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Article
Publication date: 26 September 2023

Melissa Carlisle, Melanie I. Millar and Jacqueline Jarosz Wukich

This study examines shareholder and board motivations regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) to understand boards' stewardship approaches to environmental issues.

Abstract

Purpose

This study examines shareholder and board motivations regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) to understand boards' stewardship approaches to environmental issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Using content analysis, the authors classify CSR motivations in all environmental shareholder proposals and board responses of Fortune 250 companies from 2013 to 2017 from do little (a shareholder primacy perspective) to do much (a stakeholder pluralism perspective). The authors calculate the motivational dissonance for each proposal-response pair (the Talk Gap) and use cluster analysis to observe evidence of board stewardship and subsequent environmental disclosure and performance (ED&P) changes.

Findings

Board interpretations of stewardship are not uniform, and they regularly extend to stakeholders beyond shareholders, most frequently including profit-oriented stakeholders (e.g. employees and customers). ED&P changes are highest when shareholders narrowly lead boards in CSR motivation and either request both action and information or information only. The authors observe weaker ED&P changes when shareholders request action and the dissonance between shareholders and boards is larger. When shareholders are motivated to do little for CSR, ED&P changes are weak, even when boards express more pluralistic motivations.

Research limitations/implications

The results show the important role that boards play in CSR and may aid activist shareholders in determining how best to generate change in corporate CSR actions.

Originality/value

This study provides the first evidence of board stewardship at the proposal-response level. It measures shareholder and board CSR motivations, introduces the Talk Gap, and examines relationships among proposal characteristics, the Talk Gap, and subsequent ED&P change to better understand board stewardship of environmental issues.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 November 2023

Mirit Rachamim and Lily Orland-Barak

This in-depth case study examined the mentor's role in mediating a culturally diverse community of student teachers-as-learners in the context of practice teaching in university…

Abstract

Purpose

This in-depth case study examined the mentor's role in mediating a culturally diverse community of student teachers-as-learners in the context of practice teaching in university teacher education in Israel. Specifically, it explored how the mentor's response to cultural aspects of learning to teach shaped the group's learning environment.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collection included 23 video-recorded meetings of the learning community and semi-structured interviews with all four participants.

Findings

Findings proposed six actions of the mentor that aimed at promoting an empathetic and supportive learning environment that encouraged collaborative talk around culturally diverse issues that surfaced during practice teaching. Implications for teacher education programs are presented and discussed.

Practical implications

The study offers a practical framework of tools (or mentor actions) that can help mentors to promote social interactions in culturally diverse mentoring conversational settings.

Originality/value

The study identified six actions that can serve as tools in mediating sensitive discourse to issues of diversity in communities of culturally diverse learners.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Sameness and Repetition in Contemporary Media Culture
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-955-0

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Giacomo Pigatto, Lino Cinquini, Andrea Tenucci and John Dumay

This study aims to explore the serendipitous discovery of integrated reporting (IR) by Alpha, an Italian small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). Alpha piqued the curiosity when…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the serendipitous discovery of integrated reporting (IR) by Alpha, an Italian small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). Alpha piqued the curiosity when the authors discovered that it experimented with IR alongside other management accounting practices, such as the Balanced Scorecard. As the authors reflected on Alpha’s experiences, the authors had to opportunistically develop a new framework to understand the change that was taking place at Alpha fully. Thus, the authors developed the serendipitous drift framework. This study contributes to addressing the gap between management accounting research that sees change as a planned, ordered process versus research that sees it as an unmanageable drift.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors ground the research on a qualitative methodology based on a single case study. This methodology allows us to focus on understanding what has happened at Alpha to discover new themes and provide theoretical generalisations. The authors developed the framework using middle-range thinking and fleshed it out using empirical findings from the case study. Middle-range thinking implies going back and forth between the theory and the empirical material. Therefore, the authors develop the serendipitous drift framework from prior theories and use it to inform the empirical study. In turn, the empirical material collected in Alpha helps refine and flesh out the serendipitous drift framework. The framework explains how Alpha leveraged serendipity to steer change towards favourable outcomes for them.

Findings

The authors find that the search for change undertaken by Alpha’s managers was non-specific but purposeful. Their dispositions were sagacious enough to recognise the potential value found in management accounting practices, such as IR and the Balanced Scorecard. They chanced upon new and unforeseen practices through trial and error, iteration, internal engagement and networking.

Research limitations/implications

Overall, the results indicate that Alpha’s managers shaped the disorder of management accounting changes, even though it followed unexpected, uncertain and messy paths. Indeed, appropriate informal controls can act as a frame of reference for choosing, adapting and implementing new management accounting practices to shape the disorder. Informal controls can both guide and bound the experimentation process towards desirable outcomes.

Originality/value

The authors contribute to management accounting change theory by developing a framework rooted in serendipity and drifting theories. The framework identifies how searching, sagacity and chance are essential for making positive, unexpected discoveries. Therefore, the authors provide novel insights on how and why IR and other management accounting practices are eventually translated and adopted in the case company. Moreover, the serendipitous drift framework has the potential to help managers frame cultural controls to actively seek opportunities for valuable serendipitous eureka moments through networking and experimentation.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. 31 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-372X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2023

Laurie Nathan and Joel M. Devonshire

This paper aims to critique the rationalist theoretical framework of international mediation, which ignores emotions in analyzing the decision by conflict parties to pursue a…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to critique the rationalist theoretical framework of international mediation, which ignores emotions in analyzing the decision by conflict parties to pursue a negotiated settlement or continue fighting, and to present an alternative framework that integrates emotions.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on psychology research on emotions and conflict to develop an emotionally informed framework for analyzing conflict parties’ decision-making regarding a settlement. It demonstrates the framework’s validity and value through a case study of the 2000 Camp David mediation to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Findings

A rationalist approach to mediation does not have adequate explanatory and predictive power theoretically. In practice, it can reduce the prospect of success.

Research limitations/implications

The paper highlights the necessity for mediation researchers to study the effects of emotion, draw on psychology studies on conflict and explore the emotional implications of different mediation strategies and tactics.

Practical implications

The framework highlights the challenge of designing and conducting mediation in a way that cultivates emotions favorable to a settlement and lessens emotions unfavorable to a settlement.

Originality/value

This is the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to critique the rationalist framework of international mediation studies and develop an alternative framework that integrates emotions.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 35 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 September 2023

Anastasia Mortimer, Temitope Egbelakin and Willy Sher

Policy is key for effective displacement governance in times of crises and in response and recovery. Therefore, this study assessed if Australian climate, disaster and emergency…

Abstract

Purpose

Policy is key for effective displacement governance in times of crises and in response and recovery. Therefore, this study assessed if Australian climate, disaster and emergency management policies provide effective mechanisms for governing displacement crises and areas where current approaches could be improved.

Design/methodology/approach

This study assessed 18 national and state-level disaster, emergency and climate change management frameworks to determine if best practice displacement governance themes were reflected in policy documents. Deductive thematic analysis was undertaken using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase method.

Findings

Issues of displacement are reflected in policies analysed in this study. However, current policy frameworks need to be equipped to comprehensively address the housing requirements of displaced people or provide long-term initiatives. Approaches are focused on crisis management rather than pre-emptively planning for displacement response and recovery. Therefore, Australia has not exercised national responsibility for displaced people appropriately.

Research limitations/implications

Disaster displacement is an under-researched area of Australian scholarship and disaster management policy and practice. Therefore, this paper has practical implications in so far as it draws attention to the issue of displacement in Australia. A limitation of this paper is that it only analysed policy frameworks specific to disasters. While broader engagement was outside the scope of this study, this limitation provides opportunities for further research from disciplinary perspectives of public housing and homelessness to examine displacement policy challenges in these fields. Furthermore, this study is limited to a theoretical inquiry into this topic through a desktop review of policy documents. While this is a necessary first step, empirical studies are required to determine accurate displacement rates, drivers and people’s experience of being displaced.

Practical implications

This research aims to inform policy by presenting recommendations for policy interventions for disaster displacement governance. Therefore, this research has practical implications as policy and disaster risk reduction (DRR) professionals can draw from the findings of this research when planning and initiating disaster response for displaced persons.

Social implications

This research draws attention to an area of disaster management practice and policy that has not been adequately accounted for. Highlighting gaps in current policy can assist in developing targeted strategies and solutions for internally displaced people, which protect their rights and meet their needs.

Originality/value

Displacement is a growing climate change issue. This research aims to help address this problem by drawing attention to areas where Australian disaster management approaches fail to account for displaced populations. Therefore, this research has practical implications for addressing future issues of disaster injustice that may arise if displacement continues, unacknowledged in disaster management.

Details

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-5908

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 December 2023

Dean Neu and Gregory D. Saxton

This study is motivated to provide a theoretically informed, data-driven assessment of the consequences associated with the participation of non-human bots in social…

Abstract

Purpose

This study is motivated to provide a theoretically informed, data-driven assessment of the consequences associated with the participation of non-human bots in social accountability movements; specifically, the anti-inequality/anti-corporate #OccupyWallStreet conversation stream on Twitter.

Design/methodology/approach

A latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling approach as well as XGBoost machine learning algorithms are applied to a dataset of 9.2 million #OccupyWallStreet tweets in order to analyze not only how the speech patterns of bots differ from other participants but also how bot participation impacts the trajectory of the aggregate social accountability conversation stream. The authors consider two research questions: (1) do bots speak differently than non-bots and (2) does bot participation influence the conversation stream.

Findings

The results indicate that bots do speak differently than non-bots and that bots exert both weak form and strong form influence. Bots also steadily become more prevalent. At the same time, the results show that bots also learn from and adapt their speaking patterns to emphasize the topics that are important to non-bots and that non-bots continue to speak about their initial topics.

Research limitations/implications

These findings help improve understanding of the consequences of bot participation within social media-based democratic dialogic processes. The analyses also raise important questions about the increasing importance of apparently nonhuman actors within different spheres of social life.

Originality/value

The current study is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, that uses a theoretically informed Big Data approach to simultaneously consider the micro details and aggregate consequences of bot participation within social media-based dialogic social accountability processes.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 October 2022

Tianjie Deng, Anamika Barman-Adhikari, Young Jin Lee, Rinku Dewri and Kimberly Bender

This study investigates associations between Facebook (FB) conversations and self-reports of substance use among youth experiencing homelessness (YEH). YEH engage in high rates of…

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates associations between Facebook (FB) conversations and self-reports of substance use among youth experiencing homelessness (YEH). YEH engage in high rates of substance use and are often difficult to reach, for both research and interventions. Social media sites provide rich digital trace data for observing the social context of YEH's health behaviors. The authors aim to investigate the feasibility of using these big data and text mining techniques as a supplement to self-report surveys in detecting and understanding YEH attitudes and engagement in substance use.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants took a self-report survey in addition to providing consent for researchers to download their Facebook feed data retrospectively. The authors collected survey responses from 92 participants and retrieved 33,204 textual Facebook conversations. The authors performed text mining analysis and statistical analysis including ANOVA and logistic regression to examine the relationship between YEH's Facebook conversations and their substance use.

Findings

Facebook posts of YEH have a moderately positive sentiment. YEH substance users and non-users differed in their Facebook posts regarding: (1) overall sentiment and (2) topics discussed. Logistic regressions show that more positive sentiment in a respondent's FB conversation suggests a lower likelihood of marijuana usage. On the other hand, discussing money-related topics in the conversation increases YEH's likelihood of marijuana use.

Originality/value

Digital trace data on social media sites represent a vast source of ecological data. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using such data from a hard-to-reach population to gain unique insights into YEH's health behaviors. The authors provide a text-mining-based toolkit for analyzing social media data for interpretation by experts from a variety of domains.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 36 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 December 2023

Daniel Magnusson, Hendry Raharjo and Petra Bosch-Sijtsema

Sustainability is regarded as a core value that the coworking movement aspires to. However, most sustainability efforts focus on the providers’ perspective while neglecting the…

Abstract

Purpose

Sustainability is regarded as a core value that the coworking movement aspires to. However, most sustainability efforts focus on the providers’ perspective while neglecting the coworking members’ role. Therefore, this paper aims to explore sustainable coworking from the members perspective by focusing on sustainable behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a flexible pattern matching approach. Theoretical patterns are identified using literature on coworking space and sustainable behavior while matching them with the empirical data. Data were collected from three different coworking spaces in Sweden through interviews and observations.

Findings

Based on the theoretical patterns, three constructs for sustainable coworking were identified, namely, productive behavior, prosocial behavior and responsible space sharing behavior. Through the empirical data, the constructs were further concretized to understand their different aspects. The findings uncovered a new layer of complexity where members can show the same behavior and be perceived differently.

Originality/value

This study offers a more holistic understanding of sustainable coworking by highlighting the members’ role and identifying different member perceptions on sustainable coworking behaviors.

Details

Journal of Corporate Real Estate , vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-001X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2023

Chauncey Monte-Sano, Amanda Jennings and Mary J. Schleppegrell

This practice-oriented article aims to describe the origins of the Learning Labs PD model and theory behind it, explains what it involves in social studies and illustrates this…

Abstract

Purpose

This practice-oriented article aims to describe the origins of the Learning Labs PD model and theory behind it, explains what it involves in social studies and illustrates this model by sharing examples from one PD session focused on facilitating inquiries into justice via Hammurabi's Code and Black Founders with seventh and eighth graders.

Design/methodology/approach

As the authors developed Learning Labs for Social Studies (LLSS), they used a Design-Based Research approach to study and iterate such that the model is supportive of teachers' and students' learning (e.g. Jennings et al., 2022). In this practice-oriented article, the authors offer a conceptual orientation to the model and some of the take-aways relevant to the demands of offering professional development in polarizing times by sharing examples from one PD day.

Findings

LLSS PD in combination with curriculum that structures critical inquiry has supported the authors and their teacher-partners by fostering a community of practitioners who work as a collective to reframe content, support one another while teaching in new ways and learn from students. Specifically, the authors have observed teachers (1) approach social studies topics with greater criticality and center Black identity and history as more than oppression, (2) develop instructional practices that create space for students to make sense of the past in the context of their lives in the present and (3) listen to and center students' thinking and knowledge.

Originality/value

This article presents and illustrates Learning Labs for Social Studies for the first time, offering a professional learning model that supports teachers in polarizing times as they work collaboratively to translate theory into practice and to problem-solve challenges that emerge within their school and classroom contexts.

Details

Social Studies Research and Practice, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1933-5415

Keywords

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