CSR NEWS | csr-literature.net - the online bibliography in business ethics http://csr-news.net/literature/ (c) Wietse Balkema, Arthur van Bunningen, Hendri Hondorp, Dennis Reidsma This article explores the issue of rebuilding an organization's reputation following an ethical scandal. We divide our discussion into four parts. First, we discuss the concept of reputation. We note its relevance to today's organizations, offer several contemporary definitions along with highlighting its benefits and downsides. In the second section, we offer the work of anthropologist, Victor Turner, on social drama along with other views on organizational efforts to rebuild their reputation to include reputation management routines. In the third section, Turner's redressive actions are integrated with Edgar Schein's leadership mechanisms for building or changing culture to provide further understanding of organizational efforts to rebuild reputation following ethical scandals. Finally, in the fourth section of the article, we extend the integration of the Turner and Schein work with single- and double-loop redressive actions for rebuilding reputation. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14167 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Without complete and accurate status information, a project manager's ability to monitor progress, allocate resources effectively, and detect and respond to problems is greatly diminished, and this can lead to impaired project performance. Many different factors can contribute to intentional misreporting of status information by project members to the project manager. In this study, the impact of organizational ethical climate was assessed through the analysis of responses from 228 project members drawn from a variety of ongoing information systems projects. Our results revealed that project members who perceived their organization to be one in which rules are followed strictly tended to misreport less, while those operating in an environment dominated by personal self-interest tended to misreport more. Somewhat surprisingly, the existence of a caring, team-spirited environment did not appear to have an impact on misreporting behaviors. Implications for researchers and project managers are discussed. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14166 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST In the wake of the current financial crises triggered by risky mortgage-backed securities, the question of ethics and risk-taking is once again at the front and center for both practitioners and academics. Although risk-taking is considered an integral part of strategic decision-making, sometimes firms could be propelled to take risks driven by reasons other than calculated strategic choices. The authors argue that a firm's risk-taking propensity is impacted by its ethical climate (egoistic or benevolent) and its emphasis on output control to manage its marketing function. The firm's long-term orientation is argued to moderate the control–risk propensity relationship. The authors also extend research on risk and performance and argue that the association of risk-taking propensity and firm performance is contingent on the ownership (publicly traded versus privately held) structure of the firm. Based on survey data from a sample of manufacturing industries in the United States, the results show significant impact of ethical climate and marketing output control on a firm's risk-taking propensity; also risk-taking propensity shows a stronger association with firm performance in privately held firms than in publicly traded firms. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14165 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Socially responsible investing identifies the fiduciary duty and liability for financial advisors serving individual and institutional clients when consulting in the SRI space. This article first discusses the role of a fiduciary emerging from both a legal and an ethical basis. Further, the special aspects of maintaining fiduciary duty and minimizing fiduciary liability are described as they relate to SRI. A number of recommendations are discussed: legal, ethical, and practice. This study argues that prudence focuses more on the process of decisions rather than their outcomes, as measured exclusively by rate of return. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14164 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and pressure groups have taken up the mission of counterbalancing the huge power of the multinational corporations. Curiously, while most NGOs have a sincere ethical background and a genuine ethical motivation, the way some activist groups and NGOs themselves act does not always live up to the principles they advocate. Research using a multiple case study methodology is used to provide an illustration of various questionable practices followed by pressure groups revealing a range of tactics. The concerns, the objectives and the legitimacy of NGOs and activist groups will be discussed, along with their strategies and tactics. A framework will be developed as a basis for analysing the ethical aspects of the various NGO actions. The analysis of the cases will reveal some worrisome inconsistencies between the demands and the practices of NGOs and activist groups. Should not the means employed by activists and NGOs be consistent with their own espoused or implied values? As power gives responsibility, NGOs should be seen as having corporate stakeholder responsibility. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14163 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST The ethical governance of the global Internet is an accelerating global phenomenon. A key paradox of the global Internet is that it allows individual and collective decision making to co-exist with each other. Open source software (OSS) communities are a globally accelerating phenomenon. OSS refers to groups of programs that allow the free use of the software and further the code sharing to the general and corporate users of the software. The combination of private provision and public knowledge and software, and the seeming paradox of economic versus social motivations have stimulated a wide debate between researchers and policymakers. In this article, we analyze OSS communities from the viewpoint of 'intrinsic motivation' knowledge creation, and collective Internet governance. We believe that the growth of global OSS has fundamental implications for business ethics and the governance of the global Internet in the twenty-first century. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14162 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST We examine enforcement action in China's emerging markets by focusing on (1) the agents that impose this action and (2) the role played by supervisory boards. Using newly available databases, we find that supervisory boards play an active role when Chinese listed companies face enforcement action. Listed firms with larger supervisory boards are more likely to have more severe sanctions imposed upon them by the China Security Regulatory Commission, and listed companies that face more severe enforcement actions have more supervisory board meetings. Our findings are of interest, as supervisory boards in China are generally perceived to be dysfunctional. This study contributes to the existing literature in three ways. First, we shed light on the effects of supervisory boards whose role in a fraud setting has not yet been examined. Second, the study has important policy implications for governance reform. Finally, our analyses provide the most up-to-date picture of fraud and governance issues in China's ever-growing markets. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14161 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Leadership which lacks ethical conduct can be dangerous, destructive, and even toxic. Ethical leadership, though well discussed in the literature, has been tested empirically as a construct in very few studies. An empirical investigation of ethical leadership in Singapore's construction industry is reported. It is found that ethical leadership is positively and significantly associated with transformational leadership, transformational culture of organization, contingent reward dimension of transactional leadership, leader effectiveness, employee willingness to put in extra effort, and employee satisfaction with the leader. However, it is also found that ethical leadership bears no correlations with transactional leadership. Also, it is negatively correlated with laissez-faire leadership and transactional culture of the organization. The findings also reveal that ethical leadership plays a mediating role in the relationship between employee outcomes and organizational culture. Practical implications of these findings are discussed. Directions for future research are also suggested. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14160 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST There has recently been a reappraisal of value in UK construction and calls from a wide range of influential individuals, professional institutions and government bodies for the industry to exceed stakeholders' expectations and develop integrated teams that can deliver world class products and services. As such value is certainly topical, but the importance of values as a separate but related concept is less well understood. Most construction firms have well-defined and well-articulated values, expressed in annual reports and on websites; however, the lack of rigorous and structured approaches published within construction management research and the practical, unsupported advice on construction institution websites may indicate a shortfall in the approaches used. This article reviews and compares the content and structure of some of the most widely used values approaches, and discusses their application within the construction sector. One of the most advanced and empirically tested theories of human values is appraised, and subsequently adopted as a suitable approach to eliciting and defining shared organisational values. Three studies within six construction organisations demonstrate the potential application of this individually grounded approach to reveal and align the relative values priorities of individuals and organisations to understand the strength of their similarity and difference. The results of these case studies show that this new universal values structure can be used along with more qualitative elicitation techniques to understand organisational cultures. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14159 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Globalization theories posit organizational convergence, suggesting that Codes of Ethics will become commonplace and include greater consideration of global issues. This study explores the degree to which the Codes of Ethics of 157 corporations on the Global 500 and/or Fortune 500 lists include the 'third generation' of corporate social responsibility. Unlike first generation ethics, which focus on the legal context of corporate behavior, and second generation ethics, which locate responsibility to groups directly associated with the corporation, third generation ethics transcend both the profit motive and the immediate corporate environment. Third generation ethics are grounded in responsibilities to the larger interconnected environment. The results of the study suggest convergence, insofar as Codes of Ethics are becoming standard communication features of corporations across region and industrial sector but still manifest a primary concern with profits and those behaviors which are mandated by law. Only corporations headquartered in the European Union demonstrate a significant degree of global consciousness and reflexivity. However, there is some evidence that third generation ethics and thinking are becoming part of the corporate landscape. More then three quarters of the corporations made at least some reference to third generation ethics. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14158 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14157 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14156 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14155 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14154 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14153 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST 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. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14152 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST 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. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14151 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST The article offers information on the publication policy for the special issue of the "Business & Society" journal concentrating on a new theory applicable for global business firms. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14150 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST 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. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14149 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST 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. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14148 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST 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. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14147 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses an article on the role of organizational identity characteristics on how organizations respond to negative evaluation by external stakeholders, one on stock market reaction to Fair Labor Association (FLA) monitoring reports, and a theory development article proposing a community citizenship model. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14146 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST The article offers information on the policies of electronic publication "Business & Society." +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14145 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST The article offers information on the publication policy for the special issue of the "Business & Society" journal concentrating on the concept of climate change. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14144 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST The article offers information on the publication policy for the special issue of the "Business & Society" journal concentrating on the concept of united nations global compact. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14143 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST 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. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14142 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Prior research suggests that corporate credibility is associated with firm financial performance in developed countries. This article examines whether corporate credibility is related to firm performance using Economic Observer’s rating of corporate credibility in China, the largest emerging market in the world. Based on a four-stage valuation model, we find that more reputable and credible firms outperform those with low ratings by almost 20% in 3-year stock returns and have better 3-year net profit margins, return on equity, and sales growth. This study is the first to directly examine the relationship between corporate credibility and firm performance in emerging markets such as China, and our results confirm that firms with high credibility exhibit better financial and market performance at least in the following 3 years. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14141 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST In exploring corporate perceptions of the business case for supplier diversity (SD), this paper reports on a cross-national study of large purchasing organisations (LPOs) that had introduced, or were in the process of introducing, purchasing initiatives aimed at ethnic minority businesses (EMBs). The research investigates how LPOs portray the benefits of this form of socially responsible purchasing and suggests a business case construct based on four component elements. It also highlights a number of contextual factors that appear to have shaped business case rationales. The paper concludes with a discussion of issues of cost and contingent influences affecting SD programmes and points to possible areas for future research. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14140 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Due to the development of information technology, music piracy has become an escalating problem. This study attempts to employ the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the social identity theory to investigate the antecedents of downloading pop music illegally from the Internet, the relationship between the intention to illegally download music and the intention to buy music, and the moderating effects of idolatry. Data were collected from 350 teenagers in Northern Taiwan through questionnaire interviews conducted in city centers where teenagers gather. The results of partial least squares (PLS) analyses reconfirm the explanatory power of the TPB model with regard to the pop music illegal downloading behavior. However, it is interesting to note that the intention to illegally download music does not have a significant influence on the intention to buy music. This finding contradicts our common intuitions. Further analyses also reveal that idolatry moderates the relationship between the intention to illegally download music and the intention to buy music. For teenagers with high idolatry, a higher music downloading intention results in a lower buying intention. One possible explanation is the price of music CDs. Several interviews were also held to verify our results. Implications and a discussion are then provided. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14139 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST A number of business ethics theorist have highlighted the potential for economics to contribute to the advancement of business ethics. In response, this article emphasizes the insights of a particular area of economics that could provide such expansion and development. Subjectivist economics may yet provide an effective analytical framework through which to investigate and evaluate business decision making, and hence the ethics of business. Integrating the concepts of uncertainty, time and imagination, subjectivist economic theory contributes to a greater appreciation of economic choice and behaviour. While such notions are often effectively omitted from modern economic analysis to aid formal representation, business ethicists could utilize such concepts more effectively than their colleagues in economic theory. Significantly, the well-known economists who have championed the insights of subjectivist economics have themselves recommended its extension to an analysis of ethics. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14138 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST This essay attempts to establish an alternative and more accurate way of thinking about the modern business corporation, its role in society, and its frequently sociopathic behavior. It proposes that corporations as they currently exist are a product of rationalist, positivist thought of the nineteenth century, and have in recent decades emerged from their increasingly complex conditions of existence into autonomous, self-regulating entities that can best be described as cyber-corporations or cybercorps. The cybercorp, as an emergent being, is capable of acting on the (human) subsystems from which it has emerged, determining their behavior. Human individuality, and in particular individual ethical sensibility, is sacrificed to the organizational culture of the cybercorp in a way that is analogous to the life-experience of ants in a colony. The pertinent organizational culture and its values are hegemonic and can be effectively challenged only if their source in the cybercorp is clearly recognized. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14137 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST As a result of recent corporate scandals, several rules have focused on the role played by Boards of Directors on the planning and monitoring of corporate codes of ethics. In theory, outside directors are in a better position than insiders to protect and further the interests of all stakeholders because of their experience and their sense of moral and legal obligations. Female directors also tend to be more sensitive to ethics according to several past studies which explain this affirmation by early gender socialization, the fact that women are thought to place a greater emphasis on harmonious relations and the fact that men and women use different ethical frameworks in their judgments. The goal of this paper is to determine the influence of these characteristics of the Board in terms of promoting and hindering the creation of a code of ethics. Our findings show that a greater number of female directors does not necessarily lead to more ethical companies. Moreover, within Europe as a continent, board ownership leads to an entrenchment of upper-level management, generating a divergence between the ethical interests of owners and managers. In light of this situation, the presence of independent directors is necessary to reduce such conflicts. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14136 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST This article presents the results of a study that analysed whether social responsibility had any bearing on the decision making of institutional investors. Being that institutional investors prefer socially aligned organizations, this study explored to what extent the corporate actions and/or social/environmental investments influenced their decisions. Our results suggest that there are specific variables that affect the perceived value of the organization, leading to decisions to not only invest, but whether to hold or sell the shares, and therefore having a consequential impact on the capital market's valuation. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14135 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Literature on ethical behavior has paid little attention to the mechanism between macro- environmental variables and environmental performance. This study aims at constructing a model to examine the␣relationships which link cultural values, population growth, economic development, and environmental performance by incorporating the mediating role of education. The multiple linear regression model was employed to test the hypotheses on a 3-year-pooled sample of 51 countries. Empirical results conclude that national culture, economic development, and population growth would significantly influence environmental performance directly. In addition, through the mediating effect of education, population growth and national culture would significantly affect environmental performance indirectly. These findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for constructing the mechanism of cultural values and ethical behavior in general and environmental management in particular. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14134 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST In this conceptual article, we look at the impact of culture on ethical decision making from a Douglasian Cultural Theory (CT) perspective. We aim to show how CT can be used to explain the diversity and dynamicity of ethical beliefs and behaviours found in every social system, be it a corporation, a nation or even an individual. We introduce CT in the context of ethical decision making and then use it to discuss examples of business ethics in the Indian business context. We argue that the use of CT allows for a theoretically more sophisticated treatment of culture in ethical decision making and thus the avoidance of some common problems with existing cross-cultural studies of business ethics. In our discussion, we raise questions about the compatibility between management systems and processes created in one context and ethical behaviours in another. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14133 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Social values and beliefs systems are playing an increasingly influential role in shaping the attitudes and behavior of individuals and organizations towards the employment relationship. Many individuals seek a broader meaning in their work that will let them feel that they are contributing to the broader community. For many organizations, a willingness to behave ethically and assume responsibility for social and environmental consequences of their activities has become essential to maintaining their 'license to operate'. The appearance of these trends in individual and organizational behavior towards outcomes that are more explicitly congruent with ethical and social values has significant implications for understanding the psychological contracts being created today. In this paper, we examine issues associated with the psychological contract and ethical standards of behavior, focusing on both the individual and organizational levels. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14132 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST This study examines a moderated/mediated model of ethical leadership on follower job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. We proposed that managers have the potential to be agents of virtue or vice within organizations. Specifically, through ethical leadership behavior we argued that managers can virtuously influence perceptions of ethical climate, which in turn will positively impact organizational members’ flourishing as measured by job satisfaction and affective commitment to the organization. We also hypothesized that perceptions of interactional justice would moderate the ethical leadership-to-climate relationship. Our results indicate that ethical leadership has both a direct and indirect influence on follower job satisfaction and affective commitment. The indirect effect of ethical leadership involves shaping perceptions of ethical climate, which in turn, engender greater job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. Furthermore, when interactional justice is perceived to be high, this strengthens the ethical leadership-to-climate relationship. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14131 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST The goal of this paper is to connect managerial behavior on the “agent-steward” scale to managerial moral development and motivation. I introduce agent- and steward-like behavior: the former is self-serving while the latter is others-serving. I suggest that managerial moral development and motivation may be two of the factors that may predict the tendency of managers to behave in a self-serving way (like agents) or to serve the interests of the organization (like stewards). Managers at low levels of moral development are more likely to behave like agents, while managers at higher levels of moral development are more likely to behave like stewards. I also argue that managers at the highest level of moral development may serve the interests of people other than the firm’s owners and thereby transfer wealth from the firm’s owners to third parties. Moral motivation is likely to be a factor that moderates the proposed relationships. Finally, I develop propositions that address the role of material incentives in controlling behavior of managers at different levels of moral development. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14130 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST This paper makes a contribution to ongoing debates about whether and how we can empirically assess the potential, limitations, and actual impacts of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in developing countries. Several United Nations and bilateral aid agencies have called for the development of impact assessment (IA) methodologies that can help clarify when, how, where, and for whom partnerships work. This paper scrutinizes some of the key assumptions underlying this debate, arguing that no objective 'truth' about the effects of PPPs can be discovered through the use of such methodologies. The paper then investigates what can actually be known about a PPP's effects by testing a PPP IA framework that is recommended by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This is done using a case study from Pakistan. The paper shows that IA methodology may provide an indication of how well a PPP has fared, but not why the PPP has turned out the way it has. At the same time, win-win and win-lose outcomes may exist simultaneously, even for the same stakeholder in the PPP. While the importance of ensuring proper design, monitoring, and IA of PPPs cannot be denied, their effects must be seen as an outcome of struggles between a variety of actors over the distribution of social and environmental hazards associated with broader processes of economic development and industrialization. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14129 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Approaches to business ethics can be roughly divided into two streams: 'codes of behavior' and 'forms of subjectification', with code-oriented approaches clearly dominating the field. Through an elaboration of poststructuralist approaches to moral philosophy, this paper questions the emphasis on codes of behaviour and, thus, the conceptions of the moral and responsible subject that are inherent in rule-based approaches. As a consequence of this critique, the concept of a practice-based 'ethics of responsiveness' in which ethics is never final but rather always 'to come', is investigated. In such an approach the ethical self is understood as being continuously constituted within power/knowledge relations. Following this line, we ask how one can become a responsible subject while also acknowledging certain limits of full responsibility. We thereby explore responsibility as a considered but unconditional openness in response to the other. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14128 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST An advertiser develops visual associations of signs and symbols to create a product image that motivates consumers. Today is characterized by a solid consumer culture based on visual identity consumption that articulates and interacts with each consumer’s daily actions, words, and visual perceptions. The frequent use of female role portrayals and physical attractiveness in advertising contributes to an increase in society's awareness of women. Some scholars have developed an ethical discussion out of the phenomenon of female role portrayals not matching the public expectations because the portrayals are too narrowly defined and women are unfavorably depicted. But another group has studied the product-type match-up hypothesis, which emphasizes effectively employing attractive female endorsers that closely match the product type. The shift in female social status in Taiwan contributes to the importation of foreign ideas such as feminine values, rituals, and esthetics. Women in Taiwan have been introduced to a new feminism, a modified perception of appropriate personal appearance and behavior. This current research utilizes content analysis and in-depth interviews to explore contemporary female role portrayals in advertising. In addition, this article examines the relationship between the formation of contemporary physical attractiveness and visual consumption in advertising. The results reveal that most endorsers were celebrities, with fit bodies and pleasant expressions, portrayed as product users who offer personal experiences to deliver product knowledge. Conservation classical beauty was the most common depiction, while sexual expression was the least common. Finally, this article recommends that different types of beauty, posture, and appeal should be carefully selected to match domestic and foreign magazines' readers. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14127 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST From virtue ethics and interactionist perspectives, we hypothesized that personal justice norms (distributive and procedural justice norms) were shaped directly and multiplicatively by ethical dispositions (equity sensitivity and need for structure) and ethical climates (egoistic, benevolent, and principle climates). We collected multisource data from 123 companies in Hong Kong, with personal factors assessed by participants' self-reports and contextual factors by aggregations of their peers. In general, LISREL analyses with latent product variables supported the direct and multiplicative relationships. Our findings could lay the groundwork for justice research from a morality perspective in future. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14126 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Despite growing interest in examining the role of religion in business ethics, there is little consensus concerning the basis or standards of 'good' or ethical behavior and the reasons behind them. This limits our ability to enhance ethical behavior in the workplace. We address this issue by examining worldviews as it relates to ethics research and practice. Our worldview forms the context within which we organize and build our understanding of reality. Given that much of our academic work as well as business practice operate from a modern worldview, we examine how modernism shapes our beliefs and approaches to ethics in business and academia. We identify important limitations of modernism in addressing moral issues and religion. We then introduce the Christian worldview as an alternative approach to examining ethical issues in business +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14125 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST Prior research has examined several ethical questions related to executive compensation. The issues that have received most attention are whether executives’ pay is fair and justified by performance. Since more recent studies show that stock options grants constitute the single largest component in executive compensation, we examine the relations of these grants to economic determinants and corporate governance for firms in the stagnant stage of their lifecycle. We find that, on average, stock options grants comprise a significant portion of annual CEO compensation (26.4%) for stagnant firms. We also find that economic (corporate governance) factors explain less (or more) of the cross-sectional variation in stock options grants for stagnant firms than for growth firms. Furthermore, we document lower pay-performance sensitivity (i.e., weaker incentive alignment) and no improvement in future firm performance from past stock options grants to CEOs of stagnant firms. In particular, our study provides empirical evidence on some inefficiencies associated with stock options grants to CEOs of low potential (stagnant) firms, a long-standing concern of business ethics researchers (Moriarty, ; Nichols and Subramaniam, ; Perel, ). Our results also provide support for the corporate governance reforms discussed in Matsumura and Shin (), especially those proposed provisions that curtail the power of CEOs in the governance of firms. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14124 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, members of the Salamanca School engaged in a sustained and sophisticated discussion of the issue of just prices. This article uses their contribution as a point of departure for a consideration of justice in pricing which will be relevant to current-day circumstances. The key theses of members of this school were that fairness of exchanges should be assessed objectively, that the fair price of an article is one equal to its 'value', and that the best indicator of that value is the price that article commonly fetches in an open market. This article tries to bring to light the attractiveness of those views in order to guide current practice by contrasting them with alternative views, showing their connection with intuitively attractive basic standards, and linking them to commonly shared intuitions. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14123 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST The role of uncertainty within an organization's environment features prominently in the business ethics and management literature, but how corporate investment decisions should proceed in the face of uncertainties relating to the natural environment is less discussed. From the perspective of ecological economics, the salience of ecology-induced issues challenges management to address new types of uncertainties. These pertain to constraints within the natural environment as well as to institutional action aimed at conserving the natural environment. We derive six areas of ecology-induced uncertainties and propose ecology-driven real options as a conceptual approach for systematically incorporating these uncertainties into strategic management. We combine our results in an integrative investment framework and illustrate its application with the case of carbon constraints. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14122 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST The number of distributors selling Fair Trade products is constantly increasing. What are their motivations to distribute Fair Trade products? How do they organise this distribution? Do they apply and communicate the Fair Trade values? This research, based on five case studies in Switzerland, aims at understanding and structuring the strategies and the managerial practices related to Fair Trade product distribution, as well as analysing if they denote an engagement with Fair Trade principles. The results show a high heterogeneity of strategies and engagement. In general, strategies implemented by mainstream actors contribute to increase Fair Trade global sales but do not convey the transformative message of Fair Trade through their engagement. The latter is rather communicated through alternative channels. Problems and potential solutions to this issue are discussed. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14121 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST The article offers information on the International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management conference to be held in Paris, France on July 8-10, 2010. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14120 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST This paper explores moral sensitivity in a learning perspective, and a framework is developed for the understanding of how moral sensitivity can be developed through reiterative problem solving in the face of diverse ethical problems. Factors that may inhibit the individual's ability to conceive of moral issues are discussed, and perspectives from moral psychology are integrated with theory on problem formulation. It is argued that (1) the individual's moral sensitivity is pivotal for ethical problem solving, because problem formulation is paramount for further reflection and behaviour; (2) ethical behaviour must be understood both (a) in terms of the individual's psychological make-up that determines psychological response to moral features and (b) in terms of external constraints on the individual's moral sensitivity; and (3) the development of moral sensitivity can be promoted by actively and consciously pursuing disciplined imagination in multi-perspective formulations of problems. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14119 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST A response by Paul Gibbs to a letter to the editor about his article "Gibbs and the Problems of Satisfaction and Well-Being" in the 2004 issue is presented. +++ Further information are available at csr-literature.net http://csr-news.net/literature/index.php?page=publication&kind=single&ID=14118 Wed, 05 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST