Assurance of corporate social responsibility reports: Does it reduce decoupling practices?

Recent research shows the existence of a selective corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure strategy that creates a gap between CSR disclosure and actual performance. These CSR decoupling practices compromise the credibility of CSR reports and have triggered a demand for the adoption of credibility enhancement mechanisms, such as adherence to the global reporting initiative (GRI) reporting guidelines, and the external assurance of CSR reports. The effectiveness of such mechanisms is not clear, however. This paper draws on legitimacy theory and addresses the issue of symbolic versus substantive use of assurance, and compliance with GRI reporting standards, by analysing their effect on CSR decoupling using an international sample of 1,939 companies (15,219 observations from 2002 to 2017). Analysis of a sub-sample of 708 firms (3,730 observations from 2011 to 2017) also shows that the application of GRI guidelines and the specific characteristics of the assurance provider—accountant, experience and specialisation—reduce CSR decoupling practices. The results provide researchers, managers, assurance providers, investors, stakeholders and regulators with additional insight into the value of the external assurance of sustainability reports and have important managerial and policy implications.     

Top management team’s formal network and international expansion of Chinese firms: The moderating role of state ownership and political ties

This article explores the role of the formal network centrality of top management teams (TMT) for foreign expansion, looking at the case of Chinese firms. The former is defined by the degree to which top managers are connected with TMTs of other firms in formal ways, through service as independent board members. We explore boundary conditions, comparing state ownership with political ties. The analysis of a panel data of 489 firms expanding to 72 developed and developing host markets in the period 2000–2012 confirms that network centrality facilitates internationalization. We found that TMT network centrality had a stronger effect on internationalization in developed than emerging markets. Conversely, state ownership had a positive moderating effect in the latter and political ties a negative effect in developed ones. The literature on comparative institutional analysis suggests that formal ties are more important in developed economies, and informal ties in emerging ones. However, formal political ties and/or links to the Chinese state may be more of value in internationalizing into other emerging markets, where the balance of diplomatic power may be more skewed in China’s favor.     

State ownership and internationalization: The advantage and disadvantage of stateness

We critically review the literature on state-owned multinationals to clarify previous arguments and guide future studies. The content analysis of prior research reveals that state-owned firms differ from private firms in their internationalization: they are motivated by national strategic objectives, select more challenging countries, and use acquisitions more intensively despite adverse market reactions. The analysis also reveals conflicting predictions on the level of internationalization; some studies find that state-owned multinationals internationalize more while others find the contrary. We introduce one solution to these conflicts by classifying theories into two camps based on the balance between the costs and benefits of state ownership. One camp suggests a disadvantage of stateness (agency theory, resource dependence theory, and neo-institutional theory). Another camp promotes an advantage of stateness (economic development, resource-based view, and institutional economics). We conclude by outlining three promising relationships in the study of these firms: (1) relationships internal to state-owned multinationals and the balancing of stakeholder demands; (2)relationships between state-owned multinationals and government and the influence of the political system; and (3) relationships between home and host country governments and the impact of their dynamics on state-owned multinationals.     

社会责任活动、社会责任沟通与企业价值

企业履行适当的社会责任是大势所趋,但目前理论与实务界对社会责任经济后果的认识存在困惑,难以指导企业的社会责任实践。企业社会责任对企业价值的影响因不同社会责任类型的收益、成本特征而异,并且社会责任价值实现受制于社会责任沟通的影响,企业应该在整体战略规划的视野里树立社会责任管理理念,对企业社会责任进行事前决策和实时的过程管理。     

Is it a sententious claim? An examination of the quality of occupational health,safety and well-being disclosures in global reporting initiative reports across industries and countries

The study attempts to reveal differences in the quality of information disclosed on occupational health, safety (OHS) and well-being in 250 sustainability reports within and between large companies in different industries and countries (i.e., market economies). Using a mixed research design, our results indicate that industry affiliation and type of market economy have no significant influence on the quality of disclosure on OHS and well-being aspects. Instead, companies tend to disclose information on legal requirements and OHS standards to secure their social legitimacy. However, in the finance, insurance, and real estate industry groups, membership in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index emerged as an influencing factor on the quality of disclosures on employees’ well-being. In general, companies merely disclose sententious information about OHS and well-being in disclosures of management approaches in the Global Reporting Initiative, and otherwise rarely attempt to translate their claims into outcomes. Contributions to institutional theories and practices are discussed.     

Managerial learning from social capital during internationalization

This study explores managerial learning from social capital during internationalization. Its two research questions are these: (1) how different managers perceive, interpret, and respond to foreign-market institutions, and (2) how connections, relations, and cognition enhance managerial learning. Using an interpretive approach, the study analyzes patterns of internationalization and strategic decision-making in four contrasting Norwegian case companies that internationalize to the Russian oil and gas market. The findings show that the managers of the case companies hold similar perceptions about foreign-market institutions, but that they interpret and respond to those institutions from various levels of learning, resulting in different enactment on institutions. Managers learning at a “higher” level adapt patterns and decisions to ensure institutional conformity, while those at a “lower” level makes minor adjustments in patterns and behavior only when necessary and therefore maintain institutional conflict. Further, the findings show that all three dimensions of social capital have a vital role in enhancing managerial learning, but that the various forms that the dimensions can appear as, affects the learning process. Furthermore, the findings show that managers who share cognitive frame of reference with few embedded relationships are better equipped to interpret and respond to institutions. This study contributes fresh insight about managerial enactment on foreign-market institutions, and reconciles our understanding about social capital as embraced by the structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions. This study also contributes to a greater understanding about how the three dimensions of social capital ought to be formed to enhance managerial learning.     

The Pragmatic and Ethical Barriers to Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: The Nike Case

Numerous studies have documented the demand for information regarding corporations’ relationships to society. Much recent research has demonstrated why stakeholders need this information, and how it benefits both companies and the public. These studies suggest numerous methods by which companies can effectively disclose corporate social responsibility (CSR) information to the public, but in practice, reporting this type of information is fraught with legal and ethical uncertainty often unexplored in most literature. This article represents a fresh analysis of the numerous pragmatic consequences and legal and ethical complications inherent in CSR reporting, using Nike Corporation as a case example. The article discusses the theoretical viewpoints surrounding the ethics of CSR disclosure, and presents the case of Nike and the complications it encountered while advertising CSR information. The article ends with an analysis of CSR auditing as a possible solution to companies seeking to improve the method and transparency of social responsibility reporting.     

State ownership,political ideology,and firm performance around the world

It is often taken as a stylized fact that state ownership harms the financial performance of firms. Yet we show that this relationship varies greatly across national contexts. We argue that the political ideology of the government, both independently and in conjunction with political institutions (state capacity and political constraint), affects this relationship. We test our hypotheses using meta-analytical techniques on an international sample spanning 53 years and 131 countries. Our research sheds further light on the state ownership – firm performance relationship by highlighting the role of the political ideology of the government, and its interactions with political institutions.     

The ‘Catch 22’ of communicating CSR: Findings from a Danish study

This research explored the apparent ‘Catch 22’ of communicating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Although companies are regularly encouraged to engage in CSR, they are simultaneously discouraged to communicate about this engagement. We contribute with two models that may help to explain how companies can best communicate about their CSR initiatives. Based on a reputation survey and two case studies of Danish corporate CSR frontrunners, first we develop an ‘inside‐out approach’ to suggest how managers can manage their CSR activities to achieve favourable CSR reputation in a ‘Catch 22’ context. Employees appear as a key component in building trustworthiness as CSR communication is shown to evolve when taking an ‘inside‐out approach’. Second, we develop a CSR communication model with two CSR communication processes targeting different stakeholder groups: ‘the expert CSR communication process’ and ‘the endorsed CSR communication process’. Integrating these models and processes may help companies strategically capture reputational advantage from their CSR initiatives.     

Financial Reporting Quality in Private Equity Backed Companies: The Impact of Ownership Concentration

We empirically show on a sample of 270 unquoted, private equity backed companies that the shareholder structure of private companies impacts the quality of their publicly available accounting information. More precisely, companies in which private equity (PE) investors have a high equity stake produce lower quality accounting information than companies in which PE investors have a low equity stake, after controlling for factors like company size and age. We explain our findings by arguing that PE investors with low equity stakes have a higher need for high quality accounting information whereas PE investors with high equity stakes have other means to closely monitor their portfolio companies. This paper has benefited form discussions with workshop participants at the Max Planck Institute. We specifically want to thank Lorraine Uhlaner and Mike Wright (guest editors), two anonymous referees as well as ignace De Beelde, Wouter De Maeseneire, Marc Deloof, Miguel Meuleman and Lloyd Steier for helpful suggestions. Part of this research was completed when Christof Beuselinck was an FWO Scholar at Ghent University. Financial support from the Fonds of Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Grant G.0012.02) is kindly appreciated. The usual disclaimer applies.     

CSR Information Disclosure on the Web: A Context-Based Approach Analysing the Influence of Country of Origin and Industry Sector

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a much-discussed subject in the business world. The Internet has become one of the main tools for CSR information disclosure, allowing companies to publicise more information less expensively and faster than ever before. As a result, corporations are increasingly concerned with communicating ethically and responsibly to the diversity of stakeholders through the web. This paper addresses the main question as whether CSR information disclosure on corporate websites is influenced by country of origin and/or industry sector. Analysing the websites of 127 corporations from emerging countries, such as Brazil, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand and South Africa, it becomes evident that both country of origin and industry sector have a significant influence over CSR information disclosure on the web (CSRIDOW). Based on the data studied, country of origin has a stronger influence over CSRIDOW than industry sector.