Using social marketing to enhance hotel reuse programs

Hotels are increasingly sponsoring social marketing programs to encourage voluntary reduction of towel and linen use. These programs reduce water usage thus benefiting the environment. They also reduce hotels' laundering costs. Two controlled experiments were conducted to assess behavioral intentions and attributions as a result of such programs. Results demonstrate that response is most positive when savings from the program are donated to charity. When evidence is provided suggesting that a majority of hotel guests participate (social proof), the impact of how savings are used is reduced. This is especially pronounced for those traveling on business. Fit between the charity and the reuse program is inconsequential. The authors discuss implications.     

Is your organization conducive to the continuous creation of social value? Toward a social corporate entrepreneurship scale

Over the last decade, explicit emphasis on the creation of social value has grown in profit-seeking firms as well as nonprofits and has even led to the emergence of a new legal organizational classification known as for-benefit corporations. Like financial value, social value is dynamic and therefore subject to perpetual changes in the firm’s external environment, changes that yield opportunities and threats for the firm. Although social entrepreneurship researchers have begun to study the identification and exploitation of opportunities to create social value, this research has taken place primarily within the context of startup organizations. In contrast, corporate entrepreneurship research has emphasized value creation within existing firms, but focused primarily on the identification and exploitation of opportunities to create financial value. Combining the two, we examine the creation of social value within the firm by proposing the social corporate entrepreneurship scale (SCES), a new instrument that measures organizational antecedents for social corporate entrepreneurship and offers managers an opportunity to analyze whether the perceived environment is supportive of corporate entrepreneurial behaviors intended to create social as well as financial value. The article concludes with a discussion of the instrument’s potential contribution to managerial practice.     

基于CSR在供应链和网络中的应用研究

在供应链和网络管理过程中需要CSR(企业社会责任)整合,需要企业的内部和外部管理的共同努力。在整个企业中,上到高层管理人员,下到生产区的人员,都在生产作业过程中实行这一措施。在供应链和网络中我们通过先进的质量管理理念来实现CSR整合,这在供应链企业外部管理中也有非常重要的作用。在本文中我们借助模型讨论CSR整合中的能力分析和监控,将它的作用由静态模型转化为动态模型,并分析合作的循环发展,以及在供应链和网络中的信任系数。     

The leadership disease. . .and its potential cures

Leadership development and executive education have taken on increased prominence in recent years. The natural tendency is to approach the subject of leadership as a hierarchically-based process that is focused on higher-level individual leaders influencing lower-level followers. This tendency is consistent with myths surrounding charismatic and heroic visionary leaders who are often portrayed as single-handedly inspiring and directing their organizations to new heights. Unfortunately, these simplistic portrayals of leadership are promulgated by the media and desired by the consuming public. However, this kind of framing of leadership is dangerous: it lays the seeds of centralization of power, which can have innumerable detrimental outcomes. Accordingly, we explore two potent antidotes to this simplistic hierarchical formulation of leadership that have become an increasing focus of leadership research: self-leadership and shared leadership.     

The CSR's influence on customer responses in Indian banking sector

In the face of growing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in the marketplace, this paper seeks to demonstrate how corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives influence customer purchase intention in context of Indian retail banking. Further, the impact of awareness as a moderating variable between CSR and purchase intention has been examined. The conclusion drawn from this study have important implications for Indian banks as they suggest that building a socially responsible image might have a favorable effect on consumer purchase intention. Findings suggest that corporate ability has a strong effect on customer purchase intention while CSR activities were found to exert influence on customer purchase intention in cases where the customer was aware of such activities being conducted. This paper contributes to existing CSR literature by offering a deeper understanding into CSR dynamics and its effect on consumer purchase intention. Further, the study tests the level of consumer awareness of CSR activities in a real market situation (not artificial or simulated) which has not been done in previous studies.     

Corporate social responsibility research in international business journals: An author co-citation analysis

This paper aims to describe the development of research on corporate social responsibility in international business (IB) journals and to suggest future research directions. We conducted a bibliometric study of articles published in twelve leading international business journals over three decades in a longer time frame (1996–2015). Five research trends were found in IB journals: business ethics, integration of stakeholder management, the evolution of the CSR concept, the political and social demands of CSR, and the financial implications of CSR. Our results thus have several implications and suggest numerous opportunities for future research.     

Rethinking the new corporate philanthropy

More than ever, corporations are expected to practice “citizenship” by engaging in various community or social philanthropy programs. These corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs have broad appeal among business scholars, business executives, and the public. After first setting some theoretical boundaries for CSR as it relates to the legal and strategic management fields, the authors examine how CSR (both its implementation and expectations) can lead to unintended results, compromising the distinct roles business and government play in market-driven, democratic systems.     

Corporate social responsibilities,consumer trust and corporate reputation: South Korean consumers' perspectives

This study proposes and tests a model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) that specifies relationships among (1) four categories of CSR initiatives as independent variables, (2) three types of consumer trust as mediating variables, and (3) corporate reputation as the dependent variable. Results show that the firm's fulfillment of economic and legal CSR initiatives had a direct positive effect on corporate reputation, whereas neither ethical nor philanthropic CSR initiatives did. In the CSR-trust link, economic performances fostered consumer expertise trust, legal and ethical CSR activities affected integrity trust, and philanthropic CSR activities influenced social benevolence trust in the firm. This study confirms that all three types of trust partially or fully mediate the effect of the four CSR initiatives on corporate reputation. This outcome indicates that CSR activities create and nurture consumers' trust in the company, which will, in turn, bring about consumers' positive or improved perceptions of the firm.     

Do CSR actions in retailing really matter for young consumers? A study in France and Norway

This research explores how young consumers perceive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions of French and Norwegian food retailers, and how these actions affect brand image, brand associations (adjectives, verbs, and names) and consumer–retailer relationships. It uses a qualitative methodology with in-depth interviews. This exploratory study shows that French and Norwegian young consumers have problems linking CSR with food retailing, and they question retailers' true commitment to CSR. Young French consumers had stronger brand associations than young Norwegians. Therefore, we argue that, CSR commitment among retailers in both countries is likely to positively affect retailer brand image. Nevertheless, CSR related products could also be associated with higher prices and may exclude low-income consumers.     

Social commitment or self-interest? Effect of responsible practices performance motivations of firms on the consumer decision-making process

Due to the increasing dynamism of global economic activity, all kind of organizations are nowadays concerned for maintaining their involvement with demands and changes of society. Particularly, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained increasing importance within both public and private organizations, it being the subject of much investigation and debate among both researchers and practitioners. In this sense, discussion of CSR implications for consumer behavior has been a common topic in recent marketing literature, demonstrating in some cases, a link between CSR and positive responses by consumers and inconclusive effects in others. In the context of such controversy, experts call for further investigation about the consequences of CSR on consumer behavior. Within this line of research, the present paper analyzes the influence of motivations attributed to CSR practices in business settings on four stages of consumer decision-making process. For that purpose, it was conducted a survey study which reached a final sample of 400 Spanish consumers. Regression analysis revealed that, while expectations of social-oriented goals in responsible firms is positively related to consumers’ goodwill over the various stages of their purchase decisions and actions, the potential effects of profit-based considerations are more complex.     

Funding the story of hybrid ventures: Crowdfunder lending preferences and linguistic hybridity

Prosocial crowdfunding platforms are venues for individual lenders to allocate resources to ventures that specifically pursue economic and social value. In a setting where hybridity is expected, do crowdfunders respond positively to category-spanning ventures, or do they prefer to fund ventures that are more clearly situated within a single category? Drawing on theory rooted in category membership and spanning, our hypotheses test whether prosocial crowdfunding lenders will more quickly allocate resources to hybrid microenterprises that communicate their hybridity, or to those that communicate a single one of their dual aims. Our study demonstrates that even in such a setting, crowdfunders lend more quickly to microenterprises that position themselves within a single linguistic category in which the social is emphasized over the economic. This suggests that how hybrid organizations position themselves in their linguistic narratives has a significant impact on resource allocation by external prosocial audiences.     

In the eye of the beholder: Communicating CSR through color in packaging design

Consumers have become much more attentive and demanding about corporate social responsibility (CSR), and companies are now gradually becoming aware that receiving consumer favor could depend on conducting business in a sustainable manner. Moreover, in order to gain returns from their CSR investments, such as company reputation, customer loyalty and customer–company identification, firms must also provide effective communication of their CSR efforts to the consumers. This study explores the potential of packaging color for conveying CSR to consumers, focusing in particular on consumer packaged goods. For this purpose, a quantitative study was conducted on a representative sample of consumers (n = 2000) in the form of a structured questionnaire, administered using face-to-face interviews. Three different stimuli were created through fictitious images of a non-existent brand product. Only the color of the packaging varied, while all the other graphic elements were left unchanged. The results show that, despite the prevailing association of green with the concepts of sustainability and CSR, it is not the most suitable color to clearly and credibly convey a CSR message to consumers. Thus, it is important to examine whether different colors could serve better to improve the clarity and credibility of CSR claims.     

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Theory and Practice in a Developing Country Context

After providing an overview of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) research in different contexts, and noting the varied methodologies adopted, two robust CSR conceptualizations – one by Carroll (1979, ‘A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Performance’, The Academy of Management Review 4(4), 497–505) and the other by Wood (1991, ‘Corporate Social Performance Revisited’, The Academy of Management Review 16(4), 691–717) – have been adopted for this research and their integration explored. Using this newly synthesized framework, the research critically examines the CSR approach and philosophy of eight companies that are considered active in CSR in the Lebanese context. The findings suggest the lack of a systematic, focused, and institutionalized approach to CSR and that the understanding and practice of CSR in Lebanon are still grounded in the context of philanthropic action. The findings are qualified within the framework of existing contextual realities and relevant implications drawn accordingly. Dr. Jamali is Assistant Professor of Management at the Olayan School of Business, American University of Beirut. She holds a BA in Public Administartion from the American University of Beirut, and a Ph.D. in Social Policy and Administration, from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK. Her research interests encompass corporate social responsibility, public private partnerships, learning organizations and women issues. She worked as an expert consultant on projects funded by the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development, NGOs, and other regional and local public and private firms. She is the author of numerous studies and international peer reviewed publications in various international journals, including the Journal of Management Development, the International Journal of Public Sector Management, the International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Business Process Management Journal, Public Works, Management and Policy and Women in Management Review. Ramez Mirshak Graduated with honors from the American University in Cairo (AUC) with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration in February 2001, then worked for two years in Egypt in the field of marketing and management. In 2004–2005, pursued his Masters of Business Administration at the American University of Beirut (AUB), researching primarily issues relating to change management and corporate social responsibility under the supervision of Dr. Dima Jamali, then joined a leading international financial institution as a regional Management Associate, while maintaining links with AUB and working on several research based projects.