Representatives of future generations as promoters of sustainability in corporate decision processes

Current protests of the young generation emphasize that interests of future generations should be taken more into account by policy makers and in corporate decision processes. As organizations contribute to enduring environmental and social problems, they are required to promote sustainability in order to preserve options for the well-being of future generations. However, organizational decision makers often take a short-term perspective and neglect investments in intergenerational justice. Previous theoretical work has acknowledged the importance of representing future generations in today's decision-making processes to adopt a long-term perspective in order to promote intergenerational justice. In a laboratory experiment, we show that appointing representatives of future generations at the organizational level can foster investments in intergenerational justice. Although this outcome is more pronounced when aligned with the representatives' individual incentives, it even persists for a representative who is monetarily penalized for advocating the interests of future generations.     

Challenging the obsession with local level institutions in country ownership of climate change adaptation

Working with local level actors to enable country ownership is applauded within the multilateral climate finance landscape. However, are emerging adaptation interventions equitable by reflecting the priorities of local level vulnerable populations? This research sought to find out whether the engagement of local institutions in projects that seek to achieve country ownership enabled local level vulnerable groups to participate in and influence adaptation decision-making processes and outcomes, thereby enabling them to have a voice in local level adaptation. It used a case study of a Global Environmental Facility-managed coastal adaptation project in Tanzania, which sought to restore and protect mangroves to enable adaptation to sea level rise. Data was generated from 13 Focus Group Discussions and survey questionnaires administered to 629 individuals in three locations on the mainland of Tanzania and in Zanzibar. The findings indicate that community-based organizations were used to facilitate the implementation of project activities at the community level. However, participation spaces created in the project and facilitated by these local institutions were exclusionary and failed to enable vulnerable community groups to have a voice on mangrove restoration and protection. Use of these local institutions altered local level power relations and disempowered other pre-existing and (in)formal local resource management institutions. Community members questioned legitimacy of actions implemented by these local institutions. These findings suggest that working with local level stakeholders to generate country ownership does not automatically guarantee that actions will address the needs of local vulnerable groups. Multilateral climate finance institutions should acknowledge these risks and implement measures to address them.     

Accounting for diverse risk attitudes in measures of risk perceptions: A case study of climate change risk for small-scale citrus farmers in Indonesia

Climate change is likely to generate severe impacts on smallholder farmers in developing countries. As key drivers of adaptation, climate risk perceptions are highly heterogeneous, varying both across people and context, and are complex, being defined as behaviour which varies across both impact and likelihood dimensions in non-linear ways. Yet most studies examining risk perceptions are unable to disentangle the role of perceptions regarding impacts from those regarding the likelihood of climate-related events taking place. This paper presents a decomposition and associated analysis of survey-based ‘risk perception’ measures. The decomposition we apply allows independent accounting for perceptions over frequencies and impacts linking to behavioural patterns of risk attitude. The approach presented here draws on a detailed 2017 survey of 500 farmers in rural Indonesia to generate insights into the relationship between risk perceptions and extension services, accessibility of information, and other factors. Results show that risk perceptions are generated from complex interaction between perceived future frequencies and outcomes of climate events and indicate differential impacts of extension services across these perceptions. This paper also presents empirical support for the use of information and communication technology based extension as an efficient extension tool to reach more farmers than in traditional methods.     

Contradictions of the Climate-Friendly City: New Perspectives on Eco-Gentrification and Housing Justice

As local governments and corporations promote ‘climate friendliness’, and a low-carbon lifestyle becomes increasingly desirable, more middle- and upper-income urban residents are choosing to live near public transit, on bike- and pedestrian-friendly streets, and in higher-density mixed-use areas. This rejection of classical forms of suburbanization has, in part, increased property values in neighborhoods offering these amenities, displacing lower-income, often non-white, residents. Increased prevalence of creative and technology workers appears to accelerate this trend. We argue that a significant and understudied socio-environmental contradiction also occurs where the actual environmental outcomes of neighborhood transformation may not be what we expect. New research on greenhouse gas emissions shows that more affluent residents have much larger carbon footprints because of their consumption, even when reductions in transportation or building energy emissions are included. We describe an area in Seattle, Washington, the location of Amazon's headquarters, experiencing this contradiction and show a distinct convergence of city investments in low-carbon infrastructure, significant rises in housing prices and decreases in lower-income and non-white residents. We conclude with a discussion of a range of issues that require more attention by scholars interested in housing justice and/or urban sustainability.     

论承认差异的平等正义

社会结构的差异性、利益主体的多元化、文化的多样性与生活方式的差异化是当下平等正义的时代背景。由于人与人、群体与群体之间的差异事实上存在,且会对到底什么是平等正义产生影响,因此主张对人与人、群体与群体之间的差异进行承认的差异平等才是当下的理性诉求。为了做到差异平等,应减少文化霸权、破除经济垄断、消灭政治歧视。     

快速城镇化进程中保障失地农民就业的政府角色定位--基于罗尔斯的正义原则分析

失地农民这个特殊群体是伴随我国快速城镇化的发展政策产生的,保障这个群体的就业,使这个社会“最不利者”群体享有自由和平等,政府理应充当重要的角色。本文基于罗尔斯正义原则的启示,从公平时序性角度出发,认为政府对失地农民应充当三种角色,即起点公平的支持者、过程公平的引导者和协调者、结果公平的保障者。     

中国世界遗产类旅游产品的感知度研究

中国世界遗产地开发旅游已经成为一种热潮。事实也说明遗产地确实具有开发旅游的先天优势。但是，通过在北京、广州、珠海三地的问卷调查发现，国内各世界遗产地在国内游客的感知中并未处于相同的地位，而存在较大的差异。成为世界遗产地并不就意味着绝对的旅游吸引力。世界遗产地名誉的获得是影响游客感知、促进旅游发展的一个重要因素，而非唯一因素。决定旅游地发展的往往是多方面因素共同作用的结果。因此，世界遗产地开发旅游不能仅仅依靠遗产地名誉的获得，而要结合实际、合理规划、恰当宣传．进而促进其旅游的全面发展。     

对首届"河南文化遗产日"的调查和思考

2005年11月26日、27日河南省在我国率先设立了"文化遗产日",这是对我国文化遗产保护的一种新尝试.那么,文化遗产日的设立能否得到认可,它有什么样的效应?又存在什么样的问题?弄清这些对我国文化遗产的保护和发展有着重要的意义.通过调查研究发现,游客、媒体和网友对文化遗产日的设立大都持肯定的态度,认为文化遗产日具有众多的积极效应,但游客对文化遗产日的感受不是很好,文化遗产日暴露的问题,将影响着人们进一步参加文化遗产日的可能性.最后,文章对首届河南文化遗产日进行了评价,对相关问题进行了初步的探讨.     

Organizational governance and TMT pay level adjustment

This paper analyzes how the characteristics of boards and structure of ownership moderate a firm's capacity to adjust top management team (TMT) pay levels in the face of changes in its economic and complexity conditions. Using panel data from Spanish listed companies between 2003 and 2007, the results indicate that, over time, characteristics of corporate governance system contribute to give a fundamental importance to boards and ownership structure in the determination and adjustment of TMT pay. These associations appear to be even stronger than those that in other Western European and North American countries. Both the Spanish cross-holding and concentrated firms' ownership structure, and socially intervened boards play a major role in the high levels of pay received by the TMT, which, in turn, reflect a moderate adjustment of compensation practices to variations of surrounded environment factors.     

SMEs and CSR: An Approach to CSR in their Own Words

The academic literature reveals the need to undertake more in-depth field studies in order to discover the organisational culture, the difficulties and the perceptions surrounding CSR in SMEs. This study presents the results of analysis of four case studies on Catalan companies that stand out for their social and environmental practices. The conclusions of this paper are the result of dialogue with the main actors – four medium-sized companies – focusing on their actions, understandings and resistance with regard to CSR. The methodological perspective used was Grounded Theory, with the aim of the study being to contribute towards formalising CSR in SMEs, in their daily practices, by analysing some primary data. The results obtained show how difficult it is for SMEs to understand CSR, beyond the explanation of the specific practices carried out by the companies. They highlight the role played by the values of the founding director in the implementation of CSR programmes; they reveal that SMEs still have a long way to go towards learning how to inform both internal and external stakeholders of their best practices, and; finally, they show the interesting links that SMEs establish between responsible practices, improved competitiveness and economic results. Finally, the text points out the implications that the results of this analysis may have on creating ways of promoting CSR in SMEs. We believe that, in light of the opinions expressed by the companies, public organisations should try to concentrate on creating a favourable framework for responsible competitiveness, as a way to deal with CSR when addressing SMEs.David Murillo is a Researcher at the Institute for the Individual, Corporations and Society (IPES), ESADE Business School, Universitat Ramon Llull and Academic Assistant at the same institution. He is the current coordinator of the SMEs and CSR research field at IPES. He holds a degree in Business Administration, a degree in Human Studies and a diploma in Sociology. He is currently pursuing his PhD in SME CSR.Josep M. Lozano is currently a Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at ESADE, Universitat Ramon Llull and Director of the school’s Institute for the Individual, Corporations and Society (IPES). Co-founder of ética, Economía y Dirección (Spanish branch of the European Business Ethics Network), member of the international Editorial Board of ‘Ethical Perspectives’ and member of the Business Ethics Inter-faculty group of the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS). He has been a highly commended runner-up in the European division of the Beyond Grey Pinstripes Faculty Pioneer Award. Author of Ethics and Organizations. Understanding Business Ethics as a Learning Process. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000.