In search of the roots of corporate reputation management: Being a consistent corporate social performer

Corporate social performance (CSP) has received a particularly high share of attention as one of the main determinants of corporate reputation. However, few studies have tested the extent to which the relationship between CSP and corporate reputation may be affected by industry, country, or other context-related variables. Besides, some conceptual thinking suggests that the impact of CSP on corporate reputation may vary according to the level of consistency of a firm's behaviors. However, this view has not been empirically addressed. For this reason, the main objective of this study is to explore the impact of consistency in CSP management on corporate reputation. Specifically, we analyze both the effect of CSP internal consistency (or consistency between environmental and social performance) and CSP consistency over time on corporate reputation. The results based on data from an international sample of 133 companies for the period 2011 to 2016, support either CSP internal consistency or CSP consistency over time (positive increment of CSP over time) positively affecting corporate reputation. The results also confirm the moderation effect of CSP internal consistency on the relationship between CSP and corporate reputation. These results reveal that consistency in social responsibility management helps a firm to consolidate its corporate reputation.     

The Effects of Accent,Differentiation, and Stigmatization on Spokesperson Credibility in Radio Advertising

ABSTRACT

The authors analyze how a spokesperson's accent influences his or her credibility and its dimensions in the field of radio advertising. Two versions of a radio program were designed in which an ad hoc radio spot was inserted into a commercial block (standard accent [SA] versus local accent [LA]) that was tested on a sample of 987 radio listeners. The findings have implications for the spokesperson selection, given that the effect of accent on credibility depends on the listeners’ perception of their own accent and on accent stigmatization. Moreover, the SA obtains the highest evaluations of credibility.     

Randomly available outside options in bargaining

We consider an extension of the standard Rubinstein model where both players are randomly allowed to leave the negotiation after a rejection, in which case they obtain a payoff of known value. We show that, when the value of the outside opportunities is of intermediate size, there exist a continuum of subgame-perfect equilibrium outcomes, including some with delayed agreements. Considering outside opportunities of significant value, we prove that efficient delays arise caused by the bargainers' aspirations, in waiting for their outside, option rather than by threats. Moreover, if taking the outside option decreases the probability that the opponent receives an outside option in the future, then it is possible that exactly two equilibrium payoffs coexist. In this latter case, inefficiencies may be created by agreeing too early.     

Real-time price discovery in global stock, bond and foreign exchange markets

Using a unique high-frequency futures dataset, we characterize the response of U.S., German and British stock, bond and foreign exchange markets to real-time U.S. macroeconomic news. We find that news produces conditional mean jumps; hence high-frequency stock, bond and exchange rate dynamics are linked to fundamentals. Equity markets, moreover, react differently to news depending on the stage of the business cycle, which explains the low correlation between stock and bond returns when averaged over the cycle. Hence our results qualify earlier work suggesting that bond markets react most strongly to macroeconomic news; in particular, when conditioning on the state of the economy, the equity and foreign exchange markets appear equally responsive. Finally, we also document important contemporaneous links across all markets and countries, even after controlling for the effects of macroeconomic news.     

Grabbed Urban Landscapes: Socio‐spatial Tensions in Green Infrastructure Planning in Medellín

Cities confronted with unsustainable development and climatic changes are increasingly turning to green infrastructure as an approach for growth and climate risk management. In this context, recent scholarly attention has been paid to gentrification, real‐estate speculation and resident displacement in the context of sustainability and green planning in the global North. Yet we know little about the environmental‐justice implications of green infrastructure planning in the context of self‐built settlements of the global South. To what extent do green infrastructure interventions produce or exacerbate urban socio‐spatial inequities in self‐built settlements? Through the analysis of a greenbelt project, an emblematic case of green infrastructure planning in Medellín, we argue that, as the Municipality of Medellín is containing and beautifying low‐income neighborhoods through grabbing part of their territories and turning them into green landscapes of privilege and pleasure, communities are becoming dispossessed of their greatest assets—location, land and social capital. In the process, community land is transformed into a new form of aesthetically controlled and ordered nature for the middle and upper classes and for tourists. By contrast, communities’ planning alternatives reveal how green planning can better address growth and climate risks in tandem with equitable community development.     

UNRAVELLED HOMES: Forced Evictions and Home Remaking in Jakarta

This article explores the contours of modernization in the unmaking and remaking of homes among evicted and resettled families in highrise housing. We examine the trajectories of forced eviction by drawing upon interviews with 17 individuals from nine evicted families who have transitioned from living in informal settlements to highrise social housing (rusunawa) in Jakarta. Drawing on two strands of literature—‘developmental idealism and the family’ from population studies and the critical geographies of ‘homemaking’—we argue that the demolition of houses is but an initial event in a long, quiet and subtle, yet profoundly defining, process of ‘upgrading’ families as part of ‘improving’ society, according to developmental logic. The disciplining of the urban poor does not end with the demolition of their houses, but rather continues as part of the fulfilment of shelter. This article attends to the slow unravelling of home hidden and embedded in post-eviction everyday lives, which are often overlooked because of the overt and violent brutality of forced eviction. While eviction can be seen as the violent visual expression of developmentalism, we argue that the relocation in rusunawa is where this ideal permeates into daily domestic life, making mundane activities a battleground for different ideals of ‘home’.