Business & Society recent issues

Editorial Announcement

Windsor, D. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

From the Editor

Windsor, D. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

Organizational Responses to Negative Evaluation by External Stakeholders: The Role of Organizational Identity Characteristics in Organizational Response Formulation

Randel, A. E., Jaussi, K. S., Standifird, S. S. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

The authors offer a framework based on the stakeholder, organizational identity, and strategic response literatures to specify how organizational identity influences an organization’s 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 organizational identity threat affect which type of response an organization will adopt. Directions for future research are developed and implications for practicing managers are proposed.

When the Whistle Is Blown: Legal Defenses and Practical Guidelines for Managing Reports of Organizational Misconduct

Peeples, D. K., Stokes, P., Wingfield, S. S. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

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 people may have incorrect impressions regarding the law in this area. This article focuses on various unsuccessful whistle-blower cases to educate both employers and employees about the limitations of such actions. Based on these scenarios, the authors have provided suggestions for management in how to effectively handle reports of wrongdoing within an organization.

The Impact of External Monitoring and Public Reporting on Business Performance in a Global Manufacturing Industry

Katz, J. P., Higgins, E., Dickson, M., Eckman, M. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

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 monitor. Using agency theory as a predictive framework, industry-wide changes in market measures of company risk as a result of third-party monitoring are found, suggesting that society values such external reports. The authors’ findings are important to business and society because they bridge the gap in knowledge about how voluntary compliance programs are supplemented by external monitoring and reporting for firms operating in the global environment. This work suggests that external monitoring is valuable to business and society by reducing information asymmetry between the two groups and encouraging accurate assessment of the risks associated with global operations.

"A Necessary Supplement": What the United Nations Global Compact Is and Is Not

Rasche, A. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

The United Nations Global Compact is with currently more than 6,000 voluntary participants the world’s 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 and thus hard to implement. (3) The Compact is not accountable due to an absence of verification mechanisms. This article discusses these three allegations and argues that they rest on a misunderstanding of (a) the nature of the Compact as well as its mandate and (b) the goals it tries to achieve. From this discussion of what the Compact is not, the article then outlines a perspective that classifies the initiative as a necessary supplement to incomplete state and nonstate regulatory approaches in order to illustrate what the Compact is.

NGOs, Social Venturing, and Community Citizenship Behavior

Easterly, L., Miesing, P. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

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, their existence is strongly based on fulfilling their social purpose mission. In this study, NGOs reported on this increased scrutiny and how it was especially important for them to act as good corporate citizens, which, in corporate citizenship theory, means being economically responsible, abiding by the law, engaging in ethical and moral management, and ensuring the philanthropy of the social venture. The authors find that these components are key to the sustainability of the ventures and the organizations themselves. Based on study findings, the authors propose "community citizenship behavior" as a broader model for application in social ventures.

Review Essay: "It's the Politics, Stupid!": Reflections on the Role of Business in Contemporary Nonfiction

Matten, D. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

This review essay analyzes the 2007 books of Naomi Klein and Robert B. Reich. Both books identify a political role for the private corporation in contemporary capitalism globally. The review article concludes with some remarks on the implication of both books for a future research agenda in management studies in general and the business and society field in particular.

The Business Firm as a Political Actor: A New Theory of the Firm for a Globalized World

Scherer, A. G., Palazzo, G., Matten, D. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Business & Society: The United Nations Global Compact--Retrospect and Prospect

Rasche, A., McIntosh, M., Waddock, S. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

Climate Change: Challenging Business, Transforming Politics

Okereke, C., Wittneben, B., Bowen, F. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:00 PST

Editorial Announcement

Windsor, D. — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:52:01 PDT

From the Editor

Windsor, D. — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:52:01 PDT

Institutional Determinism and Political Strategies: An Empirical Investigation

Zhilong Tian, , Hafsi, T., Wei Wu, — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:52:01 PDT

This article offers a rare study of the content and performance of political strategies in China’s 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 political strategy, most of which are bent by the strong institutional environment toward accommodation rather than confrontation or defiance. The strategies identified were found to be related to the nature of the firms’ available resources and to the firms’ ability to extract benefits or bend the government’s behavior in their favor.

Corporate Responsiveness to Community Stakeholders: Effects of Contextual and Organizational Characteristics

Kobeissi, N., Damanpour, F. — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:52:01 PDT

Corporate community responsiveness relates to business activities that are integral parts of a firm’s 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 their performance ratings by CRA examiners. The authors developed and tested eight hypotheses on the influence of contextual (community income, minority population, and competition) and organizational (age, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, and mergers and acquisitions) factors on the two measures of corporate community responsiveness. The authors found a negative effect for minority population; a positive effect for banks’ profitability; and partial support for community income, competition, and risk factors. The results show no effects for institutional ownership or mergers and acquisitions. The implications of these results for the instrumental aspect of stakeholder theory are discussed.

The Nature of Giving: A Theory of Planned Behavior Examination of Corporate Philanthropy

Dennis, B. S., Buchholtz, A. K., Butts, M. M. — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:52:01 PDT

Scholars of social issues in management have consistently argued that corporate philanthropy is one key factor of a firm’s discretionary responsibilities. Several researchers have examined the links between philanthropy and such outcomes as financial profit and organizational reputation. It is interesting to note that the determinants of corporate philanthropy have been left largely unexamined; researchers have yet to fully understand why philanthropy takes place. In this manuscript, Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) provides the theoretical foundation for the development of a model that will further our understanding of corporate philanthropic behaviors. The TPB has been used and validated in many different academic fields (such as psychology, exercise science, and management information systems) as a means to understand the determinants of behavior. The authors build on the TPB and examine empirically how altruistic and strategic forces, perceived behavioral control, self-identity, and slack influence philanthropic behaviors.

Perceptions on Social Responsibility: The Entrepreneurial Vision

Peterson, R. T., Jun, M. — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:52:01 PDT

This article outlines the results of an inquiry into the nature of entrepreneurial commitment to social responsibility as a business philosophy. Findings show that the respondents, as a group, reported a strong orientation to this view. Several social responsibility topics emerge in a position of special prominence to entrepreneurs, and their preferences for these topics do not widely vary. Furthermore, the degree of attachment to social responsibility, as an operational construct, correlates with several demographic and psychographic dimensions.

The Vicissitudes of Corruption: Degeneration, Transgression, Jouissance

Lennerfors, T. T. — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:52:01 PDT

This thesis explores different manifestations of corruption structured around the notion of modernity. It claims that the modern definition is related to transgression. It also maps out a premodern alternative based on degeneration of character, as well as a psychoanalytical understanding related to stolen enjoyment. This thesis is a study of corruption as bribe taking in purchasing and procurement in the Swedish context. The empirical study is based on an explorative, hermeneutic approach and is conducted as a case study at the Swedish Road Administration—a public procurer of road construction and maintenance work. It holds that the modern understanding of corruption is problematic and that different theoretical alternatives can deepen one’s understanding of corruption.

Editorial Announcement

Windsor, D. — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:28:33 PDT

From the Editor

Windsor, D. — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:28:33 PDT

A Look at Firm--Regulator Exchanges: Friendly Enough or Too Friendly?

Reed, K. K. — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:28:33 PDT

This article examines the relational characteristics of firm—regulator interactions. Many political economists have focused on the relevance, costs, processes, and beneficiaries of regulation. Alternatively, most management researchers treat regulation as one of many environmental factors firms must consider in developing strategy. This article extends management research by examining the subjective, relational components of firm—regulator interactions. Using social exchange and relational governance theories, hypotheses are developed to examine how firms' interactions with their regulators affect both the frequency with which they are monitored and the evaluation they receive. A within-industry (i.e., banking), within-region (i.e., the Northeast) sample is used to examine the relational characteristics of firm—regulator interactions concerning the Community Reinvestment Act. The results indicate that relational characteristics explain a significant amount of incremental variance in predicting the frequency of monitoring and evaluation, over that explained by objective measures and prior performance.

Evaluating Corporate Environmental Reporting on the Internet: The Utility and Resource Industries in Spain

Rodriguez Bolivar, M. P. — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:28:33 PDT

Extant literature has noted that traditional paper-based reporting is becoming less timely and less useful to decision makers. Stakeholder pressure is making companies use communication channels other than paper-based reporting, such as the Internet. This article seeks to contribute to the literature by analyzing the extent to which firms are using the Internet to communicate their corporate environmental reporting as a transparency information policy to manage corporate legitimacy. Because utility and resource industries are considered sensitive industries with regard to their impact on the natural environment, these firms are expected to offer corporate environmental reporting on the Web to cope with prevailing stakeholders pressures. This article also explores the environmental online disclosures made by Spanish publicly listed companies. Although sample firms practice corporate environmental reporting on the Web, results indicate differences between sample industries' Internet disclosures and the lack of a standardized framework for corporate environmental reporting.

Differential Economic Impacts of Corporate Responsibility Issues

Lankoski, L. — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:28:33 PDT

The study examined whether there are systematic differences in the economic impacts of different corporate responsibility issues and found that the content of corporate responsibility does have an effect on economic impact. Economic impacts were more positive for corporate responsibility issues that reduce negative externalities than for those that generate positive externalities and more positive as well as for issues whose outcome benefits market stakeholders rather than nonmarket stakeholders.

Economic and Social Roles of Companies in the Mass Media: The Impact Media Visibility Has on Businesses' Being Recognized as Economic and Social Actors

Capriotti, P. — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:28:33 PDT

Businesses play an important social role in society that goes beyond their traditional economic role. The way in which these roles are carried out and communicated to the stakeholders can influence the company's corporate reputation. The first step in constructing a corporate reputation is corporate visibility. The mass media plays an important role in developing corporate visibility. Media visibility has a significant influence on public opinion and contributes strongly to forming companies' corporate reputation. The main aim of this article is to test the level of visibility of companies in the media as well as the attributes (economic and/or social) assigned to the companies. The author presents the results of the research done on the media visibility of companies belonging to the Spanish Stock Exchange in the four most important newspapers in Spain. Two basic results were obtained: Larger companies, with good reputations and oriented to mass consumption, have more visibility in newspapers, and companies are basically presented as economic and not social actors in society.

A Conceptual Model for Organizational Citizenship Behavior Directed Toward the Environment

Daily, B. F., Bishop, J. W., Govindarajulu, N. — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:28:33 PDT

This article extends the literature of organizational citizenship behavior in the context of environmental efforts. The authors provide support for the development of the construct, organizational citizenship behavior directed toward the environment (OCBE). They define OCBE as environmental efforts that are discretionary acts, within the organizational setting, not rewarded or required from the organization. This study also identifies key determinants of OCBE, including environmental concern, organizational commitment, perceived supervisory support for environmental efforts, and perceived corporate social performance. Directions for further research and implications for managers are provided.

How Politically Correct Is Political Correctness?: A SWOT Analysis of This Phenomenon

Marques, J. F. — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:28:33 PDT

Political correctness (PC) seems to have exploded beyond all expectations in view of the weight that is currently attributed to this phenomenon in some societies on the globe. Indeed, PC can be considered an important factor in determining the success of an individual or group. At the same time, an "overdose" of PC, as with any other aspect of life, can lead to devastating effects. In this article a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of PC will be presented with the intention of revealing the positive as well as the negative sides of this phenomenon as well as the proper value that should be attributed to PC.

Editorial Announcement

Windsor, D. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:00:55 PST

From the Editor

Windsor, D. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:00:55 PST

To What Extent Is Business and Society Literature Idealistic?

Dentchev, N. A. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:00:55 PST

The purpose of this article is to investigate to what extent is business and society literature idealistic as it advocates the adoption of high moral norms for business performance. The author discusses the central theses of mainstream themes in this literature—corporate social responsibility, corporate social responsiveness, social issues, corporate social performance, stakeholder management, corporate citizenship, business ethics, sustainable development, and corporate sustainability—and evaluates their descriptive accuracy, normative validity, and instrumental power. Poor description of reality, underdeveloped business logic, and questionable prescriptions are indicative of the idealism of these themes. This study reveals many realistic and achievable propositions, which dilute the concern that business and society literature is idealistic. However, three elements in the field—its (rhetorical) criticism of corporate conduct, the predominantly normative notions of its concepts, and its underdeveloped instrumental ideas—underline its idealistic orientation.

Collective Versus Individualist National Cultures: Comparing Taiwan and U.S. Employee Attitudes Toward Unethical Business Practices

Sims, R. L. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:00:55 PST

The business environment has increasingly expanded outside single nations or regions of the world to encompass many differing countries. Along with this expansion come business opportunities and challenges when facing business practices and attitudes not so similar to our own. In studying how these national cultural differences affect ethical decision making, managers and employees alike gain an understanding and respect for those differing business practices. This study considers the national cultural dimension of collectivism versus individualism. Survey data were gathered from 252 full-time employees working in the collective country of Taiwan and the individualist country of the United States of America. Results indicate that employees from the collective culture of Taiwan are more likely to indicate they would make an unethical decision that benefits the organization and less likely to openly question an unethical practice by their organization. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Private Management and Public Opinion: Corporate Social Responsiveness Revisited

Vallentin, S. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:00:55 PST

This article presents a conceptual exploration of public opinion (PO) from the point of view of corporate social responsiveness (CSR₂). The proposed PO-CSR₂ framework encompasses four complementary means of framing public opinion: the philosophy of measurement of the market view (PO1); the action theory of the mobilization view (PO2); the negative, constraining mode of the social control view (PO3); and the proactive stance of the strategic enactment view (PO4). The article unfolds the particular characteristics of these four views and shows how they, individually and in conjunction, can serve as useful tools for understanding and analyzing corporate social responsiveness. Far from being a narrow concept that focuses attention mainly on the popular—and, some would say, superficial—aspects of responsiveness, the author argues that public opinion is a concept that embodies variety and provides a multifaceted point of departure for reflections on the relationship between business and society.

Corporate Social Responsibility Orientation, Goals, and Behavior: A Study of Small Business Owners

Burton, B. K., Goldsby, M. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:00:55 PST

Corporate social responsibility orientation (CSRO) remains an important topic of researchers. However, one aspect of CSRO that has not been well researched is how it relates to behaviors and goals of managers. In this article, the authors explore that relationship, testing whether emphasis on a particular domain of social responsibility affects time spent dealing with specific stakeholder groups and whether firm size affects that relationship. Results from a survey of small business owners indicate that the emphasis a manager places on a domain does affect behavior and that firm size has little impact on this relationship. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Vices and Virtues of Corporate Political Activity: The Challenge of International Business

Mantere, S., Pajunen, K., Lamberg, J.-A. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:00:55 PST

The authors give a critical reading of the research interests of state-of-the-art corporate political activity (CPA) literature. They demonstrate that a noncritical tendency in the literature to view CPA as a strategic activity, aimed at making profit, may encourage firms to sociopathic behavior in their political activities. Using psychiatric literature, the authors explore the nature of sociopathic CPA. They draw on a recent discussion initiated by virtue theorists, exploring firm moral agency in order to suggest the opening of several new research areas, within CPA literature, more sensitive to moral questions.

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Business & Society: Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Sustainability

Editors, G., Orlitzky, M., Siegel, D., Waldman, D. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:00:55 PST