The end of the corporate environmental report? Or the advent of cybernetic sustainability reporting and communication

It is becoming clear that communicating effectively with stakeholders on progress towards economic prosperity, environmental quality and social justice i.e. the triple bottom line, will become a defining characteristic of corporate responsibility in the 21st century (Elkington J. 1998. Cannibals with Forks: the Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business. New Society: Vancouver). However, most companies that currently use paper‐based and even web‐based communication vehicles for their corporate performance reports are not realizing the full potential value of these communications – either for themselves or for their stakeholders. This may be due in part to the fact that historically reports have not sufficiently engaged ‘direct stakeholders’, i.e. employees, customers, investors, suppliers and local communities. In this paper we review the recent history of environmental and social reporting and conclude that, whilst much progress has been made, significant challenges remain. Most notably these challenges include (i) the avoidance of engagement fatigue by stakeholders and opinion formers alike and (ii) the extension of triple‐bottom‐line principles from corporate headquarters into business unit operations. Conversely there is enormous potential for addressing these challenges and creating significant value for both corporations and their stakeholders through the development of truly interactive (cybernetic) corporate sustainability reports and communications delivered via the internet and other channels. We explore some of the implications of what we believe to be an inevitable transition in how these communications will be orchestrated. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The impact of drought and water scarcity on irrigator farm exit intentions in the Murray–Darling Basin

Drought and future water scarcity in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) will continue to restructure the irrigation industry in the coming decades. There has been little work conducted in Australia that has modelled farm exit or exit intention. ABARES farm survey data were used to model irrigators’ farm exit intentions across the southern MDB from 2006 to 2013. In particular, we examined the hypotheses that drought and water scarcity positively impacted on farm exit intentions and that it is the poorest performing farms that intend to exit in times of drought. Results revealed that water scarcity impacts varied considerably. There was only weak evidence to suggest that irrigators’ exit intentions were higher in times of drought, but there was stronger evidence to support the influence of a lagged water scarcity impact on farm exit intentions during periods of nondrought (e.g. intending to exit at times when the property market was less depressed). There was also strong evidence that poorer performing farms (measured by rates of return and higher debt over a certain level) were more likely to have exit intentions in drought periods, but not necessarily so in nondrought periods. Older age is the most consistent predictor of farm exit intentions across all industries, though it was most significant in drought periods.     

Everybody Else is Doing it,So Why Can’t We? Pluralistic Ignorance and Business Ethics Education

In light of the myriad accounting and corporate ethics scandals of the early 21st century, many corporate leaders and management scholars believe that ethics education is an essential component in business school education. Despite a voluminous body of ethics education literature, few studies have found support for the effectiveness of changing an individuals ethical standards through programmatic ethics training. To address this gap in the ethics education literature the present study examines the influence of an underlying social cognitive error, called pluralistic ignorance. We believe that if pluralistic ignorance is reduced, the result will be more effective business ethics education programs. Eighty undergraduate management students participated in this longitudinal study, and a mixed-model ANOVA revealed that the reduction of pluralistic ignorance (due to an ethics education program designed to reduce pluralistic ignorance) resulted in higher personal ethical standards over the course of a semester, when compared to a class that did not receive a formal ethics education program as part of their course. We discuss the implications of pluralistic ignorance in training business ethics and ethics education.     

Exhibiting Strategy and Implementation

Database marketing has grown rapidly during the last ten years, spurred on by the changing role of direct marketing, shifting cost structures, developments in information technology and dynamic market conditions. Database marketing and direct marketing have a wide range of applications and are changing the way agencies and media are used. At its most sophisticated, database marketing has the potential to drive marketing policy.     

STRUCTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE COMPANY–CUSTOMER INTERFACE

The main approach current in organization theory adopts a ‘structural contingency’ model in attempting to explain and predict company structures. However, this model, as currently described in the literature, is so broadly defined that it tells us little about how market conditions and the ways in which companies deal with their customers might affect internal company structures. The present paper considers the issues involved and presents some results from a study focused on these relationships.     

Ethics and the Sports Business

Action needs to be taken on the ethical issues raised by the commercialising of sport if its integrity is to be maintained and its ethical base is not to be eroded further. The author has worked as an independent consultant in the leisure sector for a number of years and has recently joined the Research Unit of Britain's Sports Council. The views expressed by her in this article are not necessarily those held by the Sports Council.     

Generation Tourism: towards a common identity

The purpose of this article is to highlight the implications of the indiscipline of tourism academia for a new generation of tourism academics. Generation Tourism is characterised by scholars with a multi-disciplinary education associated with a broad field of study and commonly considered to lack the advantages of a discipline-focused education with its strong theoretical and methodological foundations. The problem this article addresses relates to how new generations of scholars and their views on knowledge creation achieve ascendancy in ways that move on from existing paradigms and earlier cohorts of scholars. Our main argument is that Generation Tourism scholars would benefit from a more clearly developed and common academic identity. To begin the critical conversation around the identity of Generation Tourism we outline five possible points of departure. These points are: (1) learning from historical developments in parent disciplines; (2) spearheading inter-disciplinary scholarship; (3) working towards theoretical developments; (4) embracing mediating methodologies and (5) forming tourism nodes and networks. Recognising these as starting points rather than final statements, we hope that the conversation about Generation Tourism identity will continue in other forums.     

Nonprofit Advertising: Impact of Celebrity Connection,Involvement and Gender on Source Credibility and Intention to Volunteer Time or Donate Money

Two studies examine celebrity endorsers in a nonprofit context. In Study One a framework is developed incorporating connection (congruence), source credibility, involvement, and gender as key elements in understanding the impact of celebrity endorsers on nonprofit advertising effectiveness. Hypotheses are tested in the course of the studies that manipulate celebrity connection and advertising involvement. Results support the primary model viewing a relationship between the celebrity's connection, source credibility, and intention. Study Two verifies the connection and source credibility findings of Study One, but cannot confirm the impact of the celebrity connection on intention. Study Two includes attractiveness as a source credibility dimension, and increases the number of endorser types. An attractiveness main effect on intention is identified.     

The effects of preferred provider organizations on costs and utilization of hysterectomy

In this study, the costs and service utilization of preferred provider organizations (PPOs) were compared against traditional indemnity plans with similar benefits and utilization review for hysterectomy, a potentially overused procedure. PPOs were associated with significant cost savings, achieved primarily through lower utilization rates.