The decision to internalize corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, to buy (outsource) them in the form of corporate philanthropy, or to collaborate with other organizations is of great significance to the ability of the firm to reap benefits from such activity. Using insights provided by organizational economics and the resource-based view of the firm, this article describes how CSR …
Scholarship on corporate social responsibility (CSR) shows both that the concept itself is interpreted in a multitude of different ways and that significant cross-cultural differences exist in the way that business approaches the question of social responsibility and ethics. Little comparative work, however, has yet been carried out that investigates the reasons behind such differences. The aut…
This study examines overseas investing by U.S.-domiciled pension plans. The authors explore whether U.S. pension plans invest based on corporate social performance (CSP) in a core overseas market, the United Kingdom. As a guide to social investing opportunities available to U.S. pension funds in the United Kingdom, their investments are compared to U.K.-domiciled pension plan domestic investmen…
Globalization of the world economy and proliferation of multinational corporations (MNCs) has dramatically affected the power balance among international actors. On one hand, MNCs have long influenced the states in which they operate, with the consequent erosion of state sovereignty. On the other, states directly affect MNCs, in effect becoming another factor of production in addition to the ec…
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a tortured concept. A number of alternative definitions of the construct exist at the theoretical level, and much debate surrounds the meaning (and its related implications for practice) of the term. Empirically, CSR research reaches few remarkable conclusions. In this article, the authors reconceptualize CSR into a number of discrete corporate social re…
This article describes the development of a new theory and measure of ethical work climate. Three studies are conducted to construct the Ethical Climate Index (ECI) and measure the ethical work climate dimensions of collective moral sensitivity (12 items), collective moral judgment (10 items), collective moral motivation (8 items), and collective moral character (6 items). Results of the third …
This doctoral thesis examines the impact of corporate supplier diversity programs on corporate purchasers intention to purchase from women-owned enterprises using Ajzens theory of planned behavior. Two hundred and seventy-two corporate purchasers across a diverse range of industries and geographical regions in the United States participated in a mail survey in which the participants responded…
In this introductory article, we discuss the need for a rethinking of the theoretical foundations of management and the practice of business strategy in view of a range of social, environmental and ethical challenges that highlight the limits of business as usual. Calls for a reconsideration of current approaches have come to the fore in the fields of management, accounting, marketing and fin…
This article explores the implicit and explicit conceptions of the relationship between business, society, and nature that are evident in the management literature. The authors derive three conceptions, termed the disparate, intertwined, and embedded views, and consider how they relate to the economic, social, and environmental challenges of our time. It is argued that an embedded view is best…
In this article, the author applies complex systems theory (CST) to help understand why, after 14 years of management scholar advocacy for a paradigmatic shift in management behavior, the field of management has been unable to move away from a technocentric paradigm. Using four principles of complex adaptive systems (CAS), the author shows that focusing exclusively on business behavior limits o…
Scientific findings forecast that one of the major consequences of human-induced climate change and global warming is a greater occurrence of extreme weather events with potentially catastrophic effects for organizations, industries, and society. Current management and adaptation approaches typically focus on economic factors of competition, such as technology and innovation. Although offering …
This article examines the potential for visionary small-enterprise to operate with a fundamentally different conception of nature from the environmental management mode offered within the business case for sustainable development. Corporate environmental management is critiqued for not offering any fundamental reassessment of the businessnature relationship, which would be required to achieve …
This review article reflects on the current controversy concerning climate change. The article does so through a review of Hulmes book Why We Disagree About Climate Change . The article also considers the implications of the Stern Report.
The authors offer a framework based on the stakeholder, organizational identity, and strategic response literatures to specify how organizational identity influences an organizations responses to negative evaluation in the public domain by external stakeholders. The framework proposes how the number of organizational identities possessed by an organization and the level of perceived organizati…
This study examines the importance of external monitoring and public reporting on the performance of firms in the global apparel industry. By focusing on the relevance of company reputation in the global community, the authors examine financial performance and stock market reaction to the release of information describing the manufacturing practices of firms made available by a third-party moni…
The United Nations Global Compact is with currently more than 6,000 voluntary participants the worlds largest corporate citizenship initiative. This article first analyzes three critical allegations often made against the Compact by looking at the academic and nonacademic literature. (1) The Compact supports the capture of the United Nations by big business. (2) Its 10 principles are vague a…
The recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Garcetti v. Ceballos decided that public employees are not necessarily protected under the law if they make statements about alleged improprieties committed by their employers, and can in fact be disciplined for such disclosures. The controversy over this case, combined with the recent publicity surrounding whistle-blower actions, indicates that many peo…
Growing concerns about corporations business and accounting practices have contributed to increased scrutiny and the adoption of new laws to govern corporate behavior. Nonprofit nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have also come under investigation for their activities, especially when engaging in social venturing. Because NGOs are largely supported by taxpayer dollars and private donations, …
This article offers a rare study of the content and performance of political strategies in Chinas highly institutionalized setting. A conceptual framework based on institutional theory findings is proposed to develop a set of expected political behavior. This is then confronted to data from a convenient sample of 233 firms. The results show that there are indeed recognizable patterns of politi…
Corporate community responsiveness relates to business activities that are integral parts of a firms operations and are designed to benefit the firm through benefiting the local communities. Using data from commercial banks in the United States between 1997 and 2000, the authors measured banks corporate community responsiveness by their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) lending activities and …