Looking good by doing good: The antecedents and consequences of stakeholder attention to corporate disaster relief

Stakeholder theory suggests a relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) because certain stakeholders reward certain types of CSR. This argument assumes that stakeholders attend to firms' CSR activities—an assumption that has yet to be examined. We fill this gap by extending stakeholder theory to the context of stakeholder attention to firm CSR and exploring the antecedents and consequences of stakeholder attention to corporate disaster relief CSR. We test the resulting hypotheses on a sample of public companies that engaged in natural disaster relief efforts, finding that stakeholder attention partially mediated the relationship between disaster relief and CFP and that stakeholder attention to corporate disaster relief was driven by the legitimacy, urgency, and enactment of disaster relief CSR initiatives. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exemptions to the Children’s Sleepwear Flammability Standards: A Description of Policy Considerations and an Evaluation of the Effects on Burn Injuries to Children

In 1996, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) amended the children’s sleepwear flammability standards to exempt sleepwear sized for infants aged 9 months or younger and tight-fitting sleepwear for older children. These amendments were adopted after CPSC concluded that they would provide consumers a wider selection of children’s sleepwear without diminishing the protection provided by the standards. They were also issued in response to an apparent preference for untreated cotton garments by many parents and difficulties in enforcing the pre-amendment standards. Nevertheless, the amendments were controversial. Some interested parties opposed them because they believed the exemptions would substantially reduce the level of safety for children. The amendments were also subjected to congressional scrutiny; in 1999, after they had gone into effect, Congress required that the Commission consider revoking them. To address these concerns, in cooperation with the American Burn Association and Shriners Hospitals for Children, the CPSC initiated a national study of child clothing-related burn injuries treated in burn center hospitals. From 2003 through 2005, the CPSC collected information on 475 such injuries. This study evaluates the burn center data to help determine the safety effects of the amendments to the sleepwear standards. The results provide no evidence of increased risk of burn injury associated with the exemptions from the sleepwear standards.

Post‐financial crisis changes in financial system structure: An examination of the J.P. Morgan & Co. Syndicates after the 1907 Panic

In the post‐2008 crisis period, policy makers debate the implications of banking system concentration. To shed light on this debate, we study a postcrisis period in which less banking regulation existed than in the present period, reasoning that an examination of a less regulated market might reveal useful insights about present day market agents' postcrisis actions. The years immediately following the Panic of 1907 merit study because the period shares important features with the post‐2008 crisis financial system: increasing interconnectedness, the growing complexity accompanying the rise of new industries, the rapid deployment of new communications technologies, and substantial innovation in financial instruments. Because the 1907 crisis preceded the Clayton Anti‐Trust Act of 1914, it also provides a window into studying market agents' behavior before legislation was enacted to discourage banking system concentration. We find evidence that the market share of corporate bond underwritings at J.P. Morgan & Co. increased in the post‐1907 crisis period. We suggest a mechanism by which market share increased: a more concentrated configuration of corporate bond underwriting syndicates. We also indicate that Morgan's increased share may have been a proxy for increased certification value of underwriter reputation because of systemic knowledge Morgan gained during the resolution of the Panic of 1907 rather than for increasing bargaining power. We do not find evidence that Morgan used market power to extract rents from issuers despite increased market share and more concentrated syndicate organization. While our results must be interpreted cautiously due to data limitations, possible lessons for present‐day policy makers are that consolidations in the financial system after a financial crisis are complex. Some consolidations may come about from information and reputational gains produced during the crisis. Others may be moves by some firms to concentrate market power and still others from efforts to improve efficiencies in intermediation.     

Explaining off-the-books entrepreneurship: a critical evaluation of competing perspectives

The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically competing theoretical perspectives towards off-the-books entrepreneurship, namely the modernist perspective that depicts such endeavour as a leftover from a previous mode of accumulation, the romantic perspective that depicts it as a chosen alternative to the formal economy, the survivalist perspective that views it as a by-product of contemporary capitalism and survival practice for those marginalised from the circuits of the modern economy, and the social actor perspective that views off-the-books entrepreneurship as chosen for social, redistributive, political or identity reasons. To do this, a 2005/6 survey involving face-to-face interviews with 102 off-the-books entrepreneurs in Moscow is analysed. No single theorisation is found to be universally applicable to all Muscovite off-the-books entrepreneurs. Instead, all are found to be valid in relation to different populations of off-the-books entrepreneurs, and only by combining and using them all is it asserted to be feasible to achieve a finer-grained more nuanced explanation of the complex and heterogeneous character of off-the-books entrepreneurship.     

Investor sentiment and calendar anomaly effects: A case study of the impact of Ramadan on Islamic Middle Eastern markets

The holy month of Ramadan is usually a time of celebration and renewal in Muslim countries. This paper examines whether or not this is reflected in positive calendar anomalies effects in Islamic Middle Eastern stock markets during the period 1992-2007. Strong evidence is found of significant and positive calendar effects in respect to the whole period of Ramadan in most countries and it is argued that this can be attributed to the generally positive investor mood, or sentiment. Although Ramadan is a time of celebration for Muslims it also can be a time of uncertainty and this appears to result in the impact of the festival not being uniformly positive throughout Ramadan. It is found that market returns in the first and last days of Ramadan show high levels of statistically significant year-on-year variation. It is argued that this can possibly be attributed to synchronization-related herding effects amplifying the impact of the mood swings associated with this period. The paper also finds that although the overall Ramadan effect is both positive and statistically significant for most countries, the associated gains were only large enough to outweigh transactions costs and provide the basis of a profitable trading strategy in one market.     

“Travel Tales”: an interpretive analysis of constraints and negotiations to pleasure travel as experienced by persons with physical disabilities

Travel personnel and tourism site managers are often ill prepared to assist travelers with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to expand the understanding of constraints to pleasure travel experienced and negotiation strategies employed by persons with physical disabilities. Comparative pattern analysis was used to systematically analyze narratives written by travelers with disabilities, resulting in the emergence of six intrapersonal, six interpersonal, and eight structural themes. Further examination suggested an interactive, rather than hierarchical, relationship between the themes. Including persons with disabilities at every stage of the travel provision process can help ensure improved services for all travelers.     

Stakeholder influence on corporate strategies over time

Modern management reporting on its company's performance is influenced by individuals ethical considerations. Stakeholders philosophies have continued to change over the last 75 years affecting reporting systems for companies reporting information internally and externally. These fundamental changes in philosophy have affected how information is conveyed. We are not claiming that only one philosophical viewpoint dominates companies reporting practices, but there does appear to be a changing trend of philosophies building on one another. We use resource dependence theory in relationship to a decision-making model to explain changing stakeholders positions over time. This paper argues that six dominant philosophical theories have influenced the way individuals and organizations report financial and other information. Further, these philosophies then are depicted in a model that helps us to understand what influences companies to present themselves to the outside world. A vignette is used to depict changing philosophical views for several companies management report over 75 years.     

A Model Capturing Ethics and Executive Compensation

This article develops and applies a knowledge-based framework for understanding and interpreting executive compensation under the rubric of ethical consideration. This framework classifies six major ethical considerations that reflect issues in compensation design. We emphasize that these six ethical considerations are influenced by liberty and equality concepts. This framework helps to highlight areas where executive compensation has not been well spelled out.     

Cultural and Ethical Effects on Managerial Decisions: Examined in a Throughput Model

Financial and cost accounting information is processed by decision-makers guided by their particular need to support decisions. Recent technological advances impacting on information as well as organizations such as the European Community mandating financial reporting requirements for many countries is rapidly changing the landscape for decision making using accounting information. Hence, the importance of individuals' decision making is more important than it was previously. These decisions are also influenced by individuals' ethical beliefs. The Throughput Modeling approach to cultural and ethical concerns provides a way of dealing with accounting information processed through various pathways by decision-makers. This modeling approach captures different philosophical perspectives from which to understand what is involved in "thinking scientifically." In the Throughput Modeling approach, pathways highlight the importance of how different philosophical perspectives may be used by individuals in arriving at a decision. This paper highlights key concepts involved in rethinking the basis of moral decision making in terms of an underlying process, rather than focusing on the application of principles or the development of a virtuous character. Examples are provided from both English and Spanish settings to help emphasize the importance of modeling ethical decision making globally.