Search results

This study aims to explore the outcome of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme in community development from the perspective of its participants in Malaysia. It is argued that information regarding community development CSR, the providers of CSR and the outcomes of CSR on community development in Malaysia has been scant. Hence, this study examines specifically the profiles of participants of CSR programmes in community development, the profiles of selected CSR-participating corporations, the orientation of CSR responsibilities undertaken by corporations as perceived by the participants and the types of community development contribution from CSR-participating corporations. Outcomes were determined through the results of the last two objectives.

Building on the stakeholder theory and the work of Visser’s CSR pyramid, this article explores the outcomes of CSR resulting from the participation of individuals in the community. Data were gathered from 336 respondents who were participants of CSR programmes sampled from 58 local and multinational corporations in Malaysia.

The results showed that about half of the respondents were in the younger age group with a mean age of 24.40 years. The majority of the CSR-participating corporations had implemented CSR programmes from the first decade of the millennium and had their core businesses in diverse sectors. Legal responsibility was ranked the most important orientation and ethical responsibility the least important orientation. Education-related activities formed the dominant type of CSR contribution.

The study addresses a gap in the literature on Malaysian community CSR, particularly from the perspective of the community, which is one of the important stakeholders.

This research contributes to the scarce literature on CSR in Malaysia by analysing the way business organisations in the country contribute to community development through CSR. The findings of this study should be useful to community development practitioners, CSR providers and researchers.

Two sets of questions animate this discussion: (1) What is corporate social responsibility? Why is it desirable? How can it be assessed? (2) Why should public relations practitioners be interested in corporate social responsibility?can public relations do to promote corporate social responsibility globally? Drawing on a variety of literature, the authors argue that corporations out of their own self‐interest must embrace a global approach in fulfilling their social responsibility and that public relations professionals have an obligation to carry out that responsibility by recognising in their practices that the most important “corporate” stakeholder is society itself.

The purpose of this paper is to apply a third-person effects theory to the study of corporate social responsibility communications. Previous studies have asked what importance investors assign to the socially responsible activities of corporations. However, in the context of publicly-traded companies, it becomes important not only to calculate the effects of available information on an individual investor, but also to estimate the effects of every piece of information on the investor’s perception of the investment community at large.

The study uses a survey methodology in order to evaluate what value respondents assign to socially responsible behaviors as well as to identify a presence of third-person effects in the corporate social responsibility evaluations. Using an online survey, the respondents were asked to read a modified news article and the respond to a series of questions. In total, 96 completed surveys were collected and analyzed.

The research finds the presence of third-person effects incorporate socially responsibility message processing. The results of the study show that, while individually people are supportive of the socially responsible behaviors of corporations, they perceive others to be less supportive of such behaviors; they also see others as less likely to encourage such behaviors through action. As a result, people are less likely to act on their own views of corporate socially responsibility as they perceive themselves to be outliers. These findings lead to important consequences for investor communications, which are discussed in light of the efficient market hypothesis.

From an academic standpoint, the study proposed that in investor and financial communication, third-person effects could play a significant role. Yet, third-person effects research in investor relations literature simply does not exists. Thus, the study’s main contribution is expanding third-person effects theory into the field of the investor relations research.

From practical standpoint, expectations and perception of corporate social responsibility have a significant effect on corporate reputation and, thus, communication about corporate social responsibility become important as they shape these perceptions and expectations. Yet, such corporate social responsibility issues may include a variety of matters, such as governance, responsibility, and the quality of social and economic choices, sometimes even contradictory to each other. It becomes a job of investor relations managers to study, analyze, and respond to these competing demands.

From societal standpoint, the study advances the debate on the role of corporations in the society. With such concepts as social license to operate and creating shared value, and the growing expectations about corporate behavior, understanding the stakeholders perceptions of socially responsible behavior of corporations as a function of their perceptions of other stakeholders’ viewpoints, creates a better understanding of the complexities involved in the issue of corporate social responsibility reporting.

Since investors and other financial publics are not homogenous and may have different perspectives, opinions, values, etc., they may react to the same information differently. Furthermore, they may expect others to behave differently and such perceptions, whether accurate or not, may, in fact, influence their own behavior, as third-person effects theory would suggest. Investor relations, then, becomes a function of managing these expectations. The presence of the third-person effects in investor communications can have a strong effect on market behavior and, thus, must become an important part of the investor relations professionals’ job – how the messages are crafted, communications, and measured. Yet, third-person effects is non-existent in the investor relations literature. Thus, the study provides an original contribution by applying a third-person effects theory in the investor relations research.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the emergent role of market in cultural enterprises.

The authors consider market as network and identify the role of the interaction process with a special focus on theatre organizations.

The interactions are examined on the basis of relationship models, distinguishing for each of them the progressive changes in their structural components (actors, activities and resources) and the outcomes (economic, artistic, social) produced.

The value of the study is to identify market representation by theatre organizations and to analyse their interactions with the market as a cumulative and continuous process.

This article analyzes the impact of the national culture, the dependence of the sector of activity on human capital, and the multinational character of the firm involved, on the degree of implementation of high performance work practices (HPWPs) in Ibero-American companies.

This quantitative study results from a survey of 614 Ibero-American firms, in 6 different countries. Multiple regressions were performed to test the hypothesis proposed.

HPWPs for employee recruitment and selection have been frequently implemented in Ibero-American countries. Three factors, i.e. national culture, degree of multinationality, and degree of dependence of the sector of activity on human capital, have a strong influence on the degree of implementation of HPWPs in general, at different degrees. For example, recruitment and selection practices are conditioned by the degree of multinationality, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance, while they are not influenced by masculinity and by the sector of activity.

HR managers must align the design and execution of HPWPs with the national culture, and with the characteristics of the sector of activity, they belong to. Domestic companies should also aspire to achieve the higher standards of multinational companies for specific HPWPs.

This study, to the authors’ best knowledge, is the first to provide insights into the influence of the three factors mentioned above on the degree of implementation of HPWPs in Ibero-American firms, using multiple regression analysis. The authors examine in this article a larger set of HPWPs than does most of the existing empirical literature.

The legal profession has continued to receive a substantial share of media coverage and publicity over the last several years, much of it directed at the increase in numbers of law graduates and the often highly publicised starting salaries of recent law graduates at prestigious New York City law firms. Recent estimates indicate that there are now in excess of 650,000 attorneys working in the United States. The New York Bar Journal reported in its April, 1987 issue at page 56 that 36,829 law students graduated from American Bar Association accredited law schools in 1985. The report was based upon a study by the National Association for Law Placement. The study confirmed that the great majority of law graduates, 60.2% in 1985, would join private firms (at an average starting salary of $29,224).