Search results

This paper aims to explore the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) from a shared value perspective. Adopting reputation as a multilevel form of value that mediates the CSR–CFP relationship, the paper explains how CSR initiatives may enhance both firm and country reputation and how the amount of shared value between the two leads to CFP.

The paper first establishes the theoretical foundation for the relationship between CSR and CFP. It then draws connections to a more recent stream of literature surrounding the concept of creating shared value to expand upon this relationship, adopting reputation as a multilevel form of shared value that mediates the CSR–CFP relationship. The paper further discusses moderating influences of this relationship that may vary contextually with emerging economies such as those in Latin America.

The paper argues that as markets become further developed, CSR initiatives will create a higher proportion of shared reputational value between a corporation and country. This is the result of from aligning CSR initiatives that benefit a society, with the strategic goals of the firm – the essence of creating of shared value – but is more difficult in emerging markets, especially volatile ones.

This paper offers insight into a complex relationship between CSR, shared reputational value and CFP by introducing the more recent concept of creating shared value. Several propositions related to this general relationship, and some related to the difference among emerging markets (such as those in Latin America), address the need for more research related to corporate and country reputation, creating shared value and in the emerging market context.

This paper aims to investigate whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts that are oriented toward shared value creation generate any perceptual advantages in terms of consumer product attributes evaluations compared with other types of CSR. The study also uncovers consumers’ pathways that channel the impacts of corporate associations on corporate and product evaluations and purchase intention.

This study uses a between-subjects experimental design. In all, 274 undergraduate students from a North American university participated in the 2 (low versus high corporate ability levels) × 4 (CSR types) study. The data were analyzed using the methodologies of path analysis and multiple group analysis in the context of structural equation modeling procedure.

The findings show that in the context of shared-value CSR, CSR image (i.e. consumer judgments on the moral aspect of the company) can spill over to product attributes evaluations, including perceptions of “product innovativeness” and “product social responsibility,” which, in turn, translate to purchase willingness. Meanwhile, perceived corporate trustworthiness mediates the effects of CSR image and corporate ability (CA) image on the overall corporate evaluation, which subsequently influences consumer product evaluation and purchase intention.

The research provides direct evidence showing that companies have the potential to improve their corporate brand and, in turn, their product evaluations by putting a stronger emphasis on the social responsibility components of their image and placing this at the core of their strategic agenda. Importantly, a contribution to the literature by identifying differential effects of CA image versus CSR image on consumer perception of product innovativeness within different CSR categories is made. The limitations of the research are discussed, which include the usage of a fictitious company and brand and a convenience sample.

The study offers guidance to managers in regard to their choice of different CSR practices to fulfill their company’s product-related strategic goals.

The present study takes a critical stance to show that previous experimental work investigating the impact of CSR image on product evaluations relied predominantly on bipolar manipulations of CSR practices (bad versus good) rather than bringing many shades of CSR into consideration. By incorporating a wide array of CSR formats, especially value-creating CSR, current research generates potential implications based on differential effects of various CSR focuses, which have not been captured by previous studies.

The debate on corporate social responsibility (CSR) as shared value creation is trapped between management scholars and business ethics scholars, focusing merely on the distribution of values from an outcome-oriented perspective. The result is a juxtaposition of shared value from either a corporate or a societal perspective, providing only little attention to the actual communication processes supporting the creation of shared value. The purpose of this paper is to re-conceptualize shared value creation from a communicative approach as an alternative to the current situation caught between the management and societal perspectives.

Building upon recent constitutive models of CSR communication, this conceptual paper explores the potentials and implications of re-conceptualizing shared value creation as an alternative approach that recognizes the tensional interaction processes related to shared value creation.

The paper suggests a new conceptualization of shared value creation, which is sensitive to and able to advance the understanding of the tensional and conflictual interaction processes in which the continuous negotiation of corporate and stakeholder interests, values and agendas may facilitate a new understanding of shared value creation.

In order to succeed with the shared purpose of creating shared value (CSV), the company and the multiple stakeholders should neither disregard nor idealize the interaction processes related to shared value creation; rather, they should acknowledge that processes filled with tensions and conflicts are prerequisites for CSV.

A re-conceptualization of shared value creation that provides an alternative approach that is sensitive toward the tensions and conflicts occurring between corporate voice and multiple stakeholder voices.

This paper aims to highlight dysfunctional multi-stakeholder relations and negative business outcomes, evidenced in lose/lose results, exacerbated by failure to acknowledge strategic business focus as a means to redress problematic business thinking and practice amongst key leadership teams associated with achieving balance between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility.

The reframed strategic business focus has been developed using Eastern philosophy and Western organization theory and refers to four case examples of dysfunctional business thinking and practice.

Strategic business focus results from an interdependent and complementary positive mediating relationship between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility, which is moderated by organization culture (organization core values, including shared value) and strategic human resource management (talent and mindset).

Strategic business focus as proposed has not been empirically tested but seeks to address a conceptualization that competing business and stakeholder agendas are interdependent and complementary.

Strategic business focus seeks to redress traditional win/lose and lose/lose business outcomes, by supporting win/win results, represented by shared value amongst multi-stakeholders.

Strategic business focus seeks to provide a means whereby corporate social responsibility, particularly the social contract, plays a key role in the decisions and practices of key leadership teams and the behaviour of corporate staff in host environments when seeking competitive advantage.

Eastern thinking and behaviour are usually undervalued in the western business literature, particularly in western business practice. Joint attention, however, may improve competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility agendas in support of diverse management practices, including shared value.

This paper aims to address the complex nature of social performance (CSP/CSR) in building a trust-based consumer relationship. The relative and aggregate influence of corporate functional performance, corporate social performance (CSP) and shared values within a trust-based customer–brand relationship and their impact on behavioral loyalty in the forms of retention, referral and ease of voice are empirically tested.

Respondents were recruited to participate in a study on ice cream shop preferences. Structural equation modeling was used to simultaneously test the effects of independent variables on dependent variables.

Shared values mediate the effect that CSP has on trust and all loyalty behaviors. Trust has a significant influence on one behavior:retention.

The findings may be specific by industry, product type or consumer involvement. Further tests should be performed with varying levels of each.

Millennial consumers expect organizations/brands to engage in CSR activities, and, because of increased CSP reporting, are aware of an organization’s CSR efforts. If the CSP does not reflect the customer’s value system (shared values), the long-term relationship can be impacted negatively. Firms must strategically consider the values communicated by their CSR activities to build and care for long-term relationships with their target consumer.

This research is the first to integrate and test a comprehensive consumer relationship model of CSP.

This paper aims to develop a “line of sight” between improved military capability through supply network effectiveness to trust and shared values, and test the proposition that the effectiveness of the UK's military supply network (SN) will reflect the extent of the shared values within that network.

Using a three unit case study, the extent of the shared values is tested using a computer aided text analysis technique and an amended version of the Kuhn and McPartland Twenty Statements Test.

The research was unable to demonstrate alignment between higher levels of shared values and SN effectiveness. This may reflect the marked differences between commercial SNs which incorporate an assumption of near total elasticity of supply and aim at “on time in full” delivery, and their military counterparts which, not least for budgetary constraint reasons, do not have the same drivers of performance.

Further investigation should be undertaken to examine the generalisability of the research findings both within the UK and internationally.

The research underlines the caution that should be exercised when attempting to migrate commercial SN management thinking to a military environment.

Notwithstanding the vast sums expended on the provision of defence logistics, there is only very limited consideration of how best to achieve the appropriate balance between efficiency (low cost – especially in peacetime) and effectiveness (life saving – especially in war). This research offers some early insights using two novel techniques that represent valuable alternative means of understanding the impact of issues such as trust and shared values within SNs.

Corporate digital transformation (DT) and top management team (TMT) internationalization seem to be concomitant phenomena in recent years, the former is a major change and a thorough transformation requiring continuously new technologies and ideas. Excitingly, the latter shows a relatively broad vision, a large risk appetite and interest in new things. Does TMT internationalization promote DT? This question is essential for DT. Given that, this article will aim to discuss and examine whether and how TMT internationalization affects corporate DT.

This article takes China's A-share listed manufacturing companies from 2011 to 2019 as a sample. The quantitative text analysis method is used to measure attention related to digitalization. This paper discusses: (1) The decision-making logic and cognitive process mechanism of “TMT internationalization–attention related to digitalization–corporate DT”. (2) The moderating effect of shared corporate mission of the TMT on the cognitive process of decision-making, that is, the social process of transforming individual cognition into team cognition, and the social process of transforming team cognition into corporate decision-making.

TMT internationalization promotes DT. As an external manifestation of team cognition, attention plays a positive role as an intermediary mechanism. Specifically, executives with overseas experience have higher urgency assessment and manageable assessment, thus affecting their attention to digitalization positively, thereby promoting DT. This article does not demonstrate the moderating effect of shared corporate mission on the cognitive process, but it promotes DT directly, and only plays a role in the precognitive stage.

This article is the first one to study the relationship between TMT internationalization and corporate DT, which has practical guiding significance for DT and the “going out” strategies of the TMT. Also, the combination of upper echelons theory and cognitive theory opens up the black box of the strategic process. Lastly, this research explores the formation process of team cognition, which is always neglected by previous studies of the TMT demographic characteristics.

This paper aims to identify how companies implemented shared value strategies to reconcile profitability and social-environmental welfare and explain through an interactive methodology the main elements and their relationships that compose a shared value creation system.

The authors use the interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) method to conduct a qualitative study in the sustainability field of investigation. Participants are both data sources and analysts which brings a different perspective to data analysis. Results emerged from the interaction between the researchers and the participants. The method mixes qualitative and quantitative protocols to bring robustness to the research.

Relevant findings are (1) a shared value creation system is composed of nine elements which are business results, social-environmental results, ecosystem, impact, materiality matrix, profitability, purpose-driven leadership, social-environmental welfare and sustainable economic development; (2) the system's primary driver is purpose-driven leadership; (3) The use of renewable materials and the reduction in the use of natural resources in the value chain are the main criteria companies employed to meet business and societal objectives simultaneously; (4) the IQA method enabled the consolidation of a Shared Value Creation System Diagram which other scientists may use to replicate the study.

The research investigated a specific country context. Other researchers may use the shared value system diagram to replicate the study with companies in other countries.

Findings show that the knowledge about shared value creation system elements and their cause-effect relationships guides business leaders in developing strategic objectives to reconcile profitability and social-environmental welfare. This is essential knowledge, especially in a context in which companies are increasingly required to assume their social and environmental responsibilities. Besides, a management challenge in the stakeholder-oriented approach is still how strategies can be implemented.

The research design is innovative in using the IQA method in the sustainability field of investigation. The method procedures and protocols allowed for a deeper understanding of the subject, revealing its richness and its potential for replicability in other contexts.

The paper aims to analyse organisational values from a personal perspective. The purpose was to explore how employees learn about corporate values and how they relate to these values. The motivation has been one of discovery of current practices in businesses, with a strong focus on corporate values and their effects on employees.

The authors offer a review of the key definitions and main theoretical frameworks of values. Four case studies provide empirical data to establish some understanding of how values are identified and the extent to which they are translated into behaviours and attitudes in the workplace. The paper combines an overview of literature on values and semi-constructed telephone interviews with 26 interviewees from four organisations about corporate and individual values.

Values are positively related to, and central to the concept of the self, and are distinct from norms. Both the literature review and the multiple case studies’ empirical findings suggest that values are worth striving for and successful embedding of them requires a “culture of sharing”. Without the culture of sharing corporate values will not penetrate the organisation or have any meaningful impact on behaviour.

The paper highlights the importance of considering corporate values from a personal perspective. Organisations wanting to strengthen corporate values need to engage in conversations about values regularly across the organisation. Leaders need to be part of these discussions without dominating or forcefully influencing them.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the social institutions of trust, accountability and corporate shared value in creating an enabling environment for private sector investment in African agricultural and food systems.

This paper uses mixed methods. A value chain framework models interactions among stakeholders in the agriculture, agribusiness and food sectors. The social institutions of accountability and trust are introduced into the model, followed by a Rwanda premium coffee value chain case study.

The conceptual and case study results show that best practices can increase smallholder farmer, agricultural service provider, financial intermediary, and food processor investments in and benefits from the agriculture sector.

Further research is needed on the economic foundations of development cooperation based on trust, accountability and shared values, best practices and the link with desired societal outcomes, such as the sustainable development goals.

Mutual accountability processes, as they are maturing in Africa, are at the cutting edge of creating processes where multiple stakeholders, including agribusiness, can come together to make joint commitments to a shared development agenda, and where stakeholders hold themselves and others accountable for meeting these commitments.

This is the first paper to bring together cutting-edge advances in corporate shared values, trust and accountability in the context of African agricultural and agribusiness development.