Determinants and consequences of voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure: Evidence from private firms

We examine whether and how private firms differ from public firms in determining corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure policies. We document that private firms are less likely to issue CSR reports compared with their public peers. Adopting a bivariate probit model that accommodates partial observability, we find that the effect is mainly driven by a supply-side force rather than a demand-side force. From a debtholder-oriented perspective, while public firms enjoy more favorable credit ratings and a lower cost of debt due to CSR disclosure, private firms do not reap similar benefits from CSR disclosure. Corporate governance and CSR assurance alleviate debtholders' concern on private firms’ engagements in CSR.     

Mind the Gap: Is Water Disclosure a Missing Component of Corporate Social Responsibility?

Corporate water stewardship is conventionally internally focused, but now it is becoming a critical issue in a wider socio-political context. Drawing on the theory of self-regulation, we investigate the rationale behind, and the factors contributing to, corporate decisions to voluntarily disclose water information via the CDP. The study uses innovative proxies for corporate self-regulation, including water governance, water policy, water actions, and water performance. Our results show that these proxies are significantly related to the propensity of the companies participating in the CDP to disclose water information. Furthermore, belonging to a water-intensive industry may moderate the impact of self-regulation on water transparency. Finally, sharing water information privately with key institutional investors is a strategic tool for implementing self-regulation. The study suggests that corporate self-regulation can play a powerful role in reducing corporate water opaqueness when mandatory water legislation is absent or not yet applicable.     

推进企业社会责任的路径探析

企业社会责任运动(CSR运动)是20世纪二三十年代在西方发达国家掀起,八九十年代推进至全球。从"企业社会责任"问题和原因入手,分析和研究了提升企业社会责任的路径,探讨完善企业社会责任问题理论体系,以有助于企业建立企业社会责任。     

Reconsidering the ‘Symmetry’ Between Institutionalization and Professionalization: The Case of Corporate Social Responsibility Managers

The assumption of a mutually supportive, ‘symmetric’ relationship between institutionalization and professionalization is central to the institutionalist perspective on professional work. Our inductive qualitative study of corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers in multinational corporations (MNCs) prompts to rethink the validity of this assumption. We show that as the institutionalization of CSR advances and consolidates, CSR managers are pushed to the organizational periphery. This indicates that the relationship between professionalization and institutionalization can be ‘asymmetric’ under certain conditions. To advance the study of this asymmetry, we develop a conceptual framework and a set of corresponding propositions that explain why some groups are able to advance their professionalization projects, while others cannot. Our study makes three main contributions to the literature: First, we explicate under which conditions the relationship between institutionalization and professionalization is more likely asymmetric than symmetric. Second, our explanation of the shifting organizational positions of different professional groups allows for further delineating occupational from organizational professionals. Third, we contribute to the CSR literature by examining the dynamic yet ambiguous role of CSR managers as driving forces behind the implementation of CSR.     

Corporate implementation of socially controversial CSR initiatives: Implications for human resource management

An organization's success in recruiting, selecting, and retaining employees can be attributed, in part, to reactions to a firm's CSR activities. Today, organizations appear to be more frequently pursuing CSR initiatives that are related to social issues. Unlike CSR initiatives which are unrelated to social issues, those that are attached to social causes are more likely to be perceived as controversial. Consequently, how individuals view such actions can impact their perceptions of the firm and may lead to changes in individual behavior. Grounding this work in social identity theory, we explore the effect controversial CSR actions can have on HRM functions. The goal of this effort is to explore and delineate how this shift in CSR may alter the nature of the CSR-HRM relationship and to examine the potential implications for HRM practice. Future directions for research and HRM practice are discussed.     

Stakeholder theory and practice in Europe and North America: The key to success lies in a marketing approach

Corporate reputation in Europe and North America is increasingly seen as a function of how firms treat their stakeholders. In the United States, stakeholder theory has been touted as a paradigm of good management; yet despite enlightened stakeholder practice at home, US firms continue to run into problems in Europe. Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and GE have, in one way or another, all been caught off guard when doing business in Europe. This paper suggests that some of the stakeholder relations difficulties encountered by US corporations in Europe can be explained by fundamental cultural and philosophical differences between these regions that affect how stakeholders are viewed and how relations with those groups are managed. In this paper, we examine the historical and socio-political forces influencing stakeholder theory in the US and northern Europe and then use a business-to-business marketing approach to show how US firms might develop an approach to stakeholder relations that fits the northern European environment.     

Servant leadership,CSR perceptions,moral meaningfulness and organizational identification- evidence from the Middle East

This article explores a novel process linking servant leadership (SL) to organizational identification (OI). In doing so, the study examines SL as an antecedent of internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions of employees and assesses moral meaningfulness as a moderator in the relationship between SL and OI through internal CSR perceptions. Utilizing a comparative institutional theoretical lens, it also explores how the SL-OI relationship varies across the UAE, Lebanon, and Tunisia. Two-wave and three-wave survey data are collected from employees working for international SMEs in the three countries. Findings show that the link between SL and OI can be explained by the proposed moderated mediation model and that the SL-OI relationship varies across the nations. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

家族企业社会责任:研究述评与未来展望

在企业社会责任不断重构家族企业商业模式和可持续发展路径的背景下,家族企业的社会责任问题日益成为社会关注的热点。尽管过去十多年来学者们从多种理论视角对家族企业社会责任的前因和结果等议题展开了颇具成效的研究,但研究成果呈现出碎片化和模糊化的特征。基于此,首先区分了家族企业与非家族企业社会责任的不同内涵,明晰了家族企业社会责任的内涵与特征;其次,整合并评述了不同理论视角下家族企业社会责任的行为动因,并系统归纳了家族企业社会责任的影响效应,在此基础上构建了家族企业社会责任研究的逻辑框架;最后,对家族企业社会责任的未来研究方向进行了展望。     

Ethics and corporate social responsibility – An analysis of the views of Chinese hotel managers

Based on a sample of 257 Chinese hotel managers, this paper examines the ethical principles to which these managers adhered. The premise is that any application of the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR) will be facilitated or inhibited by the degree to which management holds to a strong ethical stance. Developing a questionnaire derived from different sources such as the Forsyth Ethics Position Questionnaire and the 12 golden standards of Tao Zhugong developed in the 5th century BCE, a principal components analysis of the scores on a 35 item scale indicated five components to ethical perspectives: namely respect for individuals, tolerance of degree of relativity in moral standards, the role of corporations in current society, expediency in business and adherence to CSR.