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Article
Publication date: 1 September 2022

Woan-lih Liang, Duc Nguyen Nguyen, Quynh-Nhu Tran and Quang-Thai Truong

This study aims to revisit the link between employee welfare and firm financial performance using a large sample. Besides, the study explores mechanisms behind the link and…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to revisit the link between employee welfare and firm financial performance using a large sample. Besides, the study explores mechanisms behind the link and heterogeneous effects of employee welfare on firm performance across firms and industries with different characteristics. These findings help partly explain mixed results in previous works.

Design/methodology/approach

This study utilized KLD database data from 2001 to 2015 to capture the firm-level employee welfare, then analyze the link between employee welfare and firm financial performance. The findings are further verified using clustered standard errors ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis along with robustness testing, which supports the validity of our conclusions.

Findings

The research result confirms a positive association between employee-friendly practices and firm performance indicated by Tobin's q. Regarding the mechanisms linking the two, the study shows that higher employee welfare is positively associated with firm productivity and innovation investment, while it is negatively related to the cost of finance. Further, consistent with agency and modern management theories, the effect of employee welfare on financial performance is more pronounced for human-intensive (i.e. R&D-based) firms and firms with better corporate governance.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the existing literature on the association between employee welfare and firm performance in several ways. First, using the index of employee welfare from KLD can alleviate inherent limitations in previous studies. Second, the authors provide and validate the possible mechanisms linking employee welfare and firm value. Third, the authors also extend the literature by providing new insights into the employee welfare–firm performance nexus through a contingency perspective.

Details

Managerial Finance, vol. 49 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4358

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 March 2007

Andrew Calabrese

This paper provides a brief historical sketch of cable and telephone regulation in the USA, the purpose of which is to demonstrate the legacy that precedes contemporary debates

Abstract

Purpose

This paper provides a brief historical sketch of cable and telephone regulation in the USA, the purpose of which is to demonstrate the legacy that precedes contemporary debates over competing models of digital networks, and to question the justifications offered for regulating such networks as private property with no corresponding public service obligations.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper relies on historical research to examine the rationales that have been used for cable and telephone regulation, based on the use of legal documents (statutes, regulations, court rulings).

Findings

The historic justifications that have been used to protect telecommunications from competition amounts to what is known as “corporate welfare”. Today's cable and telephone networks, and the accumulated wealth of the corporations that own them, would not have been possible without the willingness of regulators to favor particular firms and business models, and to protect these firms from competition under the rationale that these networks are “natural monopolies”.

Originality/value

Today's digital networks have been built on the wealth and market dominance that was made possible by protection from competition and the guaranteed rates of return that regulation permitted. Consequently, the property rights that have been afforded to network owners should be accompanied by responsibilities, namely, in the form of public service obligations.

Details

info, vol. 9 no. 2/3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6697

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 October 2012

Yuri Biondi and Pierpaolo Giannoccolo

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of innovative industries which face coopetition: firms compete while committing at the same time to R&D joint ventures and other…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of innovative industries which face coopetition: firms compete while committing at the same time to R&D joint ventures and other cooperative agreements. These joint activities are likely to occur in presence of complementarities on demand or supply sides; they raise specific accounting issues concerned with recognition and measurement of intangible resources committed to, and generated from them.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper develops a heuristic industrial economic model characterized by joint utility of outputs for custumers on the demand side, and potential complementarities in R&D activities on the supply side. The authors’ model describes different scenarios generated by alternative corporate pricing strategies. In particular, these strategies (as implemented by firms or imposed by regulators) influence both infrastructure corporate investments and the creation and stability of coopetitive relationships.

Findings

The model scenarios show that especially accounting for intangible resources – related to processes of innovation and R&D – should deserve specific attention. Firms and regulators need to properly account for both hard intangibles that have market prices of reference, and soft and ethereal intangibles that factually have not. A stock method of accounting for intangibles results then which is narrow and biased, because of its focus on hard intangibles alone. A flow method of accounting should be preferred, which tracks the cumulated investment flow of direct and indirect expenditures in innovation and development, properly allocated within and between firms.

Originality/value

The paper argues for regulatory frameworks that enable increasing the positive effects of cooperation while repressing collusive behaviours (technological standardization, fiscal incentives to welfare‐improving innovation and strategy, public research, costumers’ protection, and so forth). Concerning the overall industrial organization, the paper's theoretical analysis shows the need for better recognition and measurement of intangibles and complementarities in costing and pricing, for both corporate and regulatory purposes.

Book part
Publication date: 14 May 2018

Daina Mazutis

Over the last several decades, businesses have faced mounting pressures from diverse stakeholders to alter their corporate operations to become more socially and environmentally…

Abstract

Over the last several decades, businesses have faced mounting pressures from diverse stakeholders to alter their corporate operations to become more socially and environmentally responsible. In turn, many firms appear to have responded by implementing more sustainable practices — measuring, documenting, and publishing annual CSR or sustainability reports to showcase how they are addressing important issues in this area, including: resource stewardship, waste management, greenhouse gas emission reductions, fair and safe labor practices, amongst other stakeholder concerns. And yet, research in this domain has not yet systematically examined whether businesses have, on the whole, changed their practices in tandem with the important changes in its institutional context over time. Have corporate CSR initiatives, in fact, been growing over the last 25 years or has the increased attention to CSR actually been much ado about nothing? In this chapter, we review the empirical literature on CSR to uncover that common measures of CSR such as the KLD do not support the concept that CSR practices have increased substantively over the last 25 years. We supplement this historical review by modeling the growth curves of CSR implementation in practice and find that the pace of positive change has indeed been glacial. More alarmingly, we also look at corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) and find that, contrary to expectations, businesses have become more, not less, irresponsible during this same time period. Implications of these findings for theory are presented as are suggestions for future research in this domain.

Details

Corporate Social Responsibility
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78754-260-0

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 July 2010

Gerald F. Davis

The economic crisis that began in 2008 represents the end of two experiments in social organization in the United States: the corporate-centered society, in which corporate…

Abstract

The economic crisis that began in 2008 represents the end of two experiments in social organization in the United States: the corporate-centered society, in which corporate employers were the predominant providers of health care and retirement security, and the “Ownership Society,” which aimed to vest the economic security of individuals directly in the financial markets. The first experiment lasted for most of the 20th century, while the second hardly got off the ground before imploding. The result is that economic and health security and social mobility in the United States have become increasingly unmoored. Organizational sociologists can contribute to a constructive solution by facilitating, documenting, and disseminating locally based experiments in post-corporate social organization.

Details

Markets on Trial: The Economic Sociology of the U.S. Financial Crisis: Part B
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-208-2

Article
Publication date: 6 March 2009

Jeremy Galbreath

This paper seeks to explore how corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be effectively built into firm strategy.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to explore how corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be effectively built into firm strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

By drawing upon classic work in the field, the paper first offers conceptual discussion and then systematically develops a means of incorporating CSR into strategy.

Findings

Common approaches to CSR, such as PR campaigns, codes of ethics and triple bottom line reports are far too removed from strategy. To counter common and generally non‐strategic approaches, a framework is offered which demonstrates that CSR can be linked integrally with strategy, and highlights an approach to consider CSR across six dimensions of firm strategy.

Practical implications

Firms do not have to respond reactively towards CSR nor do they have to struggle with understanding the strategic implications of CSR. The paper demonstrates that examining CSR in the context of firm strategy is both possible and increasingly necessary to developing competitive advantage in the current environment.

Originality/value

The value of the paper rests in the treatment of CSR as an issue that is strategic, rather than one that is problematic or potentially a threat. By doing so, firms are offered a means to take a much more proactive approach to CSR than previously discussed.

Details

European Business Review, vol. 21 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-534X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 December 2023

Maochuan Wang, Xixiong Xu and Siqi Wang

This study aims to examine the impact of employee treatment on stock price crash risk in emerging markets. The study further sheds light on the economic channels and boundary…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the impact of employee treatment on stock price crash risk in emerging markets. The study further sheds light on the economic channels and boundary conditions between employee treatment and crash risk.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs a large-scale archival dataset of Chinese A-share listed firms covering 2010 to 2021. To establish causality, the study leverages multi-way fixed effects, Oster’s test, change regression and instrumental variable methods to alleviate endogeneity concerns.

Findings

The results reveal that employee-friendly treatment leads to a lower crash risk. Moreover, improving internal control quality and enhancing firm reputation appear to be the two plausible economic channels through which employee treatment mitigates crash risk. Cross-sectionally, the documented impact is more evident for human-capital-intensive firms, firms with weaker external monitoring and those operating in fiercely competitive industries.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to show that employee treatment has a favorable consequence for shareholder benefit through reducing crash risk. The study thus adds to the ongoing debate regarding the relationship between employee treatment and shareholder wealth. The study also extends the nascent literature on the role of rank-and-file employees in shaping corporate information landscapes.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 May 2012

Carol Camp Yeakey and David L. Shepard

This chapter examines the unraveling of the social contract and the social welfare safety net for the poor and vulnerable populations in many countries following the Great…

Abstract

This chapter examines the unraveling of the social contract and the social welfare safety net for the poor and vulnerable populations in many countries following the Great Recession which began in 2007 and ended in 2009. Analyzing data on income inequality, links between individual and parental earnings, and intergenerational poverty data, among others, this chapter dispels the notion of trickle-down economics, the notion that the benefits of economic growth automatically trickle down to the disadvantaged. The growing divisions between the “haves” and “have-nots” point toward growing inequality and marginality on a global scale.

Details

Living on the Boundaries: Urban Marginality in National and International Contexts
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-032-2

Article
Publication date: 2 September 2020

Martha Coleman and Mengyun Wu

This study investigates the impact of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms with inclusion of compliance and diligence index on corporate performance (CP) of firms in Nigeria and…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates the impact of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms with inclusion of compliance and diligence index on corporate performance (CP) of firms in Nigeria and Ghana. It further examines the moderating effect of financial distress on the relationship between CG and CP.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used panel data of 102 nonfinancial listed firms of Nigeria and Ghana stock exchange for the period 2012–2016 with total observation of 510. The study first used OLS in estimating the influence of CG mechanisms on CP. Due to multicollinearity in the independent variables, ridge regression was employed.

Findings

It was revealed that ownership structure index and board compliance and diligence index, board size, board disclosure, ownership structure, shareholders' right and board compliance and diligence index had positive influence on ROA and ROE. Growth of Tobin's Q depends on board procedure and board compliance and diligence index. Also, financial distress (ZFS) negatively moderates the relationship between board structure index, board disclosure index, board procedure index, shareholders' right and performance (ROA and ROE) but negatively moderates between ownership structure index and Tobin's Q.

Practical implications

This study provides interesting findings to policymakers in full implementation of CG codes as stated by OCED (2015) by West African firms with greater emphasis on compliance and diligence index since it positively influences all CP measures.

Originality/value

The study provides evidence of the importance of the introduction of the new index: compliance and diligence, which looks at disclosure of CSR activities. This has been overlooked by most researchers especially in Africa in assessing quality CG mechanisms.

Details

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 70 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 July 2020

Jyotsna Bhatnagar and Pranati Aggarwal

In this paper, the authors propose and empirically test an integrated model which investigates the relationship between POS-E (perceived organizational support for the…

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Abstract

Purpose

In this paper, the authors propose and empirically test an integrated model which investigates the relationship between POS-E (perceived organizational support for the environment) and employee outcomes, which are employee eco-initiatives (the first category of OCBE), employee psychological capital and alienation. Meaningful work as a mediator between POS-E and employee outcomes was also investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

The study utilized a survey method to empirically test the hypothesized relationships on a sample of 303 respondents. For testing, Confirmatory factor analysis for the proposed and alternative models, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on software AMOS, version 20.0 was used. This was to ensure validity and construct distinctiveness among the variables in the study and to evaluate the fit of the hypothesized measurement model in comparison to several alternate models. To estimate the effects of meaningful work (as a mediator) on the association between POS-E and eco-initiatives, psychological capital and alienation, the authors administered Sobel test.

Findings

The present research augments the contemporary research on environmental sustainability and employee outcomes by further developing the emerging constructs of perceived organizational support of the environment (POS-E) and organized citizenship behavior toward the environment (OCBE), which is measured by eco-initiatives. The results imply that POS-E is positively associated with eco-initiatives and employee psychological capital and is negatively associated with alienation. The findings further suggest that meaningful work mediates the association between POS-E and all the outcome variables which are: employee-eco-initiatives, psychological capital and alienation.

Research limitations/implications

The findings confirm the desired direction of research and accomplished the research objective of the study. As the consequences of POS-E imply immense value for all stakeholders, decision-makers must also reflect on the means of enhancing employees' understanding. Further, it is imperative, that the organization supports their environmental goals and values, and their green engagement.

Practical implications

Results of the present study exhibit wide practical inferences for the managers. HR managers need to organize the passion for green behavior and work on intrinsic drivers of employee green engagement to let it sustain over a period of time. As society gradually expects increased organizational contributions towards environmental sustainability, this paper indicates that those employees who get an opportunity to act in coordination with environmental objectives will engage in eco-initiatives, exhibit higher psychological capital, and be less likely to feel alienated. The results imply that leaders should examine a diversity of probable interventions to enhance POS-E in order to gain from the initial rise in perceived meaningful work, employee eco-initiatives, increased psychological capital and reduced alienation. These interventions may lead to higher passion for sustainability and green behavior.

Social implications

Further, this work supports the work of Toffel and Schendler (2013), whose study states that organizations should market their environment and climate initiatives, climate activism, such that customers and suppliers appreciate their leadership, and understands what matters. This work supports the work of Turaga et al. (2010), whose study states that for pro-environment behavior, environment passion is an intrinsic behavior which is needed (see Afsar et al., 2016). The current study enhances the need to trigger employee's sense of pro-environment passion at work place for significant results.

Originality/value

This is a pioneer study, in India which confirms and extends the construct of POS-E using Social Exchange theory as an underpinning theory. We found that POS-E was linked with previously untested employee consequences, like employee eco-initiatives and psychological capital and that it was negatively associated with alienation. Our study confirmed mediator variable to be meaningful work in the relationship between POS-E and psychological capital, alienation and eco-initiatives

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 42 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

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