Stakeholders’ perceptions of factors affecting the credibility of sustainability reports

This study investigates factors affecting the credibility of sustainability reporting. Potential factors were first identified from prior studies and then refined through semi-structured interviews with sustainability reporting stakeholders including users, preparers, assurance providers and standard-setters. From this we construct a conceptual framework containing 26 variables that potentially influence credibility assessments of sustainability reports. This large set of variables is then evaluated by using a questionnaire survey of different stakeholder groups. The responses reveal that some source credibility variables (trustworthiness, track record and management expertise), assurance-related variables, and message characteristics (materiality and completeness of sustainability disclosures) are perceived by different stakeholder groups as particularly important to the credibility assessment, with source credibility factors dominating the rankings. An exploratory factor analysis shows that perceptions coalesce on four factors that are concerned with assurance and accountability, source (management) characteristics, message characteristics, and standards & ratings, with the structure of first two being dominated by the variables ranked as most important. The rank analysis also reveals significant differences between users and preparers in the ordering of influential credibility factors, and this is further supported by the significant differences between users’ and preparers’ mean scores for the ‘assurance and accountability’ and ‘source (management) characteristics’ factors.     

Organizational sustainability identity: Constructing oneself as sustainable

In the literature, organizational sustainability identity tends to be treated as something that is ‘engineered’ within business organizations through control, reporting, target setting, strategic communication, and other instruments. Through a case study of a company mainly active within the recycling industry, an alternative understanding is given. A distinct organizational sustainability identity is, rather, a social construct based on perceptions of the core operations as “sustainable in themselves” and collaborative work with customers that is perceived as entailing sustainable solutions. Understood in this way, organizational sustainability identity has relatively little to do with formal controls such as codes, policies, reports used by management to position the company as sustainable. Rather, for organizational members, the process of constructing oneself as sustainable builds on convictions about the core operations and the possession of specific capabilities manifested in customer relations. The article adds to current literature through its constructivistic approach and through identifying underlying beliefs that condition the process of forming an organizational sustainability identity.     

The impact of supermarket credibility on purchase intention of novel food

How do consumers make purchase decisions for novel food products? This research demonstrates the importance of supermarket credibility as a heuristic cue influencing consumers’ purchase decisions. We used a 2 (supermarket type: specialty store vs. conventional store) x 2 (food familiarity: novel vs. familiar) x 3 (price: high, average, low) between-subjects design and found that perceived supermarket credibility positively and indirectly mediates the relationship between supermarket type and purchase intention, and this effect is moderated by the interaction of familiarity and price level, suggesting a moderated-moderated-mediation effect. Specifically, the three-way interaction effect on purchase intention is stronger when the price is low in the familiar food condition, while the effect is stronger when the price is high in the novel food condition. In other words, consumers rely on supermarket credibility when buying novel foods, and when risk is higher people rely more on product credibility signaled by price.     

Hidden Gem or Fool’s Gold: Can passive ESG ETFs outperform the benchmarks?

Using a unique and extensive dataset of 121 socially responsible investing (SRI) equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from January 2010 to December 2020, this study examines how passive SRI ETFs perform compared with their non-SRI benchmarks composed of S&P500 ETFs. Over the full sample period, our results show that an equally weighted SRI ETF portfolio underperforms its benchmark portfolio. Notably, we do not find significant differences in the two portfolios’ performance in the second half of our sample period. However, in the last two years, the SRI ETF portfolio significantly outperforms the benchmark. For the SRI investment strategies, we show that positive screening (or inclusion) rather than negative screening (or exclusion) can beat the benchmark portfolio. In particular, environmental inclusion screen provides significantly higher abnormal returns. Finally, we find that SRI ETFs’ performance can be explained by increasing industry competition and declining market concentration.     

Analysis of cybersecurity competencies: Recommendations for telecommunications policy

The paper aims to analyse and assess cybersecurity competencies and define the recommended solutions to improve the human factor in cybersecurity. The article presents the results of theoretical and empirical research that were carried out in 2019–2021. The research subject constitutes one of the priorities of many countries and international organisations. Cybersecurity is one of the essential foundations for implementing the idea of sustainable development. A cybersecurity analysis using a layered structure was proposed in the theoretical part. Empirical research was conducted using a diagnostic poll method based on a survey. The presentation of the research results includes an analysis of statistical dependencies. The paper presents the research results on cybersecurity competencies in the field of threats to state cyberspace and methods of securing and protecting data. An important element of the research was to identify forms of education that can be used to achieve greater efficiency in increasing cybersecurity competencies. The result of the implementation of the research objectives was the development of recommended solutions facilitating the improvement of the human factor in the field of cybersecurity.     

Back to the future: ecocentrism,organization studies,and the Anthropocene

In this paper, we revisit a moment in the 1990 s when the proposal of ecocentrism as an alternative to anthropocentrism was promising of unprecedented changes in how the field of Organization Studies (OS) should understand the natural environment. Nevertheless, in what seems to be a twist of history, the notion of sustainability became dominant in the OS, and ecocentrism almost got lost in time. Through a reminiscent review, we reflect on past events with the critical attitude of questioning how the field of OS missed a precious opportunity to tread a different future. Facing up the consequences of the destructive potential of human actions upon nature, we explore the concept of the Anthropocene to reflect on the role of organizations in the current state of environmental depletion. We expect that recovering a forgotten history may precipitate the resumption of ecocentrism in OS, as well as compel scholars within this field to further engage with more ecological concerns.     

An integrative strategy for Venezuela's electricity sector (VES), from an analysis of stakeholder perspectives

This work aims to determine the most important aspects of an integrative strategy to end the stagnation of Venezuela's energy sector (VES). The first step is to extract the various stakeholders' perspectives on policies needed to improve VES. Q methodology combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to learn the subjective opinions of a group of individuals on a specific topic to determine the different perspectives at hand. Using Q methodology we analyzed the preferences of VES-involved stakeholders regarding the structure of the industry, its services, the infrastructure framework, and, finally, energy governance design. Analyzing commonalities and disagreements between perspectives resulted in three perspectives or mindsets: i) a partial vertical restructuring of the industry, ii) the development of hydroelectricity and large-scale renewable energies, and iii) the improvement of control mechanisms to increase the sector's efficiency.     

Towards a responsive-sustainable-resilient tea supply chain network design under uncertainty using big data

Nowadays, issues such as limited natural resources, environmental problems, social matters, and significance of resilience in agricultural supply chain (ASC) have dragged considerable attention worldwide. In this research, a five-level multi-objective stochastic mixed-integer linear programming model is designed for tea supply chain (TSC) in Iran. The objective functions of the suggested network are minimizing total costs of the supply chain (SC), the total water consumption, and non-resilience measures, and maximizing job opportunities of facilities. Literally, considering uncertainty for SC networks is extremely beneficial due to the existence of some variations in different parameters like demand. As a consequence, a robust possibilistic optimization (RPO) is implemented to manage the uncertainty. Due to the nature of the multi-objective optimization problem, the weighted-normalized-extended goal programming (WNEGP) approach is employed to solve the model. In order to credit the model, real data is collected from the tea organization of Iran. It is worth mentioning that parameters are gathered according to three aspects of big data: volume, velocity, and variety. The results validated the functionality of the model regarding planning strategy. In addition, it showed applying more costs on SC triggers an effective sustainable-resilient-responsive network. In terms of managerial insights, this study offers a far-reaching perspective to managers especially in ASC to develop their industries. Finally, some sensitivity analyses are discussed on key parameters such as demand, robustness coefficients, and also the value of the objective functions in various states. It is worth mentioning that sensitivity analyses on different states of the problem show how sustainability and resiliency affect the supply chain efficiency.