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This study is aimed at developing and validating an index designed to measure the level of social disclosure of external social programs of firms listed on the Brazilian stock market.

The index of social disclosure is composed of 13 items distributed in three dimensions: past information, prospective actions, and accessibility. Its validation involved: (a) pre-test, (b) analysis by referees, (c) exploratory factor analysis, (d) Cronbach’s alpha test, and (e) final validation. The sample is composed of 83 Brazilian firms listed on the Brazilian Stock Exchange from 2005 to 2009.

The index presented robustness in all validation stages. It was found that size, industry sector, internationalization, auditing, and listing on social responsible investment funds are decisive factors for increasing the level of social disclosure.

The index of social disclosure evaluates external social programs only. Hence, some types of social information are not captured, such environmental ones. Besides, the sources of information for the index are restricted to annual and sustainability reports, so that information from other sources, such as official announcements and company websites, are not captured.

The social disclosure index developed can be useful to analysts and investors assessing listed firms, as well as to financial-market regulators defining policies applicable to the disclosure of corporate social information.

(a) Construction of a social disclosure index validated and tested in Brazilian firms, which is liable to replication; (b) Utilization of a representative sample of firms listed on an important emerging stock market.

The purpose of this paper is to identify specific practices companies can adopt to unleash the social entrepreneurial spirit of their employees. It is in response to growing expectations from customers, employees, investors and governmental agencies around the world that businesses serve not just the financial interests of their shareholders but the environmental and social expectations of all citizens. By encouraging and supporting employees to pursue innovative products, services and management practices that address both the company’s business interests and the individual’s social passions, corporate social entrepreneurship (CSE) has the potential to do both.

A systematic review (SR) of academic studies published in peer-reviewed journals was conducted to answer the review question: What are the organizational enablers of CSE in large national and multinational corporations? Thirteen relevant high-quality academic research studies were identified. These studies were then synthesized through a multi-step coding process using Atlas.ti. Common themes were identified and actionable management recommendations developed.

Three findings emerged: (a) that while an organization’s values, demonstrated by its leadership, empower CSEs, specific structures and practices are required to enable them to have the intended impact on its environmental and social performance; (b) that CSEs are motivated, but organizations need to invest in developing their skills and capabilities; and (c) when CSE success is recognized and rewarded it positively impacts future efforts by other employees.

Available research has focused on the characteristics of the individual CSEs and the challenges they face. Although that research provided sufficient insights to support the analysis performed in this study, little research has been conducted to establish the extent to which CSE: (a) is used by businesses today, (b) is positively impacting company corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions; (c) may be improved through the application of the study’s recommendations, (d) is affected by leadership styles and business cultures and (e) differs across industry, national and political settings. Both qualitative and quantitative research into these and related topics are needed.

This paper provides a comprehensive view of the relationship between an organization’s practices and CSE success. It recommends that executives communicate their personal and the organization’s values; that they make specific, targeted organizational investments to support CSE; actively identify, recruit and train these employees; and establish, measure and report CSE results.

CSE is an important complementary approach to CSR, environmental, social and governance investing and the United Nation’s sustainability development goals. It can contribute to businesses serving not just the commercial interests of their shareholders but the environmental and social expectations of all citizens.

While previous studies have focused on the personal characteristics and behaviors of CSEs, this is the first to use these insights to develop a comprehensive understanding of the organizational characteristics required for their success. Corporations are increasingly expected to meet the environmental and social expectations of all stakeholders, yet these programs are too often seen as more symbolic than substantive. This paper provides a roadmap for institutionalizing CSE as an important contributor to these efforts.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First is to investigate the impact of social supplier development practices on the suppliers’ social performance. Second is to analyze if the implementation of supplier development practices by Western buying firms pays off in terms of operational and economic results.

Hypotheses are tested in a sample of 120 Spanish manufacturing firms using Path Analysis.

The results suggest that while supplier development practices help to improve the suppliers’ social performance and the buying firm’s operational performance, they do not pay off in terms of economic performance.

The paper shows that supplier development practices help to improve the suppliers’ social performance while improving the operational performance of the buying firm. The study has two main limitations. First, because cross-sectional data are used, possible recursive relationships could not be accounted for. Second, the study is limited to the Spanish scope and, as such, results need to be interpreted in that context.

The results of this study provide insights to managers with respect to the implementation of supplier development practices to make their suppliers more socially responsible. Furthermore, managers are shown the implications of implementing such practices in terms of operational and economic outcomes.

This paper contributes to the existing literature on the effectiveness of sustainable supplier development practices by including the suppliers’ performance, which has been generally neglected. Objective measures for economic performance are also included.

Research on women's leadership development over the past two decades has seen a move away from feminist theory that embeds action at a structural level as the objective of consciousness raising realised during the programme. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of the stalling of collective action needed to challenge the continued under-representation of women in leadership roles.

The paper is conceptual. Gender reflexivity – as the basis for claims within women's leadership development programmes (WLDPs) that are based on identity work to enable wider transformation of organisations in respect of structural barriers – is examined and critiqued.

Women's leadership development is unlikely to be able to used as a vehicle for structural change whilst it remains focused on self-acceptance, self-management and self-development of the individual participants. Gender reflexivity, as the warrant for change and transformation, is not used in a way that can deliver organisational change. Part of this is the way in which it is misapplied within human resource development and part of this is the continued lack of framing WLDP as a historical practice in support of the current logic of leadership.

This paper contributes to the development of a critical approach to women's leadership development from a feminist theory perspective.

This aim of this study is to explore the relationship between management control systems (MCSs) and the formulation of strategy in not‐for‐profit (NFP) organisations.

The paper views the relationship between MCS and strategy through the contrasting lenses of new‐institutional and contingency theory, using data collected from semi‐structured interviews of CEOs and senior executives in 32 Australian NFPs.

Strategy is formulated predominantly by intended means, through structured strategic planning processes. Emergent strategy is typically a rare means by which strategy is developed, and is in fact often actively discouraged in the NFPs investigated. Contrary to expectations, control is predominantly exercised through informal means, rather than by formally designed systems.

With strategy and control being central concerns for most NFPs, this sector provides a unique vehicle for exploring the “robustness” of prior MCS strategy empirical findings. Investigating the MCS strategy relationship within a highly complex NFP context is thus an “acid test” of existing understanding of the MCS‐strategy nexus. As one of the few studies to investigate the relationship between control and strategy as it may apply in this context, this study refines and further develops extant management control theory.

This paper aims to study how primary and secondary market investors react to intangibles information disclosed in Italian IPOs. Previous literature on intangibles information disclosure as a determinant of IPO underpricing has reported inconsistent results; moreover, an area that has remained unexplored is to what extent different categories of market investors react to such information disclosure.

Based on a sample of firms listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, the authors use factor analysis to uncover the most relevant intangible assets disclosed in IPO prospectuses; this information is then included in a series of regressions which read into the reaction of primary and secondary market investors by means of price variations.

Primary market investors are found to be more sensitive to information regarding the company’s attitude towards its human capital and to that describing its innovation capacity in terms of IT and R&D investment. Secondary market investors are more sensitive to strategic alliances, research and development and future plans.

The findings can be generalized, but the empirical evidence would be more relevant if tested in different geographical contexts (i.e. Europe and/or the USA).

The empirical results could help firms be more selective in their disclosure, thus possibly soothing management’s concerns regarding an overly extensive, and therefore risky, dissemination of non-financial information and avoiding them to incur unnecessary costs.

Being aware of how the stock market reacts to the information disclosed is crucial in determining new regulations and accounting standards.

The authors introduce an unbiased categorization of intangibles variables that supplants the multiple classifications proposed in the literature, and the authors set apart the reaction of primary and secondary market IPO investors to the intangible information disclosure.

The involvement of stakeholders such as employers, alumni, and students has always been considered a key element in improving the higher education (HE) system. While considering stakeholders as key players in serving the market and in improving HE instruction, a two-sided collaborative involvement should aim at satisfying the mutual interests and overcoming existing barriers. Quality assurance systems have always supported crossing these barriers to link with the external stakeholders. However, many of the external quality assurance agencies (EQA) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region specify a group of external holders, limiting the various types of key stakeholders needed to enhance the academic programs. On the other hand, there are encountered risks in involving stakeholders if left with no objective guidance, especially that quality agencies are formidably urging the universities to consider the external stakeholders’ inputs to satisfy the quality assurance standards. The main objective of this chapter is to investigate the types of stakeholders’ and their levels of involvement within the local higher education institutions (HEIs). The chapter aims to provide an insight to invest in this involvement and utilize it to further improve the programs and their graduate attributes and suggests actions that would proficiently and truly enhance the involvement of external stakeholders. The outcomes of this chapter are expected to guide the EQAs and the HEIs to develop new practices in involving stakeholders, such as curriculum input, collegiate internships, aligning graduate attributes to market needs, financial support through endowments, professional development, and partnerships in service-level agreements.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The main purpose of this study is analyzing the influence of corporate social responsibility practices and programs on employee human resources performances in Puerto Rico. The study used an exploratory approach and primary data for this research was obtained through a questionnaire collected from 205 employees of companies with CSR active programs. The study uses structural equation model (SEM) technique to test the hypotheses. The study found the highest significantly positive relationship in CSR programs and employee human resources performances than CSR practices and employee human resources performances. The present study discusses important implications regarding uses of CSR for enhancing employee’s organizational commitment and satisfaction. One of the least studied areas at the moment is the internal corporate social responsibility which is directly related to company’s employees. This dimension of the corporate social responsibility refers to the set of responsible activities and practices that the company realizes toward their employees that consider the living conditions of each one of them and the contribution that it can do to improve their well-being.