Since the end of the 1990s, sustainability reporting has become an increasingly relevant topic in business and academia. However, literature is still limited in quantity and no major reviews of the latest developments have thus far been presented. This paper provides a review of 178 articles dating from 1999 to 2011 from journals related to business, management, and accounting. Our aim is to identify what determinants of sustainability reporting are examined in the literature and to identify (in)consistencies, gaps, and opportunities for future research. We specifically illuminate factors influencing the adoption, the extent, and the quality of reporting. Based on our findings we provide an otherwise often missing link to theory (especially legitimacy, stakeholder, signaling, and institutional theory). Finally, possible future research themes are discussed by illuminating gaps and underexposed themes in the area of regulation and governance as well as reporting quality and stakeholder perception.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2330264_code1468472.pdf?abstractid=2290524&mirid=4

Determinants of Sustainability Reporting: A Review of Results, Trends, Theory, and Opportunities in an Expanding Field of Research

Determinants of sustainability reporting: a review of results, trends, theory, and opportunities in an expanding field of research

We show the relevance of extant international business (IB) research, and more specifically work on international human resources management (IHRM), to address COVID-19 pandemic challenges. Decision-makers in multinational enterprises have undertaken various types of actions to alleviate the impacts of the pandemic. In most cases these actions relate in some way to managing distance and to rethinking boundaries, whether at the macro- or firm-levels. Managing distance and rethinking boundaries have been the primary focus of much IB research since the IB field was established as a legitimate area of academic inquiry. The pandemic has led to increased cross-border distance problems (e.g., as the result of travel bans and reduced international mobility), and often also to new intra-firm distancing challenges imposed upon previously co-located employees. Prior IHRM research has highlighted the difficulties presented by distance, in terms of employee selection, training, support, health and safety, as well as leadership and virtual collaboration. Much of this thinking is applicable to solve pandemic-related distance challenges. The present, extreme cases of requisite physical distancing need not imply equivalent increases in psychological distance, and also offer firms some insight into the unanticipated benefits of a virtual workforce - a type of workforce that, quite possibly, will influence the 'new normal' of the post-COVID world. Extant IHRM research does offer actionable insight for today, but outstanding knowledge gaps remain. Looking ahead, we offer three domains for future IHRM research: managing under uncertainty, facilitating international and even global work, and redefining organizational performance.

/pdf/international-hrm-insights-for-navigating-the-covid-19-4eqc3zybu9.pdf

International HRM insights for navigating the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for future research and practice.

Few studies have investigated the range of issues considered important to the decision to move abroad for expatriates, particularly comparing the company-backed and self-initiated expatriate experiences. This study contributes to an important gap in current research about the drivers of both company-backed and self-initiated expatriation. It reveals details about the diverse motivations to undertake an expatriation and the similarities and differences between these two groups. Through a web-based study, the structure of the motivational components considered influential to the decision to move abroad was explored and quantitatively assessed. Principal component analysis (PCA) suggested an eight-factor model. Scales developed from the model highlighted significant differences between the motivations of the self-initiated and company-backed across three key areas. Location and host reputation motives were significantly more important to the self-initiated suggesting that the desire to move to a particular c...

Exploring the motives of company-backed and self-initiated expatriates

Provides future managers with information about human beings and their behaviour within the context of a business environment. The text includes issues such as how to motivate people, how to give them feedback on their performance, how to influence them and how to help them cope with stress.

Behavior in organizations : understanding and managing the human side of work / Jerlad Greenberg and Robert A. Baron

This paper argues that the notion of adjustment to careers involving international assignments needs to be developed further than the current literature reflects. An expatriate assignment is an expatriate's opportunity to build career capital and a company's opportunity to generate social and intellectual capital. The extent of the capital gains will depend considerably on the expatriate's adjustment during and after the assignment, which is influenced by the psychological contract. We argue that our understanding of the career impact of expatriation will be enhanced by a more refined picture of the adjustment that expatriates experience during the assignment and during repatriation. In particular, we examine adjustment as process rather than as event. We propose a broad conception of expatriate adjustment and its link to careers.

Capital gains: expatriate adjustment and the psychological contract in international careers

Purpose – This paper seeks to review and explore the relatively neglected notion of the adjustment of expatriate families to living abroad with the aim of developing a new model that can be used for future research.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on the few studies of the topic that have been carried out, but widens the search to include evidence from the related adjustment and family stress literature to create a new model of the process. Using the ideas of stressors, strains and hassles, capabilities, and shared meanings, the paper examines the situation of the expatriate family and explores how families can adjust to life in another country.Findings – By adopting a salutogenic approach and incorporating insights from these other literatures, the paper shows that family adaptation is a complex and many‐faceted process. It is a process that greater awareness on the part of the family and the organization can improve.Research limitations/implications – With the help of the model of family ad...

The expatriate family: an international perspective

A narrow and partial theoretical base has limited current concepts of expatriate adjustment and the research based upon them. This conceptual article explores one of the less theorized aspects of expatriate adjustment: the fact that it has multiple dimensions. We conceive of adjustment as a person-environment relationship that takes place in the three dimensions of cognitions, feelings, and behaviors. Combining these elements takes us one step closer to a comprehensive and more realistic understanding of the nature of expatriate adjustment. We include suggestions for future research that follow from our reconceptualization.

The Dimensions of Expatriate Adjustment

Recognizing the important role of self-initiated expatriates in effective global talent management

Purpose – The management literature on cross‐cultural adaptation has used a conceptualisation and measurement approach developed by Black and Stephens. Their work has led to significant development in the field. Now it is time to move beyond and use a more refined tool. This paper proposes such a tool and compares its characteristics with those of the older instrument.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a sample of 204 expatriates, who were surveyed using the older and the proposed instrument. It uses confirmatory factor analysis to compare the two instruments. Independent variables include cultural difference and language skills.Findings – This study demonstrates that a more refined measurement of adaptation outcomes, which distinguishes cognitive and affective factors and four non‐work facets, is superior to measurement based on the older instrument. The new scale also provides a case for the improvement of cross‐cultural adaptation theory.Research limitations/implications – The paper is...

Arno Haslberger

Papers

Capital gains: expatriate adjustment and the psychological contract in international careers

The expatriate family: an international perspective

The Dimensions of Expatriate Adjustment

Recognizing the important role of self-initiated expatriates in effective global talent management

Facets and dimensions of cross‐cultural adaptation:refining the tools