Showing papers in "Business & Society in 2002"

A Social Actor Conception of Organizational Identity and Its Implications for the Study of Organizational Reputation

Abstract: The objective of this article is to clarify the conceptual domains of organizational identity, image, and reputation. To initiate this theory development process, we present a “social actor” conception of organizational identity. Identity-congruent definitions of image and reputation are then specified and an integrated model proposed. With the aid of this model, a structural flawin the organizational reputation literature is identified and suitable remedies proposed. In addition, the authors explore the implications of invoking identity and identification in explanations and justifications of organizational reputation.

Exploringthe Relationship Between Corporate Social Performance and Employer Attractiveness

Abstract: Building on existing studies suggesting that corporate social performance (CSP) is important in the job choice process, the authors investigate job seekers’perceptions of importance of CSP and expl...

Measuring Corporate Reputation Definition and Data

Abstract: By examining existing definitions and data sets, this article explores the current state of efforts intended to measure corporate reputation. Both definitions and data are found to be lacking, and it is argued that many deficiencies in definition and data can be attributed to the fact that theory development related to corporate reputation has been insufficient.

Corporate reputation: a research agenda using strategy and stakeholder literature

Abstract: This article explores three literature bases in some depth: strategy, stakeholder/ social issues, and the newly emergingworks in reputation. The focus is on the potential research and practical ove...

The Role of Moral Intensity in Ethical Decision Making A Review and Investigation of Moral Recognition, Evaluation, and Intention

Abstract: An empirical investigation found that the dimensions of moral intensity were related to the recognition of moral issues, moral evaluations (i.e., utilitarian, deontological, procedural, and distrib...

Strategic Issues Management: Implications for Corporate Performance

Abstract: This dissertation abstract assesses whether strategic issues management activities contribute anythingworthwhile to corporate performance by reporting two studies on the issues management strategies of Dutch food firms during the recent introduction of genetically modified ingredients. The first study applied grounded theory methods to assess which issues management activities were used most prominently by industry incumbents. The results indicated that in the present setting, companies most significantly relied on stakeholder integration techniques and capability development. The second study used survey data to link these activities to a broad array of organizational outcome variables. The data showed that the adoption of issues management activities positively influenced firm competitiveness as well as the relative standing of firms among their peers.

Does Size Matter?:Organizational Slack and Visibility as Alternative Explanations for Environmental Responsiveness

Abstract: Does size matter in explaining firms’ environmental responsiveness? Are large corporations more likely to engage with green issues for fear of losing stakeholder support? Are bigger companies greener because they have more resources to devote to environmental problems? Environmental management researchers routinely include company size in empirical studies of environmental responsiveness, but with mixed empirical results. This thesis argues that explaining the ambiguous relationship between organization size and environmental responsiveness depends on disaggregation. Researchers should examine alternative explanations for the size-responsiveness relationship, different levels of analysis, and distinct types of environmental responsiveness. As organizations have increasingly engaged with environmental issues throughout the 1990s, researchers have generated more and more empirical studies on the predictors of environmental responsiveness. Firms are environmentally responsive to different degrees because of, among others, institutional pressures, internal organizational attributes such as organizational structure or capabilities, managerial characteristics, or costbenefit considerations.

Governance and Corporate Philanthropy: Restraining Robin Hood?

Abstract: Although corporate decision makers may justify charitable contributions on strategic grounds, extremely large corporate philanthropic contributions may beperceived by shareholders as unnecessary. I...

Stakeholder Integration: Building Mutually Enforcing Relationships

Abstract: This study examines the central contention of instrumental stakeholder theory— namely, that firms that breed trust-based, cooperative ties with their stakeholders will have a competitive advantage over firms that do not. Acase study of the introduction ofgenetically modified food products in the Netherlands provided the basis for the empirical analysis. The results support the instrumental stakeholder management thesis, showing that stakeholder integration, through the development ofmutually enforcing relationships with external parties, may result in both organizational learning and societal legitimacy.

Employing Normative Stakeholder Theory in Developing Countries: A Critical Theory Perspective

Abstract: Although the use of stakeholder analysis to investigate corporate responsibilities has burgeoned over the past two decades, there has been relatively little workon howcorporate responsibilities may change for firms with operations in developing countries This article argues, from a critical theory perspective, that two sets of factors tend to come together to increase the responsibilities of corporations active in developing countries to a full range of stakeholder groups: (a) the different (economic, political, and sociocultural) circumstances under which corporations have to operate in developing countries and (b) several key normative principles, which typically do not come into play in the context of developed countries

Reputation as an Emerging Construct in the Business and Society Field: An Introduction

Abstract: Reputation is a powerful concept for business, government, and nonprofit organizations, just as it is for individuals. Executives, administrators, external and internal stakeholders, critics, and supporters of organizations all use the concept of reputation routinely to evaluate and communicate their perceptions about organizations. Students, too, typically pay more attention when their teachers link scholarly theories and empirical studies to an organization’s reputation. Despite this high level of interest in reputation in the so-called real world, business and society scholars have not focused much explicit attention on the concept, except for Wartick (1992). The applied fields of strategic management (e.g., Fombrun, 1996; Fombrun & Shanley, 1990), marketing (e.g., Bromley, 1993; Dowling, 2001), and communication (e.g., Argenti, 1998; Morley, 1998) have developed conceptual definitions and empirical measures to a much greater extent. We wondered whether reputation is a relevant and useful construct to integrate more explicitly into theories about business and society relationships. One of the field’s central concepts, corporate social performance (Carroll, 1979; Wartick & Cochran, 1985; Wood, 1991), is a source of a firm’s reputation, and widespread consensus within the field is that managers should consider the expectations and judgments of various external and internal stakeholders when they make decisions. Many business and society scholars also conduct empirical studies of firm performance that use various sources of data that may reflect some aspects of reputation, such as survey data published in Fortune about the “most admired” corporations and evaluative data from Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini and the Investor Responsibility Research Center. These studies, reported in Wood and Jones (1995) , Margolis and Walsh (2001), and Orlitzky and Benjamin (2001), make occasional reference to reputation but do not explicitly explore the concept. An additional problem relates to limitations in the databases currently used for gathering information about social performance and whether they are adequate and comprehensive measures of a company’s reputation (e.g., Baucus, 1995; Brown & Perry, 1994, 1995;

Corporate Reputation Focusing the Zeitgeist

Abstract: This article identifies four themes that dominate the literature on corporate reputation and attempts to further distinguish the linkages between the concepts of identity, image, and reputation. Fo...

The End of South African Sanctions, Institutional Ownership, and the Stock Price Performance of Boycotted Firms: Evidence on the Impact of Social/Ethical Investing

Abstract: The authors studied the impact of social-ethical investing on firms targeted during the South African boycott. Findings indicate that the average percentage of institutional ownership of the stocks of the firms with equity interests in South Africa increased at a significantly greater rate than the rest of the market following the end of sanctions. Using event study methodology, the authors find that these stocks significantly outperform the market in this period. This study provides evidence of the stockmark et impact of social-ethical investing and of a positive relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance as measured in stockmarket returns.

Corporate Welfare, Corporate Citizenship, and the Question of Accountability

Abstract: Researchers in the business and society area have yet to address corporations that receive special government subsidies (a.k.a. corporate welfare). This article makes the argument that given their subsidized status, the citizenship of those companies warrants scrutiny, tests the common notion that large companies in particular industries derive the greatest benefit from corporate welfare, and determines what, if any, relationship corporate welfare has with corporate citizenship. Results show that large companies in particular industries are the most likely recipients of corporate welfare. In addition, corporations that receive corporate welfare demonstrate levels of corporate citizenship, which, after controlling for size, are not significantly different from companies that receive no such subsidies.

Determinants of Foreign Trade Mission Participation An Analysis of Corporate Political and Trade Activities

Abstract: The selection process for firm participation on foreign trade missions during the Clinton administration has received much attention. Although critics said seats were exchanged for political contributions, government officials argued they selected internationally competitive firms capable of leveraging the contacts the mission provided. This article provides empirical evidence consistent with both claims. Firms with high levels off oreign trade competency were almost six times more likely to be chosen for participation than firms with little international experience, whereas firms making large soft money donations were five times more likely to be chosen for participation than firms making no soft money donations.

Firm-Stakeholder Networks: Organizational Response to External Influence and Organizational Philosophy

Abstract: The role of the corporation in society is continually evaluated in a search for the balance between conduct aimed at maximizing economic profit and conduct aimed at maximizing social welfare. In this age of the postindustrial enterprise, theorists of firm behavior have suggested that the firm should be subject to forces of society, not separate from them. Although laws and regulations have delineated specific standards for compliance with societal expectations, voluntary compliance with societal expectations is an enigmatic phenomenon. Predicated on the unstable ground of ethical and instrumental rationales, the mechanisms that compel the firm to consider societal interests are not well understood. It is the goal of this study to examine the conditions that generate firm efforts to respond to societal interests. These interests are represented by particular groups called stakeholders. The conditions are derived from social influence external to the firm and from the philosophy held by the firm’s top management. This leads to the following questions:

Corporate Involvement in Community Economic Development The Role of U.S. Business Education

Abstract: This article reports a study of how leading U.S. business schools incorporate one important dimension of corporate citizenship—corporate involvement in community economic development (CI/CED)—in their curricula and programs. Corporate citizenship, or social responsibility, is shown to have several important and unexpected locations in business education. In addition, the authors develop a rationale forwhy and howspecific topics such as CI/CED as well as the general topic of corporate citizenship are appropriate for business school attention.

The Maintenance of an Organization’s Socially Responsible Practice A Cross-Level Framework

Abstract: The maintenance of an organization’s socially responsible practice is explained by linking perspectives within a cross-level framework. The proposed framework incorporates research on the institutional environment (societal level), organizational identity (organizational level), and champions’ tactics (individual level). Under different institutional environmental conditions, organizational identity and champions’tactics are posited to be differentially effective in supporting a socially responsible practice. The theoretical framework presented is suggestive of directions for empirical work on the maintenance of firms’ socially responsible practices and offers suggestions to managers regarding ways of compensating for conditions that otherwisewould weaken the maintenance ofa socially responsible practice.

Reframing organizational misconduct: A study of deceptive sales practices at a major life insurance company

Abstract: This research examines organizational misconduct from a symbolic interactionist perspective, providing theoretical and empirical insights into the mechanisms underlying the cause-and-effect relationships posited by the dominant, pressure/ opportunity model of organizational misconduct. Findings from this research both support and extend the pressure/opportunity model of organizational misconduct. In support of the dominant model, it confirms that environmental and organizational factors do create pressures and opportunities that drive organizational misconduct. However, these findings suggest that pressure and opportunity are mediated by embedded organizational frames that have the potential to normalize (or potentially demonize) organizational misconduct.

Private Investment, Entrepreneurial Entry, and Partner Collaboration in Emerging Markets Telecommunications The Impact of Country, Industry, and Firm-Level Factors

Abstract: Private participation in infrastructure is a relatively newphenomenon in the developing world (World Bank, 1999). In telecommunications, electric power, water, and other sectors, developing countries are turning to private sector investors to help increase availability, improve access, and move toward market-based pricing of resources and services. The findings of this dissertation demonstrate that the governance, mode of entry, and mix of public and private ownership of infrastructure projects are influenced by country-level economic, institutional, and technological factors, and by investing firms’ ownership structures and strategies.