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This paper aims to explore the biodiversity and threatened species extinction reporting of 54 biodiversity-indexed companies on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). The primary objectives are to explore the rhetoric of biodiversity disclosure as a practice of virtue ethics and to identify instances of emancipatory extinction accounts on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

The research sample comprised 54 biodiversity-indexed companies on the IDX. A content analysis of the narrative text of their annual and sustainability reports for 2020 was conducted to discern the rhetoric of biodiversity disclosure as an ethical practice using Aristotle’s rhetoric (ethos, logos and pathos). The identification of extinction accounts listed on the IUCN Red List was conducted based on criteria established in the conceptual framework of Atkins and Maroun (2018).

All 54 companies used ethos, logos and pathos in their biodiversity disclosure as a virtuous practice. These disclosures improve the tone of corporate communications and enhance accountability and transparency. Low-profile companies showed a greater propensity for reporting biodiversity disclosures compared to high-profile companies. Additionally, the authors identified 14 companies informing extinction accounts that qualify as emancipatory accounts, with high-profile companies disclosing extinction more frequently than low-profile ones. Emancipatory accounting highlighted species such as turtles, orangutans, elephants, rhinos, turtles and medicinal plants. These accounts are intended as a form of accountability to the species.

The limitation of this research is the observation of annual reports in one period. Future studies can add more observation periods to see the consistency of companies in disclosing biodiversity and extinction.

Companies can adopt the rhetorical strategy of ethos, logos and pathos in disclosing their biodiversity. For policymakers, it is important to establish regulations to encourage companies to disclose biodiversity. The implications for accountants, to contribute more to biodiversity and extinction reporting, considering that previously sustainability accounting reporting was mostly carried out by nonaccountants.

Regarding social implications, emancipatory accounts aimed at preventing the extinction of animals such as birds, orangutans and rhinos will have significant social and natural impacts.

This research represents the first use of Aristotelian rhetoric and virtue to understand biodiversity disclosure as virtue rhetoric and extinction disclosure as emancipatory accounting. This rhetoric is a benevolent persuasion tool that can shape the audience’s thinking and behavior in a more ethical manner concerning biodiversity issues. It provides evidence of the role of accounting as a social and moral practice, which is particularly relevant in the face of a complex reality and increasing concerns, notably regarding the threat of biodiversity loss and extinction.

After completing this case study, students will be able to understand the issues firms, brands and influencers face due to sponsorship disclosure regulation and the impact of self-regulation on firms engaging in influencer marketing, explain the challenges regulators face in ensuring compliance in an emerging market, explain Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI)’s challenges in adopting influencer guidelines from emerged markets and recommend ethical theory (or theories) and strategies to firms engaged in influencer marketing.

This case study centers on Mr Manish Chowdhary, co-founder of WOW Skin Science, who started the beauty and personal care business with his brother Karan Chowdhary in 2015 in Bangalore, India. The company successfully built its brand through influencer marketing but faced challenges after the ASCI implemented new influencer guidelines. On May 31, 2021, he expressed disagreement with ASCI guidelines during an interview with Akansha Nagar from Buzz in Content, particularly the requirement to label every product or service received by influencers as an advertisement. He expressed concern about certain rules, fearing they might harm organic content and reduce viewership and followers. Subsequently, ASCI registered noncompliance cases against the company and communicated with them about complaints regarding influencer guideline violations. In this situation, Manish needed to evaluate his decision on noncompliance with regulation and required an action plan to strategically manage its influencer marketing campaign by incorporating ASCI’s guidelines. Overall, this case study highlights the journey of WOW Skin Science and its challenges with self-regulatory authorities over its influencer marketing strategy in an emerging market. Additionally, students can gain insight into the marketing communication ethics of a startup operating in an emerging market by embodying the protagonist’s role.

This case study is suitable for postgraduate level students pursuing a Master of Business Administration program. The difficulty level ranges from moderate to complex. It fits well into integrated marketing communication and marketing strategy courses. This case study discusses marketing ethics, advertising and promotion regulation.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

This study aims to investigate the impact of leader’s religiosity on teachers’ organizational commitment and leaders’ virtuous behaviors. Second, it is intended to examine the significant influence of Al-Ghazali’s fundamental virtues – wisdom, justice, temperance and courage – on the level of commitment displayed by teachers in K12 schools.

To analyze this connection, a total of 335 surveys were collected from K12 private schools situated in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The data were then evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

It has been found that leaders’ virtuous behaviors have significant positive effects on teachers’ commitment. Furthermore, while religiosity did not directly influence teachers’ commitment, the virtuous behaviors of leaders played a significant mediating role in this relationship.

This research fills a gap in the literature by exploring the impact of Islamic ethical principles on employee commitment, specifically within the context of K12 education in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It emphasizes the critical role of leaders’ virtuous behaviors in improving employee commitment.

While corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been gaining support for the role it plays in employee outcomes, such as organizational identification (OID), the view of CSR from a social identity perspective is underdeveloped. This conceptual chapter explores the role of social identity processes grounded in organizational justice to develop a model of CSR attributions and the moderating role these attributions play in organizational member outcomes. CSR is understood as the relational processes happening with stakeholders, and these relationships engage specific organizational identity orientations. The social identity process flows from there, resulting in CSR attributions including strategic, relational, and virtuous. Using social identity, organizational identity, and organizational justice, this chapter makes two specific contributions: a CSR attribution typology grounded in organizational justice and the moderating impact of these attributions between activated justice dimensions and resulting organizational member outcomes.

This paper brings attention to the role of hybrid middle managers. In particular it explores the relationship of organisational purpose and role requirements.

The primary research question for the original research was: What does it mean to hybrid managers to lead and deal with imposed changes (restructuring) to services? A novel narrative approach based on a synthesis of Czarniawska, Gabriel and Boje was applied. Accounts from interviews were condensed into narratives by initially using the categories defined by Gabriel (2000) as epic, tragic, comic and romantic and then further categorised into stories, themes and a serial (Czarniawska, 1997). The final stage of the three-way synthesised narrative approach incorporated Boje’s (2001) notion of “antenarrative” to include pre-emplotment elements.

Four narratives are provided that give insight to the nature of the struggles the hybrid middle managers were in the midst of. A struggle to address incongruent demands being placed on them that cause tension with their sense of purpose, organisational goals and their hybrid clinical roles and management roles. In the midst of these struggles the narratives illustrate the dynamic of ethical resistance that seeks a way forward. However, this appears to come at a health and well-being cost to the middle managers.

The paper offers up the notion of an added third bind to the traditional double, that of “ethical resistance”, a struggle to align organisational purpose with clinical and management role requirements. Theorising this third bind provides a new insight into understanding the context and dynamics of the hybrid middle manager role and behaviour. Indeed, the idea of ethical resistance may cause a revision of how resistance is understood.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of prolonged work hours and high stress levels on ethical behavior within health-care settings. It evaluates how these factors compromise professional and personal boundaries and examines the efficacy of targeted ethical training programs designed to mitigate these challenges.

This study adopts an integrated conceptual framework combining the interactionist model of ethical decision-making, organizational justice theory and virtue ethics. It uses data from the General Social Survey (GSS) and analyzes trends and insights from existing literature. The study explores theoretical underpinnings and empirical evidence to understand the complex interplay between workplace stress, long hours and ethical behavior in health-care environments, ensuring the validity and reliability of the findings.

The findings highlight a significant correlation between excessive work hours, increased stress levels and ethical lapses in health-care settings. These lapses, including breaches of confidentiality and inappropriate workplace relationships, can have profound implications for patient care and professional satisfaction. The efficacy of ethical training programs in enhancing moral reasoning and ethical judgment among health-care professionals is demonstrated, particularly those programs that mirror real-world complexities. Such training equips health-care workers with the necessary tools to navigate ethical dilemmas effectively, fostering a culture of ethical awareness and integrity.

This paper uniquely contributes to the literature by comprehensively analyzing how stress and work hours influence ethical behavior, specifically in health-care settings. Supported by a robust theoretical framework, it extends previous research by demonstrating the effectiveness of ethical training in improving ethical behavior. The paper provides practical recommendations for health-care organizations to cultivate a culture of ethical awareness and integrity, highlighting the potential for such programs to improve patient care and professional satisfaction significantly.

This study aims to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of PhD students in India regarding research ethics and institutional review boards (IRBs), assess awareness levels, identify training gaps, examine ethical priorities and understand challenges in the IRB application process.

A quantitative approach was used, and a self-evaluator questionnaire was distributed electronically to PhD students. Data collection occurred between 1 March 1 and 30 March 2024, with analysis conducted using SPSS software.

The study reveals a significant gap in formal training on IRB procedures within PhD programs and challenges in completing IRB applications despite recognising ethical priorities such as informed consent and confidentiality.

This study provides insights into PhD students’ perspectives on research ethics and IRBs in India, highlighting the need for enhanced education and awareness initiatives to promote responsible conduct and safeguard research participants.

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the moral dimensions of accounting by examining the case of Gross National Happiness (GNH) in Bhutan, and to propose a new approach to accounting that is grounded in the Buddhist principle of the Middle Path. This approach aims to promote well-being and happiness, contrasting with traditional accounting practices.

The paper outlines the core concepts of the Middle Path theory and GNH. The authors first problematise the role of traditional accounting in the well-being and happiness project. The authors explore accountability from the Middle Path perspective, which is a key aspect of Buddhist philosophy. Using the concept of Middle Path accountability and GNH in practice, the authors then examine accounting in terms of the four “immeasurable moral virtues” (tshad med bzhi) of the Middle Path. The authors conclude by highlighting the value of the Middle Path for conceptualising accountability and emancipating contemporary accounting from its ethical and theoretical constraints.

This paper compares the application of traditional accounting and accountability with the Middle Path and GNH practices. The authors find that ethical discourses in traditional accounting and accountability are not compatible with the values of the Middle Path, thereby limiting the scope of accounting and accountability. This constraint is overcome by introducing four “immeasurable moral virtues” (tshad med bzhi) of Buddhism, which promote spiritual development (wisdom) to replace the existing ethical strands of traditional accounting and accountability to support the well-being and happiness project.

The study is limited to the review of concepts in GNH and Buddhist philosophy. More empirical studies in different contextual settings could increase understanding of how the practice of Middle Path and GNH could drive the project of well-being and happiness through accounting.

The paper seeks to contribute to the operationalisation of GNH in organisation by framing social and well-being accounting grounded in the Middle Path theory. The authors also seek to clarify the role of accounting as a social and moral practice.

Situated within the fields of social and moral accounting, the paper seeks to elevate the potential role of accounting in the promotion of well-being and happiness of people and other sentient beings. By applying four moral virtues of love, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity in accounting, the authors seek to enhance the role of accounting that could potentially reduce poverty, social inequity, corruption and promote harmony and cultural well-being.

This study undertakes a conceptual integration of the GNH and Middle Path philosophy to understand the theoretical and ethical implications of traditional accounting and accountability. This contribution to the literature expands the possibilities of accounting and accountability on social and well-being accounting by introducing the Middle Path and GNH concepts.

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on corporate and leadership responsibility by proposing a relational business model for shared responsibility.

First, a literature review on corporate and leadership responsibility is presented and discussed. This is followed by an overview of existing public and private regulations and future perspectives that enforce and/or foster corporate and leadership responsibility. Based on the concepts of relational economics, relational leadership and proactive regulation, the theoretical foundations of a relational business model are derived. In addition, a decision model for the empirical application of the relational business model in ethical dilemma situations is developed and presented.

Theoretical elaboration of a relational business model and an associated relational decision-making approach.

This study contributes to a new way of doing business in terms of shared responsibility. Furthermore, corporate responsibility and leadership responsibility are usually researched as two distinct fields, with the former referring to the meso level and the latter to the micro level. A relational approach, which views leadership as a relational phenomenon, contributes to bridging both concepts.

Limited research has investigated how spirit at work, functioning as a “good barrel,” fosters ethical decision-making (EDM) even in the presence of unethical managerial behavior (“bad apples”). Therefore, this study aims to investigate the spirit at work, a situational variable, as a moderating variable in the relationship between the love of money (LoM), an individual-level factor, and EDM.

A time-lagged survey of the members of the Marketing Association of Pakistan was conducted. The data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling.

Adding to much of the existing research, which finds that LoM can influence ethical intention directly, this research finds that LoM influences ethical intention only through ethical judgment. Moreover, the spirit at work tempers the negative relationship between LoM and ethical judgment, thereby mitigating LoM’s detrimental effects not only on ethical judgment but also its downstream effects on ethical intention.

Organizations, by planting the seeds of spirit at work, can institutionalize good barrels, which can alleviate the negative effects of the marketing managers’ LoM, the root cause of unethical behavior. This way, this study establishes a business case for spirit at work.

The novelty of this study is the development and investigation of a holistic conceptual framework for EDM of marketing professionals that incorporates LoM as an antecedent, ethical judgment as an underlying mechanism, ethical intention as an outcome variable and spirit at work as a boundary condition.