Do employees value strategic CSR? A tale of affective organizational commitment and its underlying mechanisms

Virtually all studies that focus on the relationship between CSR perceptions and employees’ organizational commitment have not taken into consideration the fit between social and environmental activities and a firm’s business‐unit strategy. This is essential to inquire because scholars have argued that when companies ingrain CSR activities into their strategy‐making process (i.e., in their vision, mission, and overall business model), this might send a more compelling message that resonates closer to workers’ personal standards, and actually enhance employee‐level outcomes. Nevertheless, there is no certainty “if” and “how” these evaluations could affect employees’ organizational commitment. To address this issue, we use cue consistency theory and social identity theory as overarching frameworks to develop a model where we conceptually link perceptions of strategy‐CSR fit with a particular type of organizational commitment: affective. In addition, we posit and test three mediators to understand the underlying psychological mechanisms of this relationship: perceived external prestige, organizational identification, and work meaningfulness. Through structural equation modeling, and using a heterogeneous final sample of 579 employees, we find compelling evidence to support the fact that strategy‐CSR fit enhances employees’ affective organizational commitment through the proposed mediators. Academic contributions and practical implications are then discussed.     

Why Querétaro? The Development of an Aeronautical Manufacturing Cluster in Central Mexico

In recent years, an aeronautical manufacturing cluster has emerged in Querétaro state, Mexico. In 2013, the aeronautical industry in Querétaro state represented 10% of the state's gross product and employed more than 5,000 people, and further private investments of over US$160 million related to the aeronautical industry were expected (Secretaría de Desarrollo Sustentable, 2014). This article investigates the causes for the development of such a cluster, drawing upon Brenner and Mühlig's (2013) study of 159 industrial clusters, and identifies both the key factors in the development of the cluster and what makes Querétaro attractive to foreign direct investment. The findings indicate areas for further research for potential cluster development in other regions of Mexico. The article concludes with the challenge facing the aeronautical cluster in Querétaro if it is to create a sustainable competitive advantage and compete on a global scale. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Financialization of A Social Housing Provider

Why does a social housing provider bet on interest rate fluctuations? This article presents a case study of the financialization of both housing and the state. Social housing in the Netherlands is provided by non‐profit housing associations that have since 1989 been set apart from the state. Many associations started developing housing for profit, borrowing on global capital markets or buying derivatives. Whereas other semi‐public institutions moved into the world of finance due to financial constraints, housing associations did so to capitalize on the possibilities offered by their asset‐rich portfolios. Vestia, the largest of them all, is an extreme––but not exceptional––case of what can happen when public goals are left to be realized by inadequately supervised and poorly managed private organizations. As a result of gambling on derivatives, Vestia had to be bailed out to the tune of over 2 billion euros. To recoup the losses, housing was sold off and rents were raised. Almost half of Dutch housing associations used derivatives, although most refrained from using them purely speculatively. The changes in the housing sector that led to its financialization cannot be separated from the wider financialization of the state.     

The Autoimmunity of the EU’s Deadly B/ordering Regime; Overcoming its Paradoxical Paper,Iron and Camp Borders

ABSTRACT

In this article we argue that the EU suffers from autoimmunity: a self-harming protection strategy. Drawing on Derrida’s political understanding of autoimmunity, we contend that the root of this malfunction lies in the EU’s own b/ordering and othering policies, which are intended to immunise the foundational ethos of the EU. For this purpose, we dissect the EU border regime into three linked b/ordering mechanisms: the pre-borders of paper documents that regulate from afar the mobility of the people from visa-obliged countries; the actual land borders often consisting of iron gates and fences regulating mobility on the spot; and the post-border in the form of waiting/detention camps that segregate and enclose the undocumented migrants after entry. We make clear how this discriminatory b/ordering and othering regime has led to a recurrent drawing of ever less porous, inhumane and deadlier borders. Such thanatopolitics finds itself at odds with the humanist values that the EU is supposed to uphold, particularly cross-border solidarity, openness, non-discrimination and human rights. We argue that the EU b/ordering regime has turned fear of the non-EUropean into an increasingly unquestioned – even ‘commonsensical’ – anxiety that has become politically profitable to exploit by extreme nationalistic and EUrosceptic parties. The core of the EU’s autoimmunity that we want to expose lies within this irony: in its attempt to protect what it considers meaningful, the EU has unleashed an autoimmune disorder that has turned the EU into its own most formidable threat.     

ACCOUNTABILITY AND CORRUPTION: POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS MATTER

This study uses a cross-country panel to examine the determinants of corruption, paying particular attention to political institutions that increase accountability. Even though the theoretical literature has stressed the importance of political institutions in determining corruption, the empirical literature is relatively scarce. Our results confirm the role of political institutions in determining the prevalence of corruption. Democracies, parliamentary systems, political stability, and freedom of press are all associated with lower corruption. Additionally, common results of the previous empirical literature, related to openness and legal tradition, do not hold once political variables are taken into account.     

Venture Creation Speed and Subsequent Growth: Evidence from South America

Though time is an important dimension of the venture creation process, our understanding of why some entrepreneurs are able to act more quickly than others is limited. Equally, not much is known about the relationship between venture creation speed and the subsequent venture growth. In this paper, we use a resource‐based perspective to provide insights into the factors that quicken or retard venture creation and to explore how speed impacts on subsequent growth. This is important because the topic remains generally underresearched and because even less is understood about venture creation speed in the context of South American economies. Data were collected from face‐to‐face interviews with 647 entrepreneurs in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. Using a multivariate regression framework, we find that entrepreneurs make use of their human and social capital resources to shape the speed by which their venture is created. Moreover, their perceptions of unfavorable environmental conditions seem to retard venture creation. Findings also suggest that entrepreneurs who take more time to create a more solid resource base tend to receive better growth outcomes. Implications from the findings are discussed.     

The impact of commodity price shocks among regional economies of a developing country

Volatile commodity prices have become commonplace in the world economy. Although is widely accepted that commodity‐rich countries are affected by this phenomenon, information about how commodity price shocks impacts their regional economies is scarce. This work analyses how shocks in copper prices impact the economies of the major copper‐producing regions in a developing country, such as Chile. To achieve this goal, a two‐step method is implemented. First, we estimate long‐term copper prices using the Wets and Rios approach (2015) and these estimates are then contrasted with those forecast by the Chilean public advisory committee. Second, a general equilibrium model is implemented to simulate the effects of both expansive and restrictive copper price cycles within major producing regions in Chile. Our results show that the proposed approach yields more homogeneous price projections than those made by the Chilean Government, which, in turn, are very close to variations in response to negative shocks. The price simulations confirm that price cycles affect the savings of government and business, which directly dampens regional production, mainly via investment, capital mobilisation and diversification of production. Because of this, fiscal revenues generated by copper sales act as a trade cycle term multiplier in regional economies. Overall, within copper‐producing regions, we suggest implementing long‐term policies to improve profit distribution efficiency.     

Life‐Cycle Expenditure and Retirees’ Cost of Living

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we document the expenditure life‐cycle profile in the United Kingdom and show how differences in the consumption bundle of retirees and workers translate into different inflation experiences. Albeit different in given years, the inflation experienced by the two groups is not significantly different over a long time period. We also show how the distribution of household inflation evolved over time, with particular emphasis on the period around the latest financial crisis. Second, we estimate an Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) demand system and compute the change in the cost of living and the substitution effect for both retirees and workers for the period 1990–2014. Finally, we show how pension income would evolve during that period under three alternative indexation measures for different cohorts of retirees. The indexation measure that results in the highest pension income depends on the time of retirement.     

An alternative approach to the calibration of the Vasicek and CIR interest rate models via generating functions

We propose a new method to calibrate the Vasicek and Cox--Ingersoll--Ross interest rate models from bond prices. We define an appropriate generating function and derive recursive relations between the derivatives of the generating function and the bond prices. The parameters of the Vasicek and CIR models are then obtained by solving a system of linearly independent equations arising from the recursive relations. We include numerical results that show the method’s accuracy when bond prices generated from the exact formulas are used.