The Value of Environmental Social Responsibility to Facility Managers: Revealing the Perceptions and Motives for Adopting ESR

This study is grounded in the debate surrounding the perceived value of environmental social responsibility (ESR). Applying the Managerial Theory of the Firm, in-depth interviews were conducted to identify managerial motives, perceptions, and perceived value of ESR. Using sport and public assembly facilities as the research context, environmentally responsible information was obtained from facility managers who were members of the International Association of Venue Managers. In total, 15 one-hour, interviews with key facility personnel demonstrate that (1) internal stakeholder pressure, (2) organizational culture, (3) financial cost-benefit, (4) competitiveness, and (5) ethical motives were the drivers for ESR engagement. Taken together, the findings suggest that establishing a culture of ESR, the ??business case?? for environmental responsibility, and ethical concerns offered the most value for the sport and public assembly facility managers.     

Drivers and barriers to environmental supply chain management practices: Lessons from the public and private sectors

This study explores the factors that drive or hinder organisations to implement green supply chain management initiatives. A literature review identifies the main categories of internal and external drivers of green supply chain management practices, including organisational factors, regulation, customers, competitors and society, but there is little indication of suppliers as drivers for green supply chain management. Internal barriers include cost and lack of legitimacy, whereas external barriers include regulation, poor supplier commitment and industry specific barriers. An explorative study is conducted based on interviews from seven different private and public sector organisations. Encouragingly, across the organisations, more drivers than barriers to environmental supply chain management are identified. Organisations seem to be more influenced by external rather than internal drivers. The barriers to environmental supply chain management experienced by organisations tend to be both internal and external.     

The Performance of Islamic Vs. Conventional Banks: Evidence on the Suitability of the Basel Capital Ratios

This paper examines the effect of various types of bank capital on the profitability and efficiency of conventional and Islamic banks. Our results show that higher quality forms of capital improve the profitability and efficiency for both systems although the results are stronger for conventional banks. The capital effect is more pronounced for large, too-big-to-fail, and highly capitalized banks. The results are robust across various subsamples, alternative profitability and efficiency measures, and different estimation techniques.     

Exploring the relationships among liminal transitions,symbolic consumption,and the extended self

Integrating Belk's (1988) notion of the “extended self” with van Gennep's (1960) framework of “liminal transitions,” a model of symbolic consumption activities and psychological phenomena that occur during major life transitions is developed. In an initial investigation, the transition from high school to college is used to explore the nature of the liminal experience, the role that symbolic consumption assumes in the process, and the effects of both on consumers' psychological states. The results suggest that certain negative psychological consequences are indicative of existence in a liminal state. Further, consumers in transition appear to rely on possessions that symbolize the past, as well as those that represent the new role, to help facilitate a major life transition. Directions for future research are offered. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

New Evidence on Active Ageing in Europe

Ensuring active ageing, i.e. the optimisation of opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age, is an important growth strategy for the EU. Achieving a successful active ageing policy will require a sea change in thinking about what ageing means in both economic and social terms.     

Financing preferences: evidence from the Korean market

We investigate the financing decisions of Korean firms during the period of 1996–2015. Korean firms follow a matching strategy for funding their cash needs. Cash inflows from investing activities are the primary source of funding for capital expenditures, and cash inflows from financing activities are the major means of covering cash outflows from financing activities. We also find that Korean firms’ financing practice of handling cash deficits can be described by the pecking order model modified and augmented by cash flow variables. Cash inflows from investing activities account for the major portion of financing to make up for cash deficits, followed by short- and long-term debt, and then equity financing.     

Social Responsibility and the Olympic Games: The Mediating Role of Consumer Attributions

Current literature suggests that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can affect consumers’ attitudes towards an organization and is regarded as a driver for reputation-building and fostering sustained consumer patronage. Although prior research has addressed the direct influence of CSR on consumer responses, this research examined the mediating influence of consumer’s perceived organizational motives within an NGO setting. Given the heightened public attention surrounding the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, data were collected from consumers of the Games to assess their perceptions of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) socially responsible initiatives. We hypothesized that consumers of the Games were likely to cognitively elaborate on CSR messages by way of three specific attribution effects derived from the literature. The results show that, contingent on CSR awareness, consumers responded positively to social efforts judged to be values-driven and stakeholder-driven; and a negative response was seen for efforts judged to be strategic. These attribution effects influenced various types of patronage and perceived organizational reputation.     

Institutionalism,Critical Theory,and the Administered Society

Paul Krugman recently suggested that John Maynard Keynes helped economists study and resolve mass unemployment at a time when few of them could understand the problem and institutionalists seemed unable to articulate a clear policy strategy. This article responds by outlining John R. Commons' case for full employment with liberty and his three-part strategy (addressing money, people and politics) for curing joblessness while saving capitalism. Commons' argument and recommendations offer insights that extend beyond Keynesian economics in important ways, and his contributions have special relevance today in light of the recent global financial crisis and still ongoing Great Recession.