Nonfinancial reporting regulation and challenges in sustainability disclosure and corporate governance practices

This paper aims to investigate how the shift from voluntary to mandatory nonfinancial information started by the European Union (EU) Directive 95/2014 may influence corporate practices. In particular, this research presents a paradigmatic case study to highlight relevant changes in reporting strategy and corporate governance adopted by an Italian listed company that never disclosed sustainability information before the transposition of the EU Directive into the Legislative Decree 254/2016. In this scenario, new obligations on nonfinancial reporting were not perceived as mere additional administrative duties and the nonfinancial statement became an opportunity to communicate company's paths towards sustainability, guaranteeing transparency and greater stakeholders' engagement. Our findings go beyond prior studies pointing out how organisations adopt strategic and tactical responses to the pressure stemming from the external environment. Additionally, it highlights the pivotal function played by the internal audit in setting up the direction of change. This research has theoretical and practical contributions for academic communities, policymakers and practitioners.     

Embedded in context: How time and distance affect the convergence of personnel selection practices

The debate on convergence versus divergence or stasis in human resource management (HRM) practices over time is still ongoing. We look at configurations of organisations' personnel selection practices and empirically analyse the role of geographic, cultural and regulatory institutional distance between countries for emerging similarity or dissimilarity in these practices. We also examine whether convergence occurred between 1995 and 2015. Based on the Cranet data of 25,869 organisations from 42 countries and statistical tests using energy distance, we find a pattern over time, moving from stasis to divergence. In addition, personnel selection configurations relate to cultural and regulatory institutional differences in the sense that smaller distances lead to higher similarity. This is not the case, however, for geographic distance. Our study adds to the debate on HRM convergence and offers a new method of analysis for other areas of HRM research where configurations instead of single HRM practices play a role.     

Unlocking the value of artificial intelligence in human resource management through AI capability framework

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly adopted within Human Resource management (HRM) due to its potential to create value for consumers, employees, and organisations. However, recent studies have found that organisations are yet to experience the anticipated benefits from AI adoption, despite investing time, effort, and resources. The existing studies in HRM have examined the applications of AI, anticipated benefits, and its impact on human workforce and organisations. The aim of this paper is to systematically review the multi-disciplinary literature stemming from International Business, Information Management, Operations Management, General Management and HRM to provide a comprehensive and objective understanding of the organisational resources required to develop AI capability in HRM. Our findings show that organisations need to look beyond technical resources, and put their emphasis on developing non-technical ones such as human skills and competencies, leadership, team co-ordination, organisational culture and innovation mindset, governance strategy, and AI-employee integration strategies, to benefit from AI adoption. Based on these findings, we contribute five research propositions to advance AI scholarship in HRM. Theoretically, we identify the organisational resources necessary to achieve business benefits by proposing the AI capability framework, integrating resource-based view and knowledge-based view theories. From a practitioner’s standpoint, our framework offers a systematic way for the managers to objectively self-assess organisational readiness and develop strategies to adopt and implement AI-enabled practices and processes in HRM.     

Toward sustainable corporate behavior: The effect of the critical mass of female directors on environmental,social, and governance disclosure

Boards of directors have recently become more attentive to their stakeholders' concerns, providing more transparent information and adopting more sustainable business strategies. This study investigates the influence of a critical mass of women on boards on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure score and its three components separately. Using a sample of the FTSE-MIB listed companies in the 2005–2017 period, we show that reaching a critical mass of female board members—going from one or two women to at least three—enhances the level of ESG disclosure. The results also show that the critical mass of female board members has a positive influence on every component of the ESG score, with the highest contribution of women reaching the governance score. These findings provide insights to shareholders and policymakers and suggest that a critical mass of female board members is particularly effective in improving transparency, and it can be seen as a mechanism to transit to stakeholder governance, fostering more sustainable behavior in firms.     

Strategic stakeholder management,environmental corporate social responsibility engagement,and financial performance of stigmatized firms derived from Chinese special environmental policy

We draw upon the stigma literature and strategic stakeholder management model to develop a framework capable of explaining the link between environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) engagement and financial performance of stigmatized firms, taking stakeholder‐oriented governance and density of local stigmatized firms into consideration. Using a uniquely compiled dataset of Chinese firms specifically monitored by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, we conducted propensity score matching analysis to estimate the impact of stigma on corporate financial performance and corporate environmental responsibility. The result shows that the financial performance of stigmatized firms is negatively affected by the stigma label, spurring them to engage in more ECSR than their peers to improve their legitimacy. Though ECSR engagement of stigmatized firms is found to be negatively associated with their financial performance in current study. Our results also confirm that (a) the financial performance of stigmatized firms is positively affected by two proxies for corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance (i.e., institutional ownership and corporate transparency) and negatively affected by the density of local stigmatized firms; (b) corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance compensates for the negative effect of ECSR engagement; (c) high intensity of local stigmatized firms provides focal firms with an opportunity to improve their financial performance through ECSR engagement; and (d) the positive effects of corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance are diminished by the density of local stigmatized firms.     

Accurate estimation of expected coverage: revisited

As noted in several studies (Batta et al., Transp. Sci. 23 (1989) 277), (Burwell et al., Comput. Opns. Res. 20 (1993) 113), (Daskin, Network and Discrete Location, Wiley, New York, 1995), (Marianov and ReVelle, Eur. J. Opns. Res. 93 (1996) 110), (Saydam et al., Socio-Econ. Plann. Sci. 28(2) (1994) 113), the accurate estimation of expected coverage is an important and open issue. Although the maximum expected coverage model is empirically shown to prescribe a robust set of “optimal” locations, earlier findings suggest that it could also over or underestimate the coverage by a significant margin. In this study, we present a genetic algorithm (GA) that combines the expected coverage approach with the hypercube model (Jarvis, Mgmt. Sci. 31 (1985) 235), (Larson, Comput. Opns. Res. 1 (1974) 67), (Larson, Opns. Res. 23 (1975) 845) to solve the maximum expected coverage location problem with increased accuracy and realism. Our findings suggest that the GA provides at least as good solutions 94% of the time making it a viable alternative to the two-step procedures stipulated earlier.     

How alignment strategies influence ERP project success

The purpose of the study was to conduct an analysis of ERP implementations to develop a grounded theory of why, when, and how the successful alignment of ERP-supported processes and business needs is achieved over time and to identify alignment strategies that enable organisations to achieve a ‘fit’ between ERP-supported processes and business needs. The alignment strategies which support the best practices revealed in the case studies include functional expertise, knowledge integration, liaison mechanisms, project governance, and the scope and integration of enterprise-wide processes.     

Board internationalization and corporate social responsibility

This study examines the association between board internationalization and firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in China during 2009–2019. Using a large dataset of director nationalities and CSR scores, we find that foreign directors promote CSR performance as evidenced by higher CSR scores. We further document that this relationship is more pronounced among government-controlled firms, firms with better corporate governance, and firms operating under stricter institutional environments. These findings remain valid after sequential robustness checks. Overall, our findings imply that foreign directors motivate the board of directors and their firms to actively pursue and practice social responsibility. Our study enriches the literature on the outcomes of board internationalization and determinants of CSR and provides the internationalization of corporate governance mechanisms a reasonable basis.     

High reliability Human Resource Management (HRM): A system for high risk workplaces

High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) research is based on the search for the most suitable bundle of complementary practices appropriate for the organisation and its operating environment. We examine the contents of a HPWS in organisations seeking impeccable safety and reliability as their foremost ‘performance’ outcome. We propose a ‘High Reliability HRM’ framework, and examine the degree of implementation in a three case study of Australian state emergency services organisations. The findings highlight HRM practices inconsistent with the framework, and illustrated by rich interview accounts, we detail associated negative implications for employee behaviour and attitudes. We contribute to HPWS research by empirically examining how reliability-seeking organisations conceptualise and implement HRM systems. This study emphasises how inconsistency in HRM practice bundles can pose a threat to reliable service provision, a critical finding for emergency services and reliability-seeking organisations more broadly.     

Payments for ecosystem services and corporate social responsibility: Perspectives on sustainable production,stakeholder relations,and philanthropy in Thailand

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are environmental management tools that enable corporations to simultaneously enhance their environmental performance and fund sustainable development in rural areas. PES is primarily promoted as part of a sustainable production strategy for conserving natural resources, offsetting carbon emissions, and green supply chain management. Nevertheless, PES uptake by the private sector remains low, and few studies have analysed whether corporate‐financed PES schemes conform to this rationale. This study evaluates three of the first PES schemes in Thailand, financed by large corporations in the water utilities, aquaculture, and beverage sectors. Interviews with 39 business managers and project stakeholders suggest that PES may be viewed as a tool for philanthropy, public relations, and gaining license to operate—akin to many corporate social responsibility initiatives. Explanations and ramifications are discussed in the context of ecological uncertainty, risk management, financial performance, organisational learning, and the corporate‐engagement strategies of non‐governmental organisations.     

The analysis of corporate governance policy and corporate financial performance

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the quality of corporate governance policy and the firm financial performance and. Data were collected from Corporate Library. A sample of 3,068 firms from the database of 2010 Corporate Library was analyzed. Logistic regression models were employed and SPSS statistical package was utilized to perform the analysis. Our results show that when firms have better corporate governance policies, they are more likely to perform better. Specifically, when firms have a better board rating, compensation policy, takeover defense strategy, accounting practice, and a formal governance policy, they are more likely to perform better than their counterparts without such quality corporate governance policies.     

The role of organizational control in outsourcing practices: An empirical study

Recent case study research has examined the role of organization control as a critical component of outsourcing performance (Kang et al. 2012a. Journal of Business Research 65, 1195–1201). In contrast to case study methodology, this paper aims to empirically examine the relationships among outsourcing strategies and organizational control in the Chinese context and refine the theoretical and managerial implications of the current research model. Based on data collected from 158 firms operating in China, this paper examines the impact of two types of outsourcing strategies on different organizational control measures. Our findings suggest that for efficiency-seeking outsourcing, output control and process control are appropriate in creating successful outsourcing practices. As for innovation-seeking outsourcing, social control and process control are the most effective options. Theoretical and managerial implications for strategic outsourcing are also discussed.     

Protecting expatriates in hostile environments: institutional forces influencing the safety and security practices of internationally active organisations

Abstract

The operations of internationally active organisations continue to encroach on hostile locations that are vulnerable to the negative consequences of crises such as political upheaval, terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Yet research into how firms ensure the physical and psychological safety and security of international staff in these locations is limited. This article reports an empirical study exploring the expatriate safety and security practices of 28 internationally active organisations from three industries that commonly operate in hostile environments. We unveil starkly different approaches across the three industries, and label these approaches ‘regulatory’ (mining and resources), ‘informal mentoring’ (news media) and ‘empowering’ (international aid and development). We use institutional theory to propose that these configurations reflect legitimacy-seeking choices that these organisations make in response to the various institutional environments that affect each sector. Our results provide a platform for initial theory building into the interrelated elements of organisations’ safety and security practices, and the institutional factors that shape the design of these.     

Flexible work practices and human resource management: a comparison of South African and foreign owned companies

This study compares the use of flexible work practices in wholly owned South African (SA) companies with that in foreign-owned companies. Data were obtained from questionnaire results of a study conducted by Horwitz and Franklin (1996) of flexible work practices in SA organizations. The questionnaire was used as part of a collaborative research project involving three countries (Brosnan et al ., 1996). It was found that SA-owned companies use certain flexible work practices to a lesser extent than foreign-owned companies. This was found to be the case particularly in the use of numerical forms of flexibility, such as sub-contractors/consultants and the use of temporary employees. Use of subcontractors/consultants and temporary staff agencies was found to be the greatest in partially foreign-owned companies. A larger proportion of foreign-owned companies have lower labour costs than do SA-owned companies. This has, however, not been as a result of the greater use of flexible work practices. Foreign-owned companies make more joint decisions with unions than do SA-owned companies when changing work practices.     

Sustainable humanitarian supply chain management – exploring new theory

Disaster response operations aim at helping as many victims as possible in the shortest time, with limited consideration of the socio-economic context. During the disaster rehabilitation phase, the perspective needs to broaden and comprehensively take into account the local environment. We propose a framework of sustainable humanitarian supply chain management (SCM) that facilitates such comprehensive performance. We conceptualise the framework by combining literature from the fields of sustainable and humanitarian SCM. We test the framework through an analytic induction process by means of multiple case studies of four relief organisations. Our framework suggests that supply chain design needs to be aligned not only to relief organisations’ enablers, but also to the population's long-term requirements as well as any socio-economic and governmental contingency factors. A good fit between these dimensions leads to sustainable performance. The framework provides an instrument for relief organisations to achieve sustainable performance in the disaster rehabilitation phase.     

Does the interaction between the knowledge management process and sustainable development practices boost corporate green innovation?

Green innovations are being deployed in manufacturing industries to promote organisational sustainability by embracing sustainable development practices (SDPs). However, little is known about how corporate green innovation (CGI) is influenced by the knowledge management process (KMP). To fill this gap, we have developed a multidimensional framework based on the resource-based view (RBV) theory that provides a foundation for sculpturing the process by which KMP was observed to capture and sustain CGI through SDPs. Data were collected from 393 respondents of large- and medium-sized manufacturing corporations in Pakistan and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). This study provides several key findings. First, KMP dimensions (acquisition, dissemination and application) significantly improve the SDPs' dimensions (environment, economic and social). Second, SDP dimensions play a significant role in achieving CGI. Third, the implementation of SDPs partially mediates the relationship between the KMP and CGI. Furthermore, the fsQCA results signify the robustness of all integrated constructs. Our results demonstrate that investing in and adopting the latest technologies and sustainable practices are not only valuable for long-term success but the soft concerns such as managing organisational knowledge are also vital in the current knowledge-based economy. Finally, in light of our findings, theoretical and managerial implications, with propositions for future studies, have been provided at the end of the paper.     

Efficiency analysis of organized industrial zones in Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey

Organized Industrial Zones (OIZs) are the production areas of goods and services that are established to provide planned industrialization and planned urbanization by structuring the industry in suitable areas, to prevent environmental problems, and to provide efficient use of resources. The aim of this study is to propose a decision-making model based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the relative efficiencies of OIZs located in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. First, the efficiency score of each alternative is determined by employing a DEA formulation with interval data. Second, a common weight DEA-based formulation is applied in order to obtain common set of weights and provide ranking results with an improved discriminating power in imprecise nature. In this study, the best performing OIZ alternative, which performs in Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey, is identified based on the approach proposed by Salahi et al. [1]. The DEA-based model developed by Salahi et al. [1] is improved by modifying a constraint. In order to demonstrate the robustness of the application, two numerical illustrations are given. The first example compares the results obtained by the formulation addressed in Salahi et al. [1] and the improved model; while second numerical illustration provides a case study conducted in Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey.     

Contemporary Extensions of the Rasch Model

This paper will introduce, discuss and illustrate two contemporary extensions of theRasch model: the one parameter logistic model (Verhelst and Glas, 1995) and theMultidimensional Rasch model (Hoijtink et al., 1999). Using data with respect tothe measurement of schizotypy (Vollema and Hoijtink, 2000) the most importantfeatures of both models will be illustrated. For the one parameter logistic modelthese include: a (discrete) discrimination parameter for each item; a test for itembias; and, estimation of the location of a person on the (latent) trait that is beingmeasured. For the multidimensional Rasch model these include: specification ofthe model; and, model selection. All analyses presented in this paper can be executedusing either OPLM (Verhelst et al., 1995), TESTFACT (Wilson et al.,1984) or ConQuest (Wu et al., 1998). At the end of the paper some features ofmodels and software that have not been discussed will be summarized.     

Navigating value networks to co-create sustainable business models: An actionable staging approach

Sustainable transitions typically require collaboration between multiple actors in the value chain or value network. Recent research has emphasized mapping of stakeholders and values as a starting point for identifying opportunities to realign these relationships, followed by business model experimentation to enable change. However, a simple mapping exercise does not consider the interplay between actors' concerns, business models, and interpretations of sustainability. Pedersen et al. (2022) advocated that aligning concerns is essential to collaborative design and innovation, and requires continuous negotiation between multiple actors. Here, we present a microlevel in-depth case study to examine how alignment across central value chain actors may be facilitated through the staging of numerous negotiations during the innovation process. Drawing on the staging negotiation spaces co-design framework, we provide insight into the content of multiple negotiations concerned with different aspects of sustainability during the development of a more sustainable laundry service system on the Danish island of Bornholm. Our findings illustrate how both value chain actors and a third-party intermediary stage negotiations, and elaborate the framework by attending to the strategic navigational efforts of network alignment through negotiations.     

Large shareholders and corporate governance

The paper looks at the voluntary provision of governance to outside shareholders by an entrepreneur who takes his firm public but remains a large shareholder after the IPO. We find that the entrepreneur always puts in place an independent board which acts in the interests of the outside shareholders, but may put in place a friendly remuneration committee that ensures that CEO pay is structured to suit the entrepreneur in the cases where the retained equity stake is sufficiently large. When comparing this provision of governance to the provision preferred by a welfare maximizing regulator, we find that both voluntary overprovision and underprovision of governance can happen. Overprovision of governance happens in the cases where the entrepreneur commits to independence at the level of the remuneration committee when the regulator prefer a friendly remuneration committee. Underprovision of governance takes the form of establishing a friendly remuneration committee (with an independent board), when the regulator would prefer an independent remuneration committee (with a friendly board). We discuss the empirical predictions of the model.