Search results

This paper aims to explore the barriers to accessing mental health support for people experiencing multiple disadvantage along with some potential solutions for attempting to overcome these. It draws on evidence and learning from 12 voluntary sector-led partnerships in England funded by the National Lottery Community Fund’s Fulfilling Lives programme.

Qualitative research was undertaken with frontline staff, senior leaders, volunteers, beneficiaries and stakeholders from Fulfilling Lives partnerships. This comprised focus groups (21 participants) and individual face-to-face interviews (41 participants), both of which explored barriers and local solutions to accessing statutory mental health services. Following a thematic analysis of transcripts, research participants and stakeholders were invited to a face-to-face workshop to review and validate emerging findings (34 participants).

People experiencing multiple disadvantage face significant barriers in accessing support for their mental health. These include a complex system that is difficult to navigate, long waiting lists, high eligibility thresholds and models of support that lack flexibility. Fulfilling Lives partnerships have had the funding and the flexibility to trial different approaches. Promising solutions to barriers include the use of navigators, person-centred support and multi-agency networks and training. However, overcoming systemic barriers remains the most difficult challenge.

Fulfilling Lives was a rare example of substantial and long-term (eight years) funding to work with people experiencing multiple disadvantage. This provided a unique opportunity to try different approaches and gather learning. The programme evaluation provides insights into the experiences of people facing multiple disadvantage and those who support them and offers evidence-based suggestions for policy and practice.

This paper is motivated by the absence of rules that govern the practice of corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the corporate governance factors that impact the quality of CSRD. This study further examines the moderating role of family ownership and educational qualifications of female directors on the relation between board gender diversity and CSRD quality.

This study adopts a sample of 94 non-financial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange to collect data on CSRD based on a checklist of 41 items for seven years from 2010–2016. The quality of CSRD is measured using a four-dimensional method that encompasses relative quantity, disclosure intensity, degree of accuracy and management outlook.

This study finds that CSRD quality is far from satisfactory in Jordan. The results also suggest that board size, auditor type, company size and profitability are positively associated with CSRD quality. On the other hand, factors such as chief executive officer duality, board diversity, ownership concentration and financial leverage are negatively associated with CSRD quality. In addition, the results of the empirical analysis suggest that the negative relationship between the quality of CSRD and the presence of female board members is stronger for family-owned companies. By contrast, the negative relationship between the quality of CSRD and the presence of female board members is weakened when the company has more educated, skilled and qualified female directors.

The originality of this study is manifested in the development of a quantitative measurement of CSRD quality.

This study examines the impact of two different types of foreign ownership—by Arab and non-Arab investors on firms' financial and social performance. It then goes on to investigate how the degree of board independence affects the aforementioned relationship between these two types of foreign investors on firm performance.

The sample for the study is a panel of all listed firms in the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and the Abu Dhabi Securities exchange (ADX) from 2008 to 2012.

Results indicate that while Arab foreign ownership affects firms' financial and social performance negatively, non-Arab foreign ownership does so, positively. Further tests indicate that board independence weakens the negative relationship between firm financial and social performance with foreign Arab ownership and deteriorate the relationship between firm financial and social performance and non-Arab foreign ownership.

Future studies may extend the coverage of the study by including other countries in the region and other identities of the foreign investors.

This study may help policy makers in the UAE to improve the implementation and enforcement of existing regulations concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR) and board independence. It also highlights the need to look into the monitoring role of independent board members.

This is the first study to examine the role of board independence on the relationship between foreign ownership and firm's financial and social performance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that attempts to enrich the understanding of foreign ownership by classifying it into Arab versus non-Arab.

The purpose of this paper is to inform the business management literature that focuses on the perceptions of business professionals towards the multidimensional and highly complex concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This study is based on a sample of 118 Greek business executives/middle managers having different functional positions. A questionnaire based on the works of Quazi and O’Brien (2000) and Welford et al. (2007) was designed and used for data collection.

Key findings denote occupational health and safety, benign environmental management as well as responsible production methods as the top CSR priorities. Two different CSR viewpoints emerged from the factor analysis reflecting a pragmatic and a more socially responsive interpretation of corporate responsibility. Cluster analysis confirmed such contrasting perspectives allowing the partition of data in distinctive groups according to the relative inclination on either of the identified viewpoints. Similarity measures obtained from cluster analysis also verified the different CSR positions.

The paper explores CSR perceptions, as predictor factors of CSR performance, in three different groups of Greek business professionals. It contributes to the literature of CSR perspectives from South-East European countries where there is a distinct lack of empirical studies on managerial attitudes.

The aim of this study is to determine key factors and processes for multinational companies (MNCs) to develop an effective stakeholder engagement and sustainable development (SD) framework.

A qualitative multiple-case approach was used. A triangulation method was adopted (interviews, archival documents and observations) to collect data on three global firms (MNCs). Nine senior executives were interviewed for this study (three from each firm). An initial literature review was conducted to explore possible practices and factors (the deductive approach) to SD. Interview data were analysed using Nvivo to obtain appropriate nodes and themes for the framework. A comparison of findings from interview data, archival data, factors, themes and cross cases comparison were used to develop the final conceptual framework (the inductive approach).

The results suggested that stakeholder engagement is a key mediator between “stakeholder network” (internal and external factors) and outcomes (corporate social responsibility, social capital, shared value and SD). Key internal factors such as human capital/talent, technology, culture, leadership and processes such as collaboration, knowledge sharing and co-creation of value with stakeholders were identified. These internal factors and processes must be integrated and aligned with external factors such as social, political, cultural, environment and NGOs to achieve effective stakeholder engagement.

This study has captured the insight of how MNCs developed their SD strategies. Accessing internal data from MNCs is always a challenge and in-depth qualitative approach is warranted here to obtain underlying strategies, processes and meaning to SD in MNCs.

This paper aims to investigate whether and how better corporate governance practices can lead to philanthropic behavior among companies in the UK. In particular, this study attempts to determine whether corporate governance quality in general, as well as its specific mechanisms, affects corporate giving.

The analysis is based on a sample of Financial Times Stock Exchange All-Share nonfinancial companies. Data on firm donations, including donations amount and donations intensity, were manually collected from companies’ annual reports for the period 2018–2020. This paper uses panel data models to examine the research hypotheses.

The results of this study indicate that both donations amount and donations intensity are positively associated with the practice of better corporate governance. Board independence is positively associated with donations amount, but not with the intensity of donations. Furthermore, board size, board gender diversity and the establishment of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee are likely to have a positive impact on the amount and the intensity of firms’ donations. However, neither the chief executive officer board membership nor the audit committee’s independence is related to the firm’s donations.

This study sheds light on specific governance factors that affect firm donations in the context of UK companies. This allows regulators and legislators to evaluate the donations activities in the country and issue more directives to reinforce corporate governance practices that support corporate donations. In addition, the findings of this study are considered crucial to investors who prefer investing in companies with significant CSR-related activities to improve the value relevance of their investments.

This study provides a shred of unique evidence on the impact of corporate governance practices on firms’ donations.

Environmentalism has become one of the key management concerns of the 1990s but many organizations are experiencing problems in incorporating environmental principles into their accepted management practices. Examines the development of environmental management systems (EMS) and considers how they may be implemented. Discusses the importance of legal and social requirements, the organization′s culture and the adaptation of its value systems to enable effective implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and its relation to institutional investor (INSV) of Jordanian private listed companies (PLCs).

A unique sample of 159 largest companies over “a period of 8-years” listed on the ASE in terms of market capitalisation during the 2005-2012 period. Testing of hypotheses has been conducted by applying multivariate regression techniques using longitudinal data analysis of companies’ annual reports.

Results which confirmed earlier estimations indicated that there are positive and significant relationships between CSR disclosure (CSRD) and INSV. This result indicates that among the CSRD dimensions, INSVs are less concerned with companies engaging in community contribution practices and those related to the community involvement and product dimension in which the company operates.

Jordanian PLCs should be encouraged to be involved in CSR activities as one of their program strategies in attracting investment, as well as to improve their reputation and image in their social activities.

This paper conducts a comprehensive empirical evidence on the development of the relationship between the CSRD dimensions and INSV in Jordanian PLCs as an emerging market, where much existing evidence exists on this issue that may help in explaining difference in prior work.

The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.