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1 – 10 of 51Prince Amoah and Gabriel Eweje
The purpose of this paper is to examine the social sustainability strategies of multinational mining companies in addressing risks in areas of exploratory intensity and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the social sustainability strategies of multinational mining companies in addressing risks in areas of exploratory intensity and contributing to social capital in local communities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is situated within an interpretivist paradigm and uses a qualitative research methodology, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with multinational mining companies operating in Ghana and key stakeholder groups.
Findings
The results of this study show that multinational mining companies use strategies broadly categorised as social responsibility, social compliance, local content and relationship proximity to address challenges embedded in the extractive process.
Originality/value
By examining the strategies in addressing risks to sustainable social development in mining communities, this study contributes to fill the social sustainability gaps in mining research and adds to relevant literature.
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Prince Amoah and Gabriel Eweje
This paper aims to examine the barriers to the environmental sustainability practices of large-scale mining companies throughout a mine lifecycle, analysed in the context of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the barriers to the environmental sustainability practices of large-scale mining companies throughout a mine lifecycle, analysed in the context of the plural and competing logics and tensions in the broader institutional environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper used a qualitative methodology based on multiple cases involving multinational mining companies, regulators and other major stakeholder groups, as it offers an opportunity for analytical generalisations where the empirical results are compared to previously established theories.
Findings
The empirical results indicate that the environmental sustainability barriers are embedded within gaps in Ghana’s natural resources governance framework. The gaps arise out of contradictory interests and values, which hinder the direction and practices of large-scale mining companies.
Research limitations/implications
The findings may only apply to the context of this study and is inadequate as the basis for assessing the effectiveness or otherwise of specific initiatives of large-scale mining firms in Ghana.
Practical implications
This study have implications on how large-scale mining companies and their stakeholders define their values and goals, and engage in a dynamic process to accommodate the multiple and competing logics by implementing effective structures at the organisational and institutional levels.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the sustainability and institutional complexity perspective by showing that plural logics are often contradictory, but may also be complementary in situations of complicit commonality, hindering sustainable outcomes. The authors argue that this is one of the few studies that have examined the barriers to environmental sustainability explicated in the context of institutional complexity.
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Michelle Sitong Chen and Gabriel Eweje
The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically how managers establish ethical guanxi (interpersonal relationships) with their business partners to prevent potential ethical…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically how managers establish ethical guanxi (interpersonal relationships) with their business partners to prevent potential ethical incidences in Chinese and Western business contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study is guided by a qualitative, abductive approach and draws on in-depth interviews with ten senior managers in five urban New Zealand organisations.
Findings
The results point out that guanxi (interpersonal relationships) purely working through renqing (reciprocity) is not sustainable, because it perpetuates a never-ending cycle of favours, once exchanging favours stopped or disappeared, then business relationships dwindled. To establish an ethical guanxi model, the authors found that xinyong (trust) is the foundation, and its enlargement stimulates lijie (empathy) that transfers pure business relationships to a genuine friendship which enhances ethical decision-making. They also posit that once managers are embodied with lijie, then they will have the virtue of ren to behave like junzi (ideal Confucian ethical person) whose business actions tend to be intrinsically guided by a sense of obligation to do something right that will work for diverse stakeholders’ interests, for the prosperity of organisations and society.
Practical implications
This study suggests that managers should take Confucian virtues of xinyong (trust) and lijie (empathy), because they will trigger ren (humanity) as an intrinsic value. In this way, it is more likely for them to become junzi (ideal Confucian ethical person) whose business actions are intrinsically guided by a sense of obligation to do something right that benefits various stakeholders, organisations and society.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the extant literature on preventing ethical incidents of guanxi (interpersonal relationships) by drawing a framework of ethical guanxi, which is built on Confucian virtues of xinyong (trust), lijie (empathy) and ren (humanity). Further, this paper strongly suggests that companies should educate their staff to become more humane to make moral decisions in daily management practice.
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Gabriel Eweje, Alfonsina Iona, Maggie Foley and Michail Nerantzidis
Gabriel Eweje, Aymen Sajjad, Shobod Deba Nath and Kazunori Kobayashi
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the concept of multi-stakeholder partnerships in relation to the United Nations' sustainable development goals and propose a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the concept of multi-stakeholder partnerships in relation to the United Nations' sustainable development goals and propose a renewed multi-stakeholder partnerships framework that enables the implementation of the sustainable development goals.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper employs an integrative review methodology to assess, critique and synthesize the extant literature on the multi-stakeholder partnerships and sustainable development goals.
Findings
We propose a conceptual framework of multi-stakeholder partnerships to support the sustainable development goals implementation. Thus, this paper contributes to the conceptual understanding of the multi-stakeholder partnerships mechanism that enhances the sustainable development goals implementation.
Research limitations/implications
We propose a conceptual framework of multi-stakeholder partnerships to support the sustainable development goals implementation. Thus, this paper contributes to the conceptual understanding of the multi-stakeholder partnerships mechanism that enhances the sustainable development goals implementation.
Originality/value
We contend that this is one of the few early papers that contributes to the conceptual development of a collaborative multi-stakeholder partnerships paradigm by which such partnerships are formed and institutionalized among multiple interacting sectors to achieve the sustainable development goals.
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Hiva Rastegar, Gabriel Eweje and Aymen Sajjad
This paper aims to unravel the relationship between market-driven impacts of climate change and firms’ deployment of renewable energy (RE) innovation. The purpose is to understand…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to unravel the relationship between market-driven impacts of climate change and firms’ deployment of renewable energy (RE) innovation. The purpose is to understand how market-related forces, influenced by uncertainty, shape firms’ behaviour in response to climate change challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the behavioural theory of the firm (BTOF), the paper develops a conceptual model to decode the relationship between each category of market-driven impacts and the resulting RE innovation within firms. The model takes into account the role of uncertainty and differentiates between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and domestic firms.
Findings
The analysis reveals five key sources of market-driven impacts: investor sentiment, media coverage, competitors’ adoption of ISO 14001, customer satisfaction and shareholder activism. These forces influence the adoption of RE innovation differently across firms, depending on the level of uncertainty and the discrepancy between environmental performance and aspiration level.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature in four ways. Firstly, it emphasises the importance of uncertainty associated with market-driven impacts, which stimulates different responses from firms. Secondly, it fills a research gap by focusing on the proactivity of firms in adopting RE innovation, rather than just operational strategies to curb emissions. Thirdly, the paper extends the BTOF by incorporating the concept of uncertainty in explaining firm behaviour. Finally, it provides insights into the green strategies of MNEs in the face of climate change, offering a comprehensive model that differentiates MNEs from domestic firms.
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Shobod Deba Nath, Gabriel Eweje and Suborna Barua
The purpose of this paper is to investigate why multi-tier apparel suppliers integrate social sustainability practices into their supply chains and what barriers these suppliers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate why multi-tier apparel suppliers integrate social sustainability practices into their supply chains and what barriers these suppliers encounter while embedding social sustainability practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a qualitative research design, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 46 owners and managers from 33 multi-tier apparel suppliers in Bangladesh, an important outsourcing hub for the global apparel industry. To corroborate research findings, the views of owners and managers were triangulated by further interviewing 11 key representatives of institutional actors such as third-party auditors, a donor agency, industry associations, regulatory agencies and a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
Findings
The authors' findings suggest a range of divergent institutional drivers and barriers – coercive, mimetic and normative – that determine the implementation of multi-tier suppliers' social sustainability practices. The key reported drivers were buyers' requirements, external stakeholders' expectations, top management commitment and competition. Conversely, cost and resource concerns and gaps in the regulatory framework were identified as key social sustainability implementation barriers. In particular, owners and managers of second-tier and third-tier supplier firms experienced more internal barriers such as cost and resource concerns than external barriers such as gaps in values, learning and commitment (i.e. compromise for mutual benefit and non-disclosure of non-compliance) that impeded effective social sustainability implementation.
Research limitations/implications
Social sustainability in supply chain management has received significant attention from academics, business practitioners, governments, NGOs and supranational organisations. However, limited attention has been paid to investigating the drivers and barriers for social sustainability implementation from a developing country's multi-tier supplier perspective. The authors' research has addressed this knowledge gap.
Practical implications
The evidence from the authors' study provides robust support for key assumptions of institutional theory and has useful implications for both managers and policy-makers.
Originality/value
The authors' study contributes to the embryonic research stream of socially sustainable multi-tier supply chain management by connecting it to the application of institutional theory in a challenging institutional context.
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Shobod Deba Nath and Gabriel Eweje
The purpose of this study is to examine how multi-tier suppliers respond to the institutional pressures for the implementation of sustainable supply management (SSM) practices in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how multi-tier suppliers respond to the institutional pressures for the implementation of sustainable supply management (SSM) practices in supply chains, and what institutional logics allow them to do so.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a qualitative research design, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 46 owners and managers of multi-tier suppliers and 18 key informants of diverse stakeholders. Following an abductive approach, institutional theory conceptually guides the analytical iteration processes between theory and interview data.
Findings
The findings demonstrate two kinds of thematic responses to institutional pressures – coupling (good side) and decoupling (dark side) of the supply chain – used by the factory management of multi-tier suppliers. This paper also identifies multiple institutional logics – market-led logic, values-led logic and holistic sustainability logic – that are perceived to conflict (trade-offs) and complement (synergies) the SSM implementation.
Research limitations/implications
By investigating the perspectives of the factory management of upstream apparel suppliers, this study enhances the understanding of the connection between (de)coupling responses and institutional logics inside the multi-tier supplier firms. Further research would be required to include more downstream tiers including the ultimate users.
Practical implications
The findings may be of particular attention to brand-owning apparel retailers, industry leaders and policymakers who are seeking to understand multi-tier suppliers' challenges, conflicts and (de)coupling responses, and become aware of how they can be dealt with.
Originality/value
This study contributes to and expands the embryonic research stream of sustainable multi-tier supply chain management by connecting it to the wider application of institutional theory.
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Shobod Deba Nath, Gabriel Eweje and Aymen Sajjad
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how sub-suppliers decouple the implementation of sustainable supply management practices in supply chains, and what institutional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how sub-suppliers decouple the implementation of sustainable supply management practices in supply chains, and what institutional logics permit these suppliers to do so.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a qualitative design, we conducted 23 in-depth semi-structured interviews with owners and managers of apparel sub-suppliers. To corroborate research findings, the views of owners and managers were triangulated by further interviewing 18 key representatives of wide-ranging institutional actors.
Findings
The findings suggest that owners and managers of sub-suppliers use two decoupling responses: (1) consensual strategy to compromise sustainability requirements (2) concealment strategy. In addition, this paper identifies multiple institutional types of conflicting logics: instrumental logic, legitimacy logic complexity and gaps in normative logic, which interplay amongst sub-suppliers whereby permit to decouple the implementation of supply management practices.
Research limitations/implications
While the current paper provides an early contribution from the perspectives of second-tier and third-tier suppliers, future research could be extended to include further upstream sub-suppliers and downstream tiers including the end consumers.
Practical implications
It is important for brand-owning retailers and first-tier suppliers to predict sub-suppliers' decoupling behaviour and conflicts for supply management practices implementation since they may present potential vulnerability for buyers and lead suppliers.
Originality/value
This study extends the application of institutional theory and contributes to the literature on extended suppliers' supply management practices in a developing country context, which is an under-researched area.
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The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies' (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies' (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the scepticism of stakeholders in the producing communities about the long‐term effect and the beneficiaries of the oil companies' CSR/community development initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper employs a qualitative methodology, drawing on semi‐structured interviews conducted in Nigeria and London. The field work was carried out in Nigeria (Abuja, Lagos and Port‐Harcourt) and in London, UK. Visits were made to the head offices of the MOCs; Ministry of Petroleum and the Nigeria National Petroleum Commission; and the office of The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People in the Niger Delta. In London, Shell International Office was visited.
Findings
The study found that expectations of host communities in the Niger Delta for CSR/community development initiatives are greater. The communities above all want social development projects that provide hope of a stable and prosperous future. The companies, on the other hand, have embraced development initiatives primarily in order to demonstrate that they are socially responsible.
Practical implications
If the host communities do not feel that the CSR projects will create a sustainable economic development, they will keep agitating for change and create an hostile environment for multinational enterprises (MNEs).
Originality/value
This research adds to the literature on MNEs' CSR initiatives in developing countries and rationale for demands for social projects by host communities. It concludes that business has an obligation to help in solving problems of public concern.
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