’ capability development (coaching and teaching of workers) and empowerment (autonomy and participation of workers in developing their own job standards)—positively affect occupational safety. Furthermore, empowering behaviors positively moderate the effect of Lean Operations on workers’ safety. The study bridges sustainable operations literature with theories related to the ethical side of safety management, sustainable HRM, ethical leadership, and empowerment. In doing so, it contributes to the understanding of occupational safety as constitutive aspect of organizational sustainability.     

Similarity and Competition in the Agri-Food Trade among European Mediterranean Countries

ABSTRACT

Using Eurostat and OECD data on agri-food exports, this article provides a picture of the evolution in the similarity between Italian and other European Mediterranean countries’ exports, before and after the recent financial crisis. Considering different indexes, the similarity is somewhat moderate and does not vary noticeably among the indexes when considering the EU-25 market. By contrast, a strong qualitative dissimilarity is recorded in the North American market. Overall, France and Spain appear more similar to Italy and likely to compete in the same agri-food market segments. The crisis seems associated to a slight modification of the exports structure.     

The choice between an annuity and a lump sum: Results from Swiss pension funds

This paper uses unique micro data from Swiss employer-based pension plans to study the annuitization decision at retirement. The administrative nature of our data, though limited with respect to individual background characteristics, allows us to analyze real choices over large retirement balances, rather than subjectively reported intentions to annuitize. We find a strong and robust impact of a utility-based measure of the annuity's value (computed within a life-cycle framework) on individual annuitization rates. Low accumulation of retirement assets is strongly associated with the choice of the lump sum, presumably due to the availability of means-tested social assistance. The sponsor's default option, in most cases the annuity, is also found to be highly influential in the decision to annuitize.     

Are Alternative Organizational Forms the Solution to Limit Excessive Managerial Discretion?

Modern corporations have been widely accused of promoting values of managerial autonomy that can result in managerial waste and opportunistic behaviour, leading organizational theorists to suggest the adoption of alternative organizational forms that should normatively and structurally limit such autonomy. However, this mixed-methods study of an alternative organizational form – income trusts (1995–2005) – finds that income trusts were also characterized by excessive managerial autonomy. Managers strategically used the income trust form in discretionary ways such as by providing little information on important decisions to external parties, limiting investors’ right to oppose managerial actions and retaining firm earnings to a great extent. Thus, the article concludes that alternative organizational forms do not necessarily promote an ethical business culture since they are unable to overcome deeply institutionalized values of managerial autonomy.     

From Consolidation to Segment Reporting in Local Government： Accountability Needs,Accounting Standards,and the Effect on Decision-Makers

Consolidated Financial Statements （CFSs） in the public sector represent useful financial tools to improve transparency and accountability toward internal and external users. This aggregate view is only a part of the information needed in order to give politicians, managers, employees, financial institutions, rating agencies, and citizens a whole view of a local government＇s financial performance. It emerges the need to have segment information, covering specific policy areas for which it is appropriate to separately report financial and non-financial information. This paper, after having discussed the need for accountability and decision-making in a theoretical framework, gives account of a pilot project realized by the municipality of Reggio Emilia, which introduced CFSs and segment reporting. The empirical study is based on an action research as a methodological approach to solving practical problems. Finally, the paper also offers some practical suggestions to contribute to the applicability of the segment reporting in the public sector.     

Spatially Balanced Sampling: A Review and A Reappraisal

Spatially distributed data exhibit particular characteristics that should be considered when designing a survey of spatial units. Unfortunately, traditional sampling designs generally do not allow for spatial features, even though it is usually desirable to use information concerning spatial dependence in a sampling design. This paper reviews and compares some recently developed randomised spatial sampling procedures, using simple random sampling without replacement as a benchmark for comparison. The approach taken is design‐based and serves to corroborate intuitive arguments about the need to explicitly integrate spatial dependence into sampling survey theory. Some guidance for choosing an appropriate spatial sampling design is provided, and some empirical evidence for the gains from using these designs with spatial populations is presented, using two datasets as illustrations.     

EU Trade Regulation for Baby Food: Protecting Health or Trade?

This paper explores the effect of European Union (EU) food safety regulations on EU imports of baby food. Pesticides and contaminants contribute to various health problems. Children are more vulnerable to the dangers of pesticides and contaminants because as soon as they start eating solids, they consume a limited number of food items, most of which are fruits and vegetables. To protect the health of the most vulnerable part of the population, the EU regulations stipulate that no more than 0.01 mg/kg of any single pesticide residue is permitted in baby food. In this respect, the EU differs from most of its trading partners, the majority of which do not differentiate food safety regulations according to the age of the consumer. The purpose of this paper is to compare the EU regulations on maximum residue limits of pesticides to those of its major competitors through a severity index. This index is then introduced into a gravity equation to assess the impact on EU imports of baby food. We find that the EU regulation had a negative impact on the volume of trade but a positive one on the probability of setting up new trade relationships.     

Reflections and projections: A decade of Intellectual Capital Accounting Research

The purpose of this paper is to review and critique the field of Intellectual Capital Accounting Research (ICAR). The literature indicates that an organisational and business revolution is in progress concerning the need to understand the value of knowledge resources and how to manage them. The paper explores the field of ICAR by examining a decade of published research since Petty and Guthrie's (2000) seminal paper on ICA, “Intellectual capital literature review: Measurement, reporting and management” as published in the Journal of Intellectual Capital.The paper has four specific contributions. The first contribution is to identify the field of scholarship associated with ICAR. The second is to provide a comprehensive picture of what has happened in the field of ICAR over the past decade. Third, it provides evidence as to how and why the field of ICAR is changing. Fourth, it highlights areas for future research and policy developments.From these four contributions our definition of Intellectual Capital Accounting (ICA) emerges. That is, ICA is an accounting, reporting and management technology of relevance to organisations to understand and manage knowledge resources. It can account and report on the size and development of knowledge resources such as employee competencies, customer relations, financial relationships and communication and information technologies. Additionally, the analysis highlights several interesting patterns and worrying trends in the field of ICAR.