Scandals are momentous events with far-reaching consequences for organizations and society, but we still know relatively little about the contextual conditions that enable them. In this paper, we ...develop and test a theory of the publicization of organizational misconduct-that is, of how an act of wrongdoing by an organization becomes widely publicized, thereby giving rise to a scandal; or receives little coverage, with little or no consequence for the offending organization. We argue that communities have structural features that affect the social cost of making information public as well as its dissemination, shaping the likelihood of organizational misconduct being publicized in the process. We test and find evidence in support of our arguments using data on sex abuse in the U.S. Catholic Church between 1980 and 2010, and exploring the heterogeneity in the publicization of patterns of misconduct by Catholic clergy across dioceses and over time. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for the scholarly understanding of organizational misconduct and scandals across settings.
When organizations strategically adopt cultural elements--such as a name, a color, or a style--to create their products, they make crucial choices that position them in markets vis-a-vis competitors, ...audiences, and other stakeholders. However, although it is well understood how one specific cultural element gets adopted by actors and diffuses, it is not yet clear how elements fare when considered within an industry choice-set of elements. Their popularity depends on idiosyncratic features (such as the category they belong to), or on structural factors such as their embeddedness (through connections to producers, audiences, or even other cultural elements). We develop an integrated perspective on the popularity of cultural elements in markets. We use a network perspective to show that the popularity of elements is fostered by being structurally embedded among many unconnected elements, in addition to not being affiliated to actors widely exposed in the media. We develop our study by using a unique data set of fashion stylistic elements in the global high-end fashion industry from 1998 to 2010.
We intended to offer in this article a synthesis of the ways in which the culture developed at the corporate level is manifested. The term culture in the organizational analysis refers to the common ...values and believes that end up characterizing the organizations. Beyond the diversity of these variables, their intensity and their manner of manifestation vary from individual to individual, from one working group to another, but a strong organizational culture will always find and use a common denominator.
The features of innovative corporate culture in organization management are determined. The structure of innovation paradigm of corporate culture in the context of organization management, including ...structural, humanistic, ideological, symbolic, communicative, and information paradigms, is given. It is clarified that information culture of an organization has a great influence on its management, since adopting a management decision requires a prompt processing of significant arrays of information; the competence of a manager depends not so much on the experience gained in the past but on the possession of a sufficient amount of relevant information on a particular situation and the ability to make useful conclusions. The factors influencing the formation of corporate culture are determined. It is concluded that the formation of a new innovative paradigm of corporate culture of organization management, which has an informational nature, can become a composite element of management. It can be based on knowledge about the information environment, laws of its functioning, the ability to navigate information flows.
In evaluating and selecting sustainable suppliers, we take a triple-bottom-line (profit, people and planet) approach and consider business operations as well as environmental impacts and social ...responsibilities of the suppliers. Different metrics are introduced to measure performance in these three areas. To examine the influences of different organizational and supply chain operating philosophies, the objectives in selection of suppliers are designed so that some of them favor profit or the business operations, others the planet or the environment and the remaining focusing on people or social responsibility. A novel methodological approach based on a Bayesian framework and Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) simulation is developed to rank and select suppliers using specific selection objectives. This technique is also effective when smaller or missing data sets exist, which is an especially prevalent characteristic for newer and complex measures such as in a sustainability decision environment. Results obtained from the MCMC simulation provide a wealth of information about supplier performance, which form the basis for additional statistical analyses. The model allows the decision maker to execute various scenarios by changing importance weights attached to the triple-bottom-line areas. We present results for some of those scenarios with managerial and research implications and future research directions identified.
We study the quantity of ESG disclosure of 1,963 large-cap companies headquartered in 49 countries. Using the Bloomberg ESG disclosure score as the measure of disclosure quantity, we find that firm ...characteristics explain most of the variation in firms' ESG disclosure, whereas variations in country factors such as corruption and political rights explain less. We empirically examine and extend the theoretical framework of the liability of foreignness in capital markets. Our results support the notion that cross-listed firms disclose more ESG data than those only listed in their home market to mitigate the liability of foreignness in external capital markets. We also find that an increased percentage of foreign ownership does not augment ESG disclosure. Companies which opt to increase foreign equity ownership at home do not encounter the challenges of foreignness. Our findings suggest that cross-listed status is likely to reduce the importance of country factors for variations in ESG disclosure quantity.
•In this study, we measure ESG disclosure as the quantity of environmental, social and governance data firms publish.•Firm-level variables explain most variation in ESG disclosure.•Country factors such as corruption and political rights are less important for ESG disclosure.•Cross-listed firms disclose more ESG data to mitigate the liability of foreignness.•Foreign ownership alone does not augment ESG disclosure.
As part of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s revision of Regulation S–K, which lays out reporting requirements for publicly-listed companies, many investors proposed the mandatory disclosure ...of sustainability information in the form of environmental, social and governance data. However, progress is contingent on collecting evidence regarding which sustainability disclosures are financially material. To inform this issue, we examine materiality standards developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Firms voluntarily disclosing more SASB-identified sustainability information exhibit greater price informativeness, while the disclosure of non-SASB information does not relate to informativeness. The results are robust to a changes analysis and a difference-in-differences analysis that exploits the staggered release of SASB standards across different industries over time. We also document stronger results for firms with higher exposure to sustainability issues, poorer sustainability ratings, greater institutional and socially responsible investment fund ownership, and coverage from analysts with lower portfolio complexity.
In this study, we examine whether carbon risk matters in acquisitions. Using a firm's carbon emissions to proxy for carbon risk, we examine whether an acquirer's level of carbon emissions is related ...to the decision to engage in acquisitions and achieve subsequent acquisition returns. The results show that firms with higher emissions have an increased likelihood of acquiring foreign targets while, at the same time, having a decreased likelihood of acquiring domestic targets. Acquirers with large carbon footprints seek out targets in foreign countries that have low gross domestic product (GDP) or weak environmental, regulatory, or governance standards. We also examine the relationship between carbon emissions and announcement returns. We find that cross-border acquisition announcement returns are higher when acquirers with high carbon emissions acquire targets in countries with fewer regulations or weaker environmental standards. Focusing on the interplay of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and carbon emissions, we find that investors censure acquirers that promote CSR while also having high carbon emissions, thus resulting in worse abnormal returns. This is particularly the case if the target country is wealthy or has stronger country governance or strong environmental protection. Our findings add insight on the channels through which a focus on reducing carbon risk can add value for shareholders.
•We examine whether carbon risk matters in acquisition decisions and performance.•High carbon emitting acquirers buy firms in countries with low GDP.•They also buy firms in countries with weak environmental or governance standards.•Target country characteristics influence acquisition announcement returns.•Investors censure acquirers that promote CSR while having high carbon emissions.
PurposeRecent research has demonstrated an increasing awareness among business communities about the importance of environmental concerns. Green human resource management (GHRM) has become a crucial ...business strategy for organizations because the human resource department can play a key role in going “green.” This study tests an integrative model incorporating the indirect effects of GHRM practices on employee organizational citizenship behavior toward environment (OCBE), through green employee empowerment. Moreover, this study investigates the moderating effect of individual green values on OCBE.Design/methodology/approachUsing a paper–pencil survey, we collected multisource data from 365 employees and their immediate supervisors from Pakistan.FindingsThe results of structural regression revealed that GHRM has a significant indirect effect on OCBE through green employee empowerment. The results also indicated that individual green values moderated the positive relationship between green employee empowerment and OCBE.Practical implicationsOrganizations should appropriately appraise workers’ green behavior and align their behavior to pay and promotion. Organizations should also encourage and motivate employees to be engaged in green activities and contribute to environmental management.Originality/valueThis study suggests that green employee empowerment and individual green values are important factors that influence the relationship between GHRM and employees' OCBE, and it empirically analyzes these proposed relationships in a developing country context.
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