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11 – 20 of over 58000Amanpreet Kaur and Sumit K. Lodhia
This paper aims to explore the key issues and challenges that can affect the quality of stakeholder engagement processes and outcomes in relation to sustainability reporting.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the key issues and challenges that can affect the quality of stakeholder engagement processes and outcomes in relation to sustainability reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
Case study research was used to gain in-depth insights into the stakeholder engagement practices of three Australian local councils.
Findings
The findings of this study suggest that the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement can be undermined by certain difficulties and challenges faced by an organisation. These include limited resources, lack of commitment from internal stakeholders, political factors, heterogeneous concerns, inadequate representation and an unwillingness to engage.
Research limitations/implications
The study adds to the limited literature on stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting specifically and on sustainability accounting and reporting in public sector organisations (PSOs) more generally.
Practical implications
This research provides practical guidance to government authorities on the challenges that need to be addressed to enable an effective stakeholder engagement process for sustainability reporting.
Social implications
Stakeholders have a critical role in holding organisations accountable and research into their engagement with these organisations has societal benefits.
Originality/value
This research while focused on the Australian context has international relevance as it provides unique insights into the stakeholder engagement process. The implications of this research apply to not just PSOs but also corporations that are grappling with the (difficult) process of effective engagement with stakeholders.
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Olga Dziubaniuk, Maria Ivanova-Gongne and Ekaterina Berdysheva
This study aims to explore the challenges and complexities of interaction in international stakeholder networks within the context of projects focused on the implementation of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the challenges and complexities of interaction in international stakeholder networks within the context of projects focused on the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs). In particular, it examines the challenges faced by stakeholders in a network from a developed country during interaction in the context of a developing country.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative approach, this study analyses interview data collected from the key managers of an international consulting company in charge of a water supply and sanitation project in Nepal. The primary data is triangulated with secondary data, such as project reports and related academic articles.
Findings
This study illustrates how interaction in international stakeholder networks affects and is interrelated with SDGs, as well as how aiming to achieve one specific goal can stimulate the implementation of other sustainable goals. Further, this research shows how project managers from a developed country had to adapt to the specifics of the developing country context and how their sustainability project influenced the well-being of local communities by improving environmental and social sustainability.
Research limitations/implications
The research suggests that challenges in stakeholder interaction may arise because of differences in process management methods used by the international stakeholders involved in the project and country-context specifics, such as corruption, imperfect national regulations, cultural specifics, effects of climate change, etc.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature on international multi-stakeholder interaction between actors from developed and developing countries. Furthermore, it adds to the literature on stakeholder networking by highlighting the importance of engaging in a dialogue with local communities during the conceptualisation stages of both sustainability and SDG implementation because of diverging worldviews and practices.
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The aim of this chapter is to show how new players in an emerging market, through their multinationals, have strategized and operationalised their international interests. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this chapter is to show how new players in an emerging market, through their multinationals, have strategized and operationalised their international interests. This international context consists of various stakeholders: states, civil society organisations, multinationals, local communities and institutions which define and regulate the power relations. This study highlights how CNPCIC, a Chinese multinational owned by the state, designs and implements its proclaimed ‘win-win’ cooperation strategy with its host country and the local community for an oil extraction project – called the Rônier Project – in southern Chad.
Methodology/approach
The analysis is based on a case study approach, especially concerning the town of Koudalwa, the oil-producing area in southern Chad. The author conducted qualitative research to collect the data, using ethnographic strategies consisting of field research, interviews with stakeholders.
Findings
Negative externalities as consequences of practices from CNPCIC underlie environmental degradation, socio-economic conflicts and governance problems, despite the existence of an alleged regulatory framework, the role of which is to avert the ‘resource curse’.
Organisations of local and international civil society oscillate between the logic of cooperation, alliance and confrontation with their main stakeholders, CNPCIC and the government.
The ‘win-win’ cooperation advocated by China is implemented in the form of commercial cooperation with full mercantilism where CNPCIC benefits from oil, the Chadian state benefits from oil revenue in the form of royalties and other stakeholders, such as the local communities, only benefit from a fraction of the revenues. The chapter concludes that, within this oil project, CNPCIC developed a corporate diplomacy stance within which, according to the circumstances, predation, philanthropy and strategic alliance are valued at the expense of corporate responsibility despite civil society advocacy for a responsible extraction.
Research limitations
Some stakeholders of the project declined the invitation to participate in the research. This may have influenced its findings.
Originality/value
The value of this chapter resides in the use of various theories (corporate diplomacy, stakeholder theory, resource curse) to explain the practices and interests of stakeholders within an oil project at different scales, both local and international.
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Paul A. Griffin and Estelle Y. Sun
This study examines the relation between voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and the local religious norms of firms’ stakeholders. Little is known about how…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the relation between voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and the local religious norms of firms’ stakeholders. Little is known about how these local norms (measured at the county level) affect firms’ disclosure practices and firm value, especially voluntary disclosure on climate change and environmental and social responsibility.
Design/methodology/approach
Poisson regression models test for a significant relation between firms’ voluntary CSR disclosure intensity and the local religious norms of firms’ stakeholders. Also, an event study tests whether the local religious norms affect investment returns. The data analyzed are extracted from the archive of CSRwire, a prominent news organization that distributes CSR news to investors and the public worldwide.
Findings
The study finds that firms in high adherence (high churchgoer) locations disclose CSR activities less frequently, and firms in high affiliation (a high proportion of non-evangelical Christian churchgoers) locations disclose CSR activities more frequently. The study also finds that managers make firm-value-increasing CSR disclosure decisions that cater to the religious and social norms of the local community.
Practical implications
The results imply that managers self-identify with the local religious norms of stakeholders and appropriately disclose less about CSR activities when religious adherence is high and when religious affiliation (the ratio of non-evangelicals to evangelical Christians) is low. The authors find this noteworthy because religious bodies often call for greater CSR involvement and disclosure. Yet, at the firm level, it would appear that local community religious norms also prevail, as it is shown that they significantly explain firms’ CSR disclosure behavior, implying that managers cater to local religious norms in their disclosure decisions.
Social implications
The findings suggest that managers vary the timing and intensity of voluntary CSR disclosure consistent with stakeholders’ local religious and social norms and that it would be costly and inefficient if the firms were to expand CSR disclosure without considering the religious norms of their local community.
Originality value
This is the first large-sample study to show that local religious norms affect CSR disclosure behavior. The study makes use of a unique and novel data set obtained exclusively from CSRwire.
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How does distance influence the type of corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation strategy the subsidiaries of a multinational enterprise (MNE) adopt? In this chapter…
Abstract
How does distance influence the type of corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation strategy the subsidiaries of a multinational enterprise (MNE) adopt? In this chapter, I argue that the relationship between distance and CSR relies on the subsidiaries’ relative need for internal versus external legitimacy. I propose that, on average, subsidiaries that are more distant from the MNE’s home country pay more attention to the demands of their local stakeholders compared to those of their headquarters because they want to acquire local legitimacy. I propose that this local prioritization will broaden the set of practices that distant subsidiaries implement on a certain CSR issue as they try to satisfy a larger set of stakeholders but reduce the extent to which they implement each of them. Furthermore, I expect that dependence on the parent MNE should limit the effect of distance on local prioritization, and therefore reduce the overall negative relationship between distance and CSR implementation level and focus. And finally, in case of high local stakeholders’ consensus, the overall negative relationship between distance and CSR implementation level and focus should again be assuaged. Thus, by looking at the subsidiaries’ simultaneous need for internal and external legitimacy and introducing the moderating effects of dependence on the parent and consensus among local stakeholders, this chapter nurtures the current discussions on the impact of distance on CSR implementation in MNEs.
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Charles Amoatey and Mawuena Vincent Kodzo Hayibor
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) for effective project stakeholder management at the local government level in Ghana.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) for effective project stakeholder management at the local government level in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used data from questionnaires administered to project stakeholders for identifying and ranking CSFs.
Findings
The study identified the top five CSFs for stakeholder management at the local government level in Ghana to be: communicating with and engaging stakeholders; identifying stakeholders properly; formulating a clear project mission statement; keeping and promoting good relationships; and analyzing stakeholder conflicts and coalitions.
Research limitations/implications
Generalization of the findings should be done with caution since the scope of data collection was limited to district assemblies in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Nevertheless the results of the study are, however, useful and indicative and can lend direction to future research.
Practical implications
This paper has contributed to the growing body of knowledge related to CSFs for local government projects. The results should help understand factors which are of priority to stakeholders when assessing their involvement in projects. Further, the findings could form the basis for competency development of local government personnel in specific areas where improvements are required.
Originality/value
The paper identified CSFs for effective project stakeholder management at the local level. Most studies on critical factors in project environments have focused on CSFs and project success and thus this study delves into an area which has not received much attention in the literature.
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Husam AlWaer, Susan Rintoul and Ian Cooper
Design-led events are known under a range of different titles such charrettes, participatory placemaking, co-design and enquiry by design. Rather than being standalone, such…
Abstract
Purpose
Design-led events are known under a range of different titles such charrettes, participatory placemaking, co-design and enquiry by design. Rather than being standalone, such events form one single step in a multi-stage collaborative planning process. What comes after them has to be acknowledged as important to their effective contribution to collaborative planning. To date, no coherent body of empirical evidence on the aftermath of events has been published demonstrating critical factors that contribute to their success.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper’s significance resides in identifying an extended framework for the stages in the collaborative planning process and in highlighting critical issues for ensuring that the aspirations and concerns expressed by stakeholders throughout the process are acted on and delivered, namely, subsequent decision-making and delivery; follow-on support, resourcing and funding; the legal status of events and related governance issues; and appropriate monitoring and evaluation practices.
Findings
The paper provides guidance for professional and local stakeholders who are expected to carry the burden of acting on the outputs arising from such events. To be successful, collaborative planning has to be based on longitudinal stakeholder engagement – both long before but also after such events. It is here that the significance of the results reported here lie.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper lies in its attempt to broaden understanding of what happens in collaborative planning following design-led events, drawing on interviews with professional and lay participants in events held across Scotland over the past decade.
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Radiah Othman, Fawzi Laswad and Nirmala Nath
The purpose of this paper is to examine local councils’ response to the Environmental Reporting Act 2015(ERA), stakeholder identification and implications for the state of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine local councils’ response to the Environmental Reporting Act 2015(ERA), stakeholder identification and implications for the state of the environment management and monitoring of by local councils in New Zealand.
Design/methodology/approach
Informed by stakeholder salience theory, this study uses an interpretative approach in analysing survey data collected from all 78 local councils. Ninety-two key individuals responded to the survey which was administered a month before the Environmental Reporting Bill was passed as an Act.
Findings
The findings suggest that focus and priorities of the councils varied depending on the influential power of various group stakeholders. Legal requirements were a very significant factor for reporting environmental sustainability information and the availability of funding and resources posed a significant challenge. Environmental sustainability was considered as both a risk and an opportunity. Compliance with legislation was the utmost priority of the local councils.
Research limitations/implications
The results suggest that stakeholders with power received more attention from the local councils. In addition, the tension between the central government, the elected representatives and the public became apparent.
Originality/value
This paper offers insight on how the local councils viewed risks, opportunities and potential implications of a new legislation, and whether the stakeholders were considered in these contexts.
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Ian Smith, Katie Williams, Diane Hopkins, Jennifer Joynt, Catherine Payne and Rajat Gupta
This paper presents new research on the potential pathways for integrated adaptation that could make England's suburbs more resilient to future climate conditions. It focuses on…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents new research on the potential pathways for integrated adaptation that could make England's suburbs more resilient to future climate conditions. It focuses on the role of central government, local agencies and householders in making adaptations to the built and natural environment.
Design/methodology
This paper uses evidence from three facilitated workshops run with built environment and policy professionals associated with climate change adaptation in three cities in England: Oxford, Bristol and Stockport. The workshop contributions are presented in relation to the potential role that central government, local agencies and residents could play in adapting suburbs.
Findings
Central government, local agencies and householders form an interconnected network of agents responsible for adaptive action in suburbs. Professional and institutional stakeholders expect central government to take a lead and ensure planning policies and building regulations support effective adaptation. However, those local authorities and agencies that are expected to offer leadership locally do not have the resources to make adaptation happen on the ground. Overall, the stakeholders in this research believe that effective adaptation in suburbs may only happen once householders and government have experienced worsening climatic conditions. This could be a very costly stance in the long term.
Originality/value
This paper provides empirical evidence on how stakeholders engaged in suburban adaptation are making changes now, and on how they envisage change in the future. It reveals clearly the challenges involved in integrating mitigation and adaptation actions and highlight the complexities around implementation on the ground.
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Silvia Gaia and Michael John Jones
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of narratives in biodiversity reports as a mechanism to raise the awareness of biodiversity’s importance. By classifying…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of narratives in biodiversity reports as a mechanism to raise the awareness of biodiversity’s importance. By classifying biodiversity narratives into 14 categories of biodiversity values this paper investigates whether the explanations for biodiversity conservation used by UK local councils are line with shallow, intermediate or deep philosophies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used content analysis to examine the disclosures on biodiversity’s importance in the biodiversity action plans published by UK local councils. The narratives were first identified and then allocated into 14 categories of biodiversity value. Then, they were ascribed to either shallow (resource conservation, human welfare ecology and preservationism), intermediate (environmental stewardship and moral extensionism) or deep philosophies.
Findings
UK local councils explained biodiversity’s importance mainly in terms of its instrumental value, in line with shallow philosophies such as human welfare ecology and resource conservation. UK local councils sought to raise awareness of biodiversity’ importance by highlighting values that are important for the stakeholders that are able to contribute towards biodiversity conservation such as landowners, residents, visitors, business and industries. The authors also found that local councils’ biodiversity strategies were strongly influenced by 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the few accounting studies that engages with the literature on environmental ethics to investigate biodiversity. In line with stakeholder theory, it indicates that explanations on biodiversity’s importance based on anthropocentric philosophies are considered more effective in informing those stakeholders whose behaviour needs to be changed to improve biodiversity conservation.
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