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Existing reviews of research on voluntary childlessness generally take the form of narrative summaries, focusing on main topics investigated over time. In this chapter, the authors extend previous literature reviews to conduct a systematic review and content analysis of socio-historical and geopolitical aspects of knowledge production about voluntary childlessness. The dataset comprised 195 peer-reviewed articles that were coded and analysed to explore, inter alia: the main topic under investigation; country location of authors; sample characteristics; theoretical framework and methodology. The findings are discussed in relation to the socio-historical contexts of knowledge production, drawing on theoretical insights concerned with the politics of location, representation and research practice. The shifts in the topics of research from the 1970s, when substantial research first emerged, uphold the view of voluntary childlessness as non-normative. With some regional variation, knowledge is dominated by quantitative, hard science methodologies and mostly generated about privileged, married women living in the global North. The implications of this for future research concerned with reproductive freedom are outlined.

The notion of organizations as gendered is not new yet critical gaps in the understanding of the processes responsible for the creation and maintenance of these gendered organizations still exist. Within the existing breadth and depth of feminist organizational scholarship an increasing number of researchers have been drawn to Joan Acker's notion of the “gendered substructure” as one of the more promising frameworks for analysis of the gendering of organizations. In this paper the authors seek to develop an analysis of Acker's gendered substructure through, and reflection on, its application.

Acker's framework of gendering processes is explored through a case study of the gendering of a single organization over time – Pan American World Airways (Pan Am). The authors' “reading” of the archival materials was informed by a combination of feminist poststructuralism, critical discourse analysis and critical hermeneutics.

Through an exploration of the roots of Acker's framework and its application to a case study of a single organization over time (Pan Am), the paper contends that its greatest potential lies in examining the four process sets – division of labor, workplace culture, social interactions and (self) reflection – through a fifth process of “organizational logic” that is seen as temporal and contextual. Drawing on poststructuralist feminist theory, it argues that organizational logic can be viewed through analyses of organizational, and organizationally based, discourses.

The paper argues that the (widely recognized) heuristic value of Joan Acker's “gendered substructure” has not been realized due to inconsistencies in its interpretation and application. This study engages Acker's framework in its entirety, as gendering processes do not exist in silos and are likely more interdependent than typically credited. The paper looks at the dynamics of, and between the five sets of, gendering processes.

The purpose of this article is to highlight inequalities created and sustained through gendered, raced, and classed organizational processes and practices using Joan Acker's work as a lens for perceiving the mechanisms that support such practices. It aims to use home health aide work as an example of how US labor laws and court decisions create and support disadvantages for workers who are largely economically‐disadvantaged and often women of color.

The article considers processes of inequality based on demographic characteristics and the resulting stereotyping, discrimination, and gender, race, and class inequalities.

The article finds that multiple intersecting processes of inequality exist in organizations, manifested in practices of stereotyping and discrimination for some job applicants and workers and advantageous positioning for certain others.

Future research should more specifically consider the effects of multiple processes of inequality on individuals' organizational experiences and the intersections of gender, race, and class (as well as other markers such as ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability) in organizational practices.

Managers and human resources practitioners should be aware of the effects of processes related to the intersectionality of gender, race, and class and work to eliminate resulting stereotyping and other discriminatory organizational practices linked to these processes in their organizations.

Identification of processes of inequality resulting in stereotyping and discrimination may help reduce them, thus increasing opportunities for work, wages, and benefits, and reducing poverty for members of the most devalued groups.

This research contributes to the literature on the intersecting nature of gender, race, and class‐based inequalities and on human resources decision making in organizations.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between sustainability reporting and firm value, and subsequently, ascertains the moderating effect of assurance and the type of assurer on the sustainability reporting–firm value nexus.

The study is based on sample firms from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa. The fixed‐effect panel data analysis method is used to estimate the coefficients of the variables.

A significant positive relationship is found between sustainability reporting and firm value. The results also suggest that sustainability assurance has significant explanatory power on firm value. Furthermore, the authors found that the market is unable to distinguish between sustainability assurance services provided by Big 4 audit firms and specialist consultant firms.

The authors expect managers will see sustainability reporting and assurance as a business strategy with incremental market value. The study should also serve as a reference for stakeholders engaged in the advocacy for the adoption of sustainability assurance practices on the JSE and other emerging markets.

The study finds that the South African market rewards firms that purchase third-party assurance to guarantee the integrity of their corporate social responsibility reports. This understanding could help encourage more firms to embrace the concept of sustainability assurance.

The study offers a first-hand information on how market participants in Johannesburg, an emerging economy, view sustainability assurance and the services provided by the different assurers.

The purpose of this article is to critically examine Joan Acker's notion of inequality regimes by applying it to the case of global nurse care chains (GNCCs). The article examines the organisational practices of GNCCs and how inequality barriers are practiced and legitimised.

The article is based on qualitative interviews with different institutional representatives involved in Filipino nurse recruitment to Finland (N = 25), recruited Filipino nurses (N = 20) and Filipino nurses working in Finland (N = 9).

The article demonstrates different organisational practices through which inequality regimes are created and sustained. These include the racialised construction of the Philippines as situated in the global periphery and functioning as a resource of labour for the global core and the Filipino nurse as innately more caring. The inequalities are legitimised through deskilling in which the nurses' command of Finnish language is a key form of justification. Filipino nurses' precarious legal status renders them compliant workers from an organisational perspective and vulnerable workers who fear to claim their rights as workers.

By discussing barriers to inequality, the article illustrates how inequalities in diverse workplaces and the undervaluing of nurse work could be addressed.

The article uniquely applies Acker's inequality regimes to the study of GNCCs. It argues that the concept of inequality regimes would benefit from developing it towards a global context.

Biodiversity is required to sustain life on earth, but the rampant growth in the illegal wildlife trade has created a global conservation challenge, where the African continent is one of the primary casualties. This paper aims to explore how South African National Parks (SANParks) (as the custodian of the largest population of rhinos in the wild) accounts to its stakeholders about how it has discharged its biodiversity mandate relating to rhino preservation.

The paper seeks to determine whether the increase in rhino-poaching over the period from 2006 to 2015 is reflected by a concomitant increase in related disclosures in SANParks’ annual reports. It adopts a mixed-methods research approach using both descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as a qualitative analysis of pertinent narrative disclosures describing how SANParks accounts to its stakeholders on the discharge of the rhino-related component of its biodiversity mandate.

The study finds that SANParks uses its publicly available annual reports to disclose how it has discharged the rhino-related component of its biodiversity mandate. In this regard, it identified a strong positive correlation between incidents of rhino-poaching and annual report disclosures in the period up to 2010. Initially, SANParks disclosed its rhino-poaching-related performance through impression management to bolster its legitimacy, but later focused its reporting on its rhino conservation efforts.

Although the subject of rhino-poaching has been extensively researched, this one of the first papers to explore the phenomenon from a governance and accountability perspective of a state-owned entity (\ SANParks) under the mantle of extinction accounting.

In South Africa, King III requires companies to have their corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures independently assured. Within this context, the purpose of this paper is to examine internal audit’s CSR assurance role.

With reference to the International Professional Practices Framework of the Institute of Internal Auditors, the first phase of the study conceptually considers whether internal audit does qualify as an independent CSR assurance provider. Using a content analysis of integrated reports, the second phase examines the extent to which internal audit’s CSR assurance role has been disclosed. The final phase relies on survey responses to understand the emerging trends observed in the second phase.

The study finds that although internal audit does provide independent CSR assurance, this assurance is primarily intended for internal stakeholders to assist in improving the quality of CSR reporting practices. With one notable exception across the study period, the results suggest that any benefits accruing to external stakeholders were not deliberate, but merely incidental. The paper concludes by arguing that although internal audit will continue to incorporate material CSR issues into its mandatory risk-based auditing approach, the results will not necessarily be publicly available. The extent of reliance that external stakeholders can place on company CSR disclosures are therefore not directly influenced by internal audit’s involvement in CSR-related matters. However, by adopting a proactive CSR role, internal audit can assist reporting companies improve their CSR reporting practices.

Although CSR assurance has been extensively researched, this is one of the first studies to specifically consider the CSR assurance role of the internal audit activity. Despite its South African orientation, given the emerging nature of the CSR assurance phenomenon, the study findings have global implications.

As companies begin accounting for the triple bottom line, external corporate social responsibility (CSR) assurance provides stakeholders with assurance that CSR disclosures may be relied upon. In this way, companies may go some way towards avoiding their CSR efforts simply being perceived as greenwash or a public relations exercise. Several organisations currently provide this assurance, using different methodologies and standards. Using a content analysis, the annual and/or CSR reports of the top 100 South African publicly listed companies were investigated in respect of CSR assurance, and compared with international trends. Despite a slow response, the evidence suggests that CSR assurance prevalence is growing. It was found that despite its developing country status, the prevalence of CSR assurance by South African companies compared favourably with that of their counterparts in developed countries. In South Africa and the UK, the audit profession, led by the “Big 4” firms, is the dominant provider of CSR assurance. As the demand increases, the auditor’s role as a CSR assurance provider is expected to become increasingly more important, especially in South Africa, where the audit profession is highly regarded. This increased demand for assurance services will require the global audit profession’s paradigm to be re‐examined to include competence in contextual accounting and auditing.

This paper presents an historical reconstruction of the radicalisation of Alan Fox, the industrial sociologist and a detailed analysis of his early historical and sociological writing in the classical pluralist phase.

An intellectual history, including detailed discussion of key Fox texts, supported by interviews with Fox and other Biographical sources.

Fox’s radicalisation was incomplete, as he carried over from his industrial relations (IR) pluralist mentors, Allan Flanders and Hugh Clegg, a suspicion of political Marxism, a sense of historical contingency and an awareness of the fragmented nature of industrial conflict.

Recent academic attention has centred on Fox’s later radical pluralism with its “structural” approach to the employment relationship. This paper revisits his early, neglected classical pluralist writing. It also illuminates his transition from institutional IR to a broader sociology of work, influenced by AH Halsey, John Goldthorpe and others and the complex nature of his radicalisation.

Addressing the challenges expressed by organization researchers and Leslie McCall with her conceptual framework of intercategorical analysis, this paper contributes to the methodological debate on intersectionality. The purpose of this paper is to explore intersectionality on the organizational level in the Finnish defence forces (FDF). In the paper, the authors explore how the interactions between categories of gender, age, and position in the organization explain the concerns of employees in the changing military organization. Furthermore, the authors also investigate the types of intersectional mechanisms behind the empirical observations.

The logistic regression analysis is based on a survey addressed to the whole salaried personnel in the FDF in 2011 (n=8,093, response rate being 54 per cent).

In line with McCall’s (2005) intercategorical approach, the analysis shows that the plain examination of main effects of the variables will not suffice, but the interaction effects of the variables must also be examined. The analysis indicates that even though women in general experienced more concerns, gender does not alone explain the concerns expressed by the members of the FDF, but age and especially personnel group are significant in understanding configurations of positions in relation to the organizational change process.

The methodological limitation of the study is that although the data were large, it was not possible to conduct three-ways analysis, because of the size of some groups.

The study offers a noteworthy addition to the rare research of practising intersectionality in the conceptual framework using quantitative methods.