GHG Reporting and Impression Management: An Assessment of Sustainability Reports from the Energy Sector

The objective of this study was to analyze the quality of climate information disclosed by companies and the impression management strategies they have developed to justify or conceal negative aspects of their performance. The study is based on a qualitative content analysis of the sustainability reports of 21 energy-sector companies that use the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) with A or A+ application levels over a period of 5 years (n = 105). It contributes to the literature on climate disclosure by demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the external assurance process in ensuring the quality and representativeness of the data. Significant non-compliance with GRI standards was identified in 86 of the 93 reports audited by a third party. In addition, six of the 21 companies surveyed were found to disclose increasingly opaque information over time, concealing information on the measurement and methodology used. Through this study, four impression management strategies were identified. These are employed either to justify certain information (by minimizing impacts, excuses and commitment) or to conceal it (through strategic omissions and manipulation of figures). In exposing the high incidence of non-compliance in GRI reporting and the use of impression management strategies by companies, this study shows that it will be difficult or impossible for stakeholders to reasonably assess, monitor and compare companies’ climate performance on the basis of these reports.     

Age‐Related Differences in Emotion Regulation within the Context of Sad and Happy TV Programs

The marketing literature on program context includes several studies on the influence of program‐induced positive and negative emotions on the evaluation of embedded television advertisements. While the majority of these studies have been conducted with younger adults, new discoveries on the differentiated processes of emotion regulation among younger and older adults are reviving interest in this topic. The present study examined the impact of television program context on program‐induced affective reactions and on the processing of embedded television advertisements among younger and older adults. Program‐induced mood valence was manipulated by using excerpts from sad and happy films. This research shows that affective reactions elicited by sad and happy television programs, as well as attitude toward the advertisement, differ between younger and older adults. The level of sadness reported by older adults was lower than that of younger adults within a sad program context. The results also show a negative influence of a sad (versus a happy) program on attitude toward the advertisement among younger adults but not among older adults. These results confirm that in advancing age, it is possible to shape emotional responses to suit regulation goals.     

Exploring the Curvature of the Relationship Between HRM–CSR and Corporate Financial Performance

Journal of Business Ethics - This article contributes to the general literature on the relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance, as well as to the...     

European Agricultural Science Funding: Examining Trends and Prospects

Proper evaluation of the impact of agricultural research requires data on how much has been spent to achieve its desired effects on productivity, efficiency and environmental quality. However, official statistics on aggregate volumes of research expenditure, at both European and national levels, are intermittently available and most data collected for private research are not fully compatible with data for public research. This study in 20 European countries in 2014 defines the different concepts at international level, and assesses coverage across countries, using secondary data and key informant interviews. Coverage is unequal by country and type of measure, the lowest coverage being for agriculture as a socioeconomic objective. We depict recent trends in public agricultural research, which differ by country. We then formulate three policy options and recommendations for their implementation to improve the monitoring of agricultural research investment in Europe: 1) make compulsory in the EU statistical system the collection of statistics on agricultural research expenditure using the same metrics for all sectors of performance; 2) develop a specific survey in the Commission to obtain data directly from research organisations; 3) prepare annual reviews of agricultural research expenditures at Member State level, including both quantitative and qualitative information on agricultural research activities.     

The Action Logics of Environmental Leadership: A Developmental Perspective

This article examines how the action logics associated with the stages of consciousness development of organizational leaders can influence the meaning, which these leaders give to corporate greening and their capacity to consider the specific complexities, values, and demands of environmental issues. The article explores how the seven principal action logics identified by Rooke and Torbert (2005, Harvard Business Review 83(4), 66–76; Opportunist, Diplomat, Expert, Achiever, Individualist, Strategist and Alchemist) can affect environmental leadership. An examination of the strengths and limitations of these action logics reveals the relevance of the so-called post-conventional stages of consciousness to the recognition and effective management of complex environmental issues. Suggestions are also made for promoting organizational contexts conducive to the development of a post-conventional environmental leadership.     

Habit formation and fiscal transmission in open economies

In this paper we analyze the ability of an open economy version of the neoclassical model to account for the time-series evidence on fiscal policy transmission. Revisiting the evidence, we find that i) government spending raises output, while inducing a simultaneous decline of investment and the current account and ii) the responses of output and investment are more muted in more open economies while current account deficits tend to be larger. Turning to the model, we explore the role of habit formation for fiscal policy transmission. Specifically, we show that the model can account for the evidence if consumption behavior is characterized by habit formation and the terms of trade adjust endogenously.     

To be or not to be in monetary union: A synthesis

Monetary union can benefit countries suffering from policy credibility problems if it eliminates the inflation bias and also allows for more efficient management of certain shocks. But it also carries costs as some stabilization may be feasible even in the absence of credibility, and this may be more than what an individual country can hope for in a monetary union. In this paper, we combine the stabilization and credibility branches of the currency union literature and construct a simple welfare criterion that can be used to evaluate alternative monetary arrangements. We produce examples where monetary union may be welfare improving even for low-modest levels of inflation bias (2-3%) as long as business cycles are not too a-synchronized across countries.