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1 – 10 of over 2000Massimiliano Di Bitetto, Salvatore Pettineo and Paolo D’Anselmi
Public sector absorbs a sizeable part of each country’s GDP. Therefore, public organisations are not performing very well at the economic level of responsibility. Consequently, we…
Abstract
Purpose
Public sector absorbs a sizeable part of each country’s GDP. Therefore, public organisations are not performing very well at the economic level of responsibility. Consequently, we argue that in order to build better and more responsible public organisations we need to improve their economic responsibility. This chapter presents a prospective action of social media for business to intervene in public administration reform. We envision a possible course of action that may introduce CSR in the public sector thanks to social media collective action.
Methodology/approach
The framework of this study will make a reference to the theory of socio-technological media de Kerckhove and Pierre Lévy, and on a survey of the literature of citizen activism through social media to answer the question: new media, new message?
It is a new perspective action of social media for business-government relations. We identify a possible theory that leverages the ‘koinè’ of multinational brands to address government effectiveness. The names of multinational companies are the same all over the world, like the ‘Koine’ Greek, and are now a common element in all languages of the world. Citizens and consumers pay a great deal of attention to brands. Multinationals spend millions of dollars every year in public relations (PR) and marketing precisely in order to manage their reputations and images and respond to the requests that consumers have of big corporations. The greatest threat to the reputation of a company or a multinational brand comes, in fact, via the Internet, which has become the most powerful weapon in the hands of interest groups. The object of this research is to explore whether stakeholders can join forces with corporations and use global media to monitor governments in the same way.
Findings
The citizens of governments and the customers of global corporations – in different countries in the world – seem to be isolated islands: all endure their own battle without the possibility of drawing attention from other parts of the world through social media.
The citizens can exercise pressure on the governments and public administrations the same way as what happens against the brands. It behoves us to ensure responsible behaviour from all. We propose an extension of the use of social media to monitor behaviour of governments as effectively as they are used to monitor behaviour of the corporations.
Research limitations/implications
The stakeholder approach to CSR action and reporting implies that the relevant stakeholders of the organisation be listened to, and this listening be accounted for in the CSR report. These groups are also called the ‘publics’ of the organisation. We contend that the stakeholder approach might be misused and end up in collusion with sections of the publics involved.
The stakeholder approach leads an organisation to try to engage with the wrong counterparts. This is an over-rating of stakeholders.
Therefore, everything that is not taken into account under the headline of the stakeholder approach we call ‘stewardship for the unknown stakeholder’. The theoretical bases of this value reside in the vast literature on non-maximising, non-efficient, non-effective behaviour by firms and by the employees especially.
Thus, the first task in drawing up a CSR or sustainability report is to identify the possible unknown stakeholders; that is, those who do have a stake but don’t know they do; those who have a stake too small to care about but who are numerous.
Practical implications
If we complain about Apple, many in the world will join in; if we complain about the companies that manage the ‘garis’ (as the Portuguese call a garbage collector of Rio de Janeiro) nobody outside Brazil thinks it matters. But in fact, this is not true!
To paraphrase Leo Tolstoy in Anna Karenina, ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’. Each local public administration will have its own problems, but all in the same way contribute to the well-being or mismanagement of a territory and its citizens. All, to some extent, ill-treated the citizens through their ineffectively.
The CSR should be for everyone and a global movement of citizens asking for responsible governments around the world could be the solution for the well-being of the individual peoples. Let the people’s rights emerge vis-à-vis perceived needs and outrage about the ineffectiveness of public administration that too often lose the name of action.
In summary, the proposal is the extension of the use of social media to monitor behaviour of governments as effectively as they are used to monitor behaviour of the corporations.
Originality/value
We propose a covenant between consumers/taxpayers in order to extend the CSR to governments and public administration. The citizens can exercise pressure on the governments and public administrations the same way as what happens against the brands. It behoves us to ensure responsible behaviour from all. We propose an extension of the use of social media to monitor behaviour of governments as effectively as they are used to monitor behaviour of the corporations, with the help of the same corporations.
Companies would join consumers for two main reasons: because there are clear signs that their company’s reputation is being harmed by the conflict, and because their market performance dips, coinciding with pressure from stakeholders. Our proposal goes beyond this and proposes the concept of a novel social figure: the unknown stakeholder.
This paper addresses how local retailers remain resilient in negotiating the lead up to and immediate aftermath of two major disasters (Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae) within a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper addresses how local retailers remain resilient in negotiating the lead up to and immediate aftermath of two major disasters (Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae) within a developing urban context (Dagupan City, Pangasinan). It highlights the specific mechanisms by which urban traders engage the Philippines’ more pervasive and highly resilient “culture of disaster” vis-à-vis conditions of chronic natural hazard.
Methodology/approach
This study relies predominately on the traditional anthropological techniques of participant observation and informal/semi-structured interviews to gather relevant project data. Supplementing these two core methods are findings derived from secondary sources like local and provincial newspapers, government records, public and university libraries, and census findings.
Findings
Findings suggest that a continual cycle of disaster impact and response does not overtly affect small retailers’ entrepreneurial initiative. It becomes clear that a persistent threat of natural hazards fosters a rather fatalistic sense of self-reliance.
Research limitations/implications
Study was designed and funded as a quick-response study; therefore, the research timeframe was rather compressed and the informant pool somewhat limited.
Social implications
The Philippines is widely recognized as a “culture of disaster” given its volatile position along the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire” and “Typhoon Alley.” This distinction assumes added dimension as the effects of global climate change become increasingly pervasive at the local level.
Originality/value
This paper adds ethnographic detail to a growing body of data on small business resilience within disaster prone areas of the Global South amid intensifying global climate change.
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The objective of this chapter is to explain how an innovation-driven economic development model can help to mitigate corruption and facilitate competitiveness in Nigeria.
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this chapter is to explain how an innovation-driven economic development model can help to mitigate corruption and facilitate competitiveness in Nigeria.
Methodology/approach
With the use of descriptive narratives, Nigeria was examined in comparison with other countries such as South Korea. The chapter argues that Nigeria has not experienced development as much as South Korea because of her primary dependence on crude oil for economic sustenance.
Findings
Evidence from the statistics showed that innovation-driven economies are more competitive and less corrupt compared to natural resource-driven economies such as Nigeria. Nigeria has performed poorly in terms of competitiveness, transparency, and governance owing to her dependence on natural resources as a major means for economic sustenance.
Originality/value
Helps to explain why an innovation-driven economic development model is the solution to mitigating corruption and facilitating competitiveness in Nigeria.
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Olumide Olaoye and Olatunji Afolabi
This paper investigates whether institutional environment influences the relationship government spending and economic growth in ECOWAS over the period 2008–2017.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates whether institutional environment influences the relationship government spending and economic growth in ECOWAS over the period 2008–2017.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts the recently developed panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) by Abrigo and Love (2015) and a two-step system generalised method of moment (GMM).
Findings
The results from the study show no evidence of either unidirectional or bidirectional causal relationship between government spending and economic growth in ECOWAS. Our findings reveal that government spending when associated with high level of corruption, oversized government and a waste of public resources will not cause economic growth.
Originality/value
Unlike previous studies, we resolve the inherent problems of endogeneity and persistence in economic data. Likewise, we depart from existing studies that examined the causal relationship in a bivariate framework and adopt a trivariate causality testing.
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Maria Daniela Giammanco, Lara Gitto and Ferdinando Ofria
Non-performing loans (NPLs) may determine an overall weakness of the banking system within a country. The purpose of the present study is to analyze the impact of government…
Abstract
Purpose
Non-performing loans (NPLs) may determine an overall weakness of the banking system within a country. The purpose of the present study is to analyze the impact of government failures on NPLs in Asian countries in the time span 2000–2020. The variables employed as proxies of government failures are public debt as % of gross domestic product (GDP) and a government ineffectiveness index proposed by the World Bank.
Design/methodology/approach
The econometric approach employed is a panel generalised time series (GLS) model with heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation specific to each panel.
Findings
The results confirm that public debt as % of GDP and governmental ineffectiveness impacted significantly on NPLs for Asian countries in the observed period.
Originality/value
The literature offers similar results only for some individual Asian countries, while a wider analysis is lacking for Asian macroareas. The present paper considers 31 Asian countries, and supports the idea that a healthy financial sector is correlated to institutional quality and political regime. Hence, policy makers are advised to monitor governance indicators to reduce NPLs.
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Astrid Rudyanto, Sidharta Utama, Dwi Martani and Desi Adhariani
This paper aims to investigate the roles of corruption and tax allocation inefficiency in moderating the effect of tax aggressiveness on sustainable welfare.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the roles of corruption and tax allocation inefficiency in moderating the effect of tax aggressiveness on sustainable welfare.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a fixed-effect multiple regression analysis for 55,438 firm-year observations covering 22 countries from 2007 to 2017.
Findings
For less (more) tax-aggressive observations, corruption and tax allocation inefficiency strengthen the negative (positive) effect of tax aggressiveness on sustainable welfare. The results are in line with public choice and functionalism theories that suggest that private investments can increase welfare when governments are dysfunctional.
Practical implications
This paper shows that the effect of tax aggressiveness on sustainable welfare depends on tax aggressiveness, corruption and tax allocation inefficiency.
Social implications
This paper implies that governments should reduce their corruption levels and increase tax allocation efficiency because private investments are ineffective in the long run.
Originality/value
Because of increasing awareness of sustainability issue, sustainable welfare is considered more relevant than traditional welfare. Hence, empirical studies on the effect of tax aggressiveness on sustainable welfare are crucial. This paper adds the literature by combining public choice and functionalism theories to investigate the moderating roles of corruption and tax allocation inefficiency in this issue.
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Foreign governments do not always welcome international humanitarian organizations responding to a disaster in their country. Many governments even impose restrictions on…
Abstract
Purpose
Foreign governments do not always welcome international humanitarian organizations responding to a disaster in their country. Many governments even impose restrictions on humanitarian supply chains through import barriers, travel restrictions or excessive bureaucracy. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these restrictions and try to identify the government characteristics that best explain the tendency to impose such restrictions.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a multiple case study among four international humanitarian organizations the authors identify and analyze the restrictions imposed on humanitarian supply chains in 143 different programs. The authors compare the average number of restrictions per country with different governmental and socio-economic situational factors.
Findings
The authors find that state fragility, a combination of government ineffectiveness and illegitimacy, is the characteristic that best explains the tendency of a government to impose restrictions on humanitarian supply chains.
Practical implications
Knowing that fragile states tend to impose a high number of restrictions helps humanitarian organizations to prepare adequately before entering a country with a fragile government. The organization can, for example, anticipate possible concerns and establish trust with the government. Commercial companies starting to do business in such country can learn from this knowledge.
Originality/value
Multiple studies have mentioned the strong impact of governments on humanitarian supply chains, but no paper has yet analyzed this problem in detail. The paper is the first to identify the characteristics that explain the number of restrictions governments impose on humanitarian supply chains, and what humanitarian organizations can do to address them.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the socio‐demographic factors affecting food safety knowledge/practice and the effectiveness of food safety strategies of hawkers in an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the socio‐demographic factors affecting food safety knowledge/practice and the effectiveness of food safety strategies of hawkers in an urban and less urban setting of Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 50 hawkers from Kuala Lumpur and Taiping were given a questionnaire and observed in their food safety practice (FSP). In‐depth interviews were performed on four hawkers from Kuala Lumpur and Taiping.
Practical implications
Of all hawker types, Muslim/Malay hawkers, hawkers with higher educational levels, hawkers in designated sites and hawkers in an urban setting scored the highest on food safety knowledge and/or practice. This study found inadequate distribution/impracticality of regulations/guidelines for hawkers, ambiguities with licensing procedures, weaknesses in training programmes and significant complaints of designated sites by hawkers.
Originality/value
Ethnicity, religion, education and type of premise are socio‐demographic factors that may affect food safety knowledge/practices of hawkers. An urban/less urban setting may also affect hawkers' food safety knowledge/practice. Ineffectiveness of food safety strategies of the Control Authority may exist and may vary across different regions of Malaysia. Thus, food safety strategies must be regulated/reinforced and adapted to hawkers' socio‐demographic status, to ensure the safety of hawker foods in Malaysia.
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This is bad news for the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), which has been losing support thanks to El Salvador’s weak security situation and widespread…
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB230250
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
The purpose of this paper is to discuss and assess the consecutive Governments' policy for coal (1989‐2006) in the context of the systemic transformation of the Polish economy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss and assess the consecutive Governments' policy for coal (1989‐2006) in the context of the systemic transformation of the Polish economy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a critical analysis of the rationale and effectiveness of government efforts to restructure the Polish coal mining industry in the light of economic theory, published literature, and a survey of three collieries. Some parallels, toutes proportions gardées, are drawn between the situation in the UK under Margaret Thatcher and that in Poland.
Findings
The paper argues that, despite throwing billions of zlotys at the industry in the form of direct subsidies and debt write‐offs, decision makers failed to make the collieries economically sound. The weaknesses of the consecutive governments – manifesting itself, amongst other things, in the unwillingness and/or inability to confront the miners' unions, to introduce market mechanisms into the sector, to ensure competent management and, crucially, to press on with nationwide economic liberalisation – are seen as the principal reasons behind the failure.
Practical implications
The paper highlights the root causes of government ineffectiveness as well as aspires to provide policy recommendations with a view to rendering the Polish coal industry economically viable in a free‐market reality.
Originality/value
It presents the coal mining industry as a relic of socialism and highlights the inconsistencies and inadequacies of the consecutive restructuring programmes; concludes that restructuring efforts – to be truly effective – have to be co‐ordinated with nationwide economic liberalisation.
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