In spite of accruing concerted scholarly and managerial interest since the 1950s in corporate social responsibility (CSR), its implementation is still a growing topic as most of it remains academically unexplored. As CSR continues to establish a stronger foothold in organizational strategies, understanding its implementation is needed for both academia and industry. In an attempt to respond to this need, we carry out a systematic review of 122 empirical studies on CSR implementation to provide a status quo of the literature and inform future scholars. We develop a research agenda in the form of an integrated framework of CSR implementation that pronounces its multi-dimensional and multi-level nature and provides a snapshot of the current literature status of CSR implementation. Future research avenues relating to multi-level studies, theoretically supported research models, developing economy settings, and more are recommended. Practitioners can also benefit through utilizing the holistic framework to attain a bird’s eye view and proactively formulate and implement CSR strategies that can be facilitated by collaborations with CSR scholars and experts.
This paper examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the role government can play in promoting CSR. Corporations are an integral part of the large economy of any given society or country whereby these corporations operate. The government’s role is critical in promoting CSR activities or agendas because CSR is voluntary without mandatory legislation. The method used in this paper is a normative literature review and secondary data procedures. The research results show the need for developed and developing countries to share CSR’s best practices and build human institutions capable of enhancing CSR agendas by creating awareness, soft laws, partnering, and mandating business enterprises to be transparent in solving society’s problems wherever they operate. Governments in some developed nations have taken a far-reaching agenda in promoting CSR, especially the UK, European Union, the USA, and other developing countries in East Asia. However, developing countries are lagging behind in developing CSR agendas but should not simply copy from developed countries but adopt CSR’s agenda susceptive to their multiple nations’ sustainable and equitable developments. The result also shows that the lack of good governance and transparency in abundant natural resources in developing countries in the south has led to corrupt elites diverting CSR activities funds for their self-interest and not their local communities. Some developing countries still see CSR as an act of philanthropy, not as means for sustainable and equitable development for economic growth, hence the lack of transparency surrounding CSR by the various government and their elites.
This study looks into how Carroll’s concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental responsibility affect the performance of SMEs in Iran. By examining 483 questionnaires collected from Iranian small and medium-sized businesses, the research’s conclusions were drawn. The conceptual model was examined using structural equation modeling. The results show that two dimensions of CSR including economic and legal aspects directly and significantly affect firm performance. This study specifically evaluates how each aspect of corporate social responsibility affects firm performance. Due to the growing significance of environmental challenges, a new dimension - environmental responsibility has been added to Carroll’s suggested paradigm in this research. The findings of this study provide managers with a better understanding of CSR and its effects on business performance. This study demonstrates to managers how concentrating on specific CSR elements can affect business performance.
Gazi Md. Shakhawat Hossain, Jing Zhang, Mingxing Li
et al.
This study investigates how corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices influence sustainable business performance (SBP) in Bangladesh’s manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on data collected from 510 SMEs across six industrial sectors. The research employs a multi-method analytical framework comprising partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), and machine learning (ML) algorithms. Findings confirm that economic, environmental, and ethical CSR practices are key drivers of business sustainability. Legal and philanthropic CSR show moderate influence, while social CSR has limited effects. fsQCA reveals multiple effective CSR combinations that can lead to sustainability. ML results highlight environmental CSR as the strongest predictor of business performance. SME leaders are encouraged to integrate core CSR dimensions within strategic business planning. This research contributes methodologically by integrating statistical, configurational, and predictive techniques. The hybrid approach enhances understanding of CSR’s dual explanatory and predictive capabilities. Nevertheless, it supports strategic planning by offering a practical and adaptable CSR decision framework. This study extends CSR literature with empirical evidence tailored to developing-economy SMEs.
In the post-COVID-19 context, both France and Spain are adapting to the evolving expectations of tourists, particularly in relation to environmental responsibility and the diversification of leisure and business activities. This comparative analysis of France’s and Spain’s tourism strategies towards 2030 focuses on the sustainability of tourism practices and the challenges posed by overtourism and the management of visitor flows. The comparison draws upon both statistical analysis and qualitative coding based on national tourism strategic plans. Spain’s approach centres on the adaptation of its territories and the diversification of its tourism offerings, notably through the integration of soft mobility practices. France, by contrast, emphasises enhanced competitiveness in response to international rivalry and the extension of international stays through the strategic use of data-driven marketing. Spain’s comprehensive strategy proposes a new climate-responsive planning-policy framework aimed at transforming the sector while promoting social and territorial equity. France, meanwhile, places particular emphasis on major international events, such as the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. From the global to the local scale, there is a marked shift in national tourism governance towards the explicit integration of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Muhammad Furqan Khan, Wasim Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Muzaffar Hameed
et al.
Purpose: The self-awareness mechanism can serve as inspiration for the design of an artificial intelligence system for top-down attention, for which self-awareness plays an indispensable role. When agents receive multiple stimuli from the environment, it becomes very difficult for them to focus solely on the most important stimulus. So, a self-awareness mechanism is required to regulate attention.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper proposes the concept of a self-awareness mechanism utilizing fuzzy logic to modulate the selection of high-priority stimuli within a priority-based system. Utilizing a prioritization technique and fuzzy logic to identify the most important stimulus, this mechanism enhances the agent's self-awareness and self-control mechanisms.
Findings: The results reveal that the self-awareness mechanism renders cognitive functions present in the human mind: expert systems can manage human legible knowledge and make inference upon it, such formulation allows to build a system that manages imprecise information, an artificial neural network-based cognitive structure that can learn, generalize, and prioritize all complications.
Implications/Originality/Value: The study posits that fuzzy logic rules can be defined according to the priority of the input environment stimuli to generate a fuzzy output in the form of the most important stimulus.
A. Blanco‐González, Gabriel Cachón‐Rodríguez, Felipe Hernández-Perlines
et al.
Companies that develop social responsibility actions gain legitimacy, which increases consumer trust and revisit intention. However, the effects of both socially responsible actions and legitimacy on customer behavior are not always direct, as they vary depending on the context. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a new context in which emotions play a determining role in consumer behavior. The number of people diagnosed with anxiety continues to grow worldwide, and this is known as a mental health epidemic. The aim of this research is to explore the moderating effect of anxiety on the relationships between social responsibility, legitimacy, and revisit intention. Using a sample of 1,200 supermarket buyers and applying a structural equation system, it is shown that social responsibility and legitimacy influence revisit intention, and the level of anxiety moderates these relationships. This study suggests building trust by adapting business policies to consumerś emotional backgrounds.
Research Purpose. The COVID-19 pandemic was very demanding for business entities which have to introduce new managerial tools and approaches to protect the health of employees and maintained continuity in the company's activities. Most countries worldwide have implemented policies and guidelines that protect employees from potential risks related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The study aims at identifying if any difference exists (and what these differences are) between Czech and Slovak companies in the emphasis they pay to the corporate social responsibility (abbreviated: CSR) activities connected with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Big data mining and analytics help uncover hidden patterns and correlations in business. It serves as the optimal tool to interpret the behavior of companies in specific environments. Built on the large amount of data obtained from various sources, this paper examines the relationship between the tone of corporate social responsibility(CSR) reports and the degree of information asymmetry between investors and managers. Python software is used for data collection, text analysis, and word frequency statistics. The results show that the tone of the social responsibility report reduces the degree of information asymmetry, indicating that the tone of the social responsibility report has an incremental information effect. Further analysis shows that the tone of CSR reports significantly reduces information asymmetry in companies with optimistic forecasts and high media attention.
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ABSTRACT
Students represent a vulnerable population within faculty-led research at universities because of the incentivized extra credit option. Therefore, other forms of participation in should be offered, to ensure that their choice to undergo becoming a student participant is fully their autonomous choice.
INTRODUCTION
Extra credit— two words college students love hearing. As an undergraduate student, I was no different. Ranging from subjects like chemistry to psychology to political science, there was no lack of extra credit opportunities in the courses I took to fulfill my social science major and pre-medical requirements. Participating in my professors’ research studies seemed to be a mutually beneficial opportunity at first glance; I would receive a few extra points to buffer my grade in case I did poorly on an exam, and my professors would be able to easily recruit the participants they needed to churn out scientific findings.
BACKGROUND
Social sciences research, especially psychology research, which has been labeled “the science of the behavior of the college sophomore,” routinely includes students. For instance, 77 percent of all articles in two major psychology journals included research done with students.[1] There is literature describing how common recruitment of students from undergraduate or medical school classes in the US is, a practice documented since the 1920s.[2] Indeed, students enrolled in the Psychology 10 course at UCLA, for example, are not just incentivized to do so, but in fact, are “required to serve as psychological research subjects for a total of six hours or write three abstracts on articles from psychology journals, or do a combination of both.” [3] Professors widely use student participants in academic research because of their accessibility, convenience, and willingness to participate. However, such prevalent recruitment of undergraduate students as study subjects poses several ethical questions, necessitating more stringent regulation.
ANALYSIS
Incentivizing research participation with rewards may unduly influence students, tempting them to participate in research they would otherwise not want to engage. According to the Association for Clinical Research Professionals, undue influence “implies that individuals will agree to participate in research without a rational consideration of the information provided in the informed consent process”.[4] Undue influence typically involves providing financial incentives to individuals in great need of money, but undue influence pertains to non-financial incentives as well. For instance, my general chemistry professor offered authorship promises to students who could travel to Mexico and bring back samples of alcohol served at resorts for his study, which aimed to analyze the chemical content of resort alcohol. More often, professors use extra credit as an incentive. Though such an incentive may not seem highly harmful, students who are worried or anxious about their grades are in a particularly vulnerable position and may very well fail to deeply consider the risks or implications of participating in research that offers extra credit. Especially in intensive courses that may be graded on a curve, additional credit may seem like an unspoken requirement rather than an option. This was the case in some of my undergraduate courses; my organic chemistry professor offered extra credit to students who completed writing assignments designed to measure whether writing explanations of chemical reactions affected student understanding and performance in the course. Unsurprisingly, the majority of students participated in the research study, seeing it as integral to their grades.
Furthermore, students are subject to an inherent, unbalanced power dynamic between themselves and their instructors. A student’s academic or professional standing may rely on the professor, who may boost grades or agree to write a letter of recommendation. Academic faculty members are on a payroll and thus retain a primary fiduciary responsibility to teach, educate, and protect their students.[5] However, many faculty members also advance and develop new scientific and academic knowledge through research positions. In studies that have student participants, professors can experience a conflict of interest while exercising their roles as researchers and instructors. These dual roles are especially risky in a study when a student participant must divulge personal information, which is then accessible to the professor. Students ought to participate in research out of their own volition, without the added pressure of benefits and risks reflected in their grades, recommendations, or professor relationships.
It is also essential to consider the ethical principle of justice in this space and whether findings from the research using student samples are meant to be implemented in policy or clinical efforts within a broader, more diverse population. A 2010 study published in the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences found that two-thirds of subjects in American psychology research were undergraduates studying psychology.[6] This finding raises the question of how such a disproportionate sampling has impacted the effect of clinical psychology on populations who may not have similar levels of education or socioeconomic status as the average college student. In general, student samples have historically been much more homogenous than non-student samples, which often leads to difficulties in replicating findings in the general population.[7] Nevertheless, researchers have an obligation to society to produce equitable results, and their research designs and sampling methods ought to reflect that.
l. Counterarguments and Benefits of Student Research
Granted, there is undoubtedly valuable research that seeks to study student populations exclusively, resulting in data relevant to student populations specifically. Additionally, critics may contend that research involving student subjects rarely poses major risks that call beneficence into question. One may also argue that research participation can be a helpful, behind-the-scenes learning experience for students to experience how to conduct research. Some studies and research designs involving students provide tangible benefits to students. For instance, studies that supplement current course material would provide valuable insight into key concepts and, thus, be acceptable.
ll. Recommendations
So how can institutions and individuals better regulate and ensure ethical practices within this area which has gone relatively unchecked? First, researchers should make an effort to randomly select a diverse sample if they intend the research to have far-reaching implications. Student participants are certainly easier to obtain and more accessible, but as the Belmont Report states, “the selection of research subjects needs to be scrutinized in order to determine whether some classes are being systematically selected simply because of their easy availability, their compromised position, or their manipulability, rather than for reasons directly related to the problem being studied.”[8] Academia must seriously re-evaluate whether students are being “systematically selected” simply because of their accessibility, through additional training modules or educational videos upon hire. This isn’t to say that research should completely exclude student participation; rather, researchers should make more of an active effort to recruit a variety of participants without solely targeting students through student-specific incentives like extra credit.
There are unique ethical dilemmas that arise with power imbalances and convenient sampling. Thus, research that necessitates student-specific sampling must be carried out and regulated carefully. Research incentives can still be offered, but any incentive involving extra credit should be coupled with a diverse range of alternatives that take a similar amount of time to complete. The ability to participate in and contribute to research is a privilege; working students may not be able to take time off to participate in research, so researchers should offer them some other compensated work that suits their schedules. Also, students and non-students should receive similar compensation, something impossible if extra credit is the form of compensation.
To avoid a conflict of interest, professors should avoid recruiting current students for their personal research. Separating roles may also address some pressing concerns about the confidentiality of subjects, who might feel more comfortable answering research questions without the fear of having their own professor read or listen to them. A much better method for enrolling student participants is to randomly assign students who have voluntarily signed up through an online platform to studies run by professors who are not directly related to the student.
During studies that use student participants, informed consent and attention to general research ethics are essential. From the start, students should be educated about informed consent and how power may alter the voluntariness of their consent. Students should also be clear about the incentives available to them, the risks of participating in such research, the ensured confidentiality of their responses, and their ability to opt-out of the study at any time. Even after the study concludes, students should be able to voice any concerns through an anonymous survey or hotline. Simultaneously, researchers and professors should debrief participants. Ultimately, these post-study efforts would increase the transparency of research involving student subjects while furthering the field of academia by identifying areas of ethical improvement.
CONCLUSION
Currently, most universities and IRBs have guidelines for research involving student subjects and there are various federal and state regulations protecting research subjects.[9],Yet students remain susceptible to a host of ethical issues, including undue influence, lack of justice, and the sense they would be penalized for opting out. With increased and standardized oversight initiatives such as the ones outlined above, universities can work towards ensuring a more ethical space for students to participate in and learn from the research efforts of faculty members.
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[1] Burnett JJ, Dune PM. An appraisal of the use of student subjects in Marketing Research. Journal of Business Research. 1986;14(4):329-343. doi:10.1016/0148-2963(86)90024-x
[2] Prescott HM. Using the student body: College and university students as research subjects in the United States during the Twentieth Century. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 2002;57(1):3-38. doi:10.1093/jhmas/57.1.3
[3] “Sona Instructions for Undergraduate Participants • UCLA Department of Psychology.” UCLA Department of Psychology, 14 Sept. 2021, https://www.psych.ucla.edu/undergraduate/subject-pool-experiment-participation/sona-instructions-for-undergraduate-participants/.
[4] Borasky, David, et al. “Paying Subjects to Take Part in Research: A New Perspective on Coercion and Undue Influence.” ACRP, 13 Mar. 2019, https://acrpnet.org/2019/03/12/paying-subjects-to-take-part-in-research-a-new-perspective-on-coercion-and-undue-influence/.
[5] Ferguson, Linda M., et al. “Students' Involvement in Faculty Research: Ethical and Methodological Issues.” International Journal of Qualitative Methods, vol. 3, no. 4, 2004, pp. 56–68., https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690400300405.
[6] Giridharadas, Anand. “A Weird Way of Thinking Has Prevailed Worldwide.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Aug. 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/americas/26iht-currents.html.
[7] Peterson, Robert A. “On the Use of College Students in Social Science Research: Insights from a Second-Order Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 28, no. 3, 2001, pp. 450–461., https://doi.org/10.1086/323732.
[8] Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). “The Belmont Report.” HHS.gov, 16 June 2021, https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/read-the-belmont-report/index.html#xbenefit.
[9] U. S. department of education protection of human subjects. Home. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocfo/humansub.html. Published August 4, 2020; Students as Subjects. Massachusetts Institute of Technology COUHES. https://couhes.mit.edu/guidelines/students-subjects. Accessed December 2, 2021. Accessed November 28, 2021.
Purpose: This qualitative research paper explores the factors affecting parental perceptions and concerns about inclusive education. It also investigates the factors influencing the access and participation of children with disabilities in mainstream schools.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Ten parents (n=10) of children with and without disabilities were selected through purposive sampling from inclusive primary schools of Punjab. Semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis were employed for data collection and analysis.
Findings: Findings revealed that parents of children with disabilities are more inclined towards inclusive education. Reactions of parents, quality of instruction and institutional support have created a feeling of un-certainty and dissatisfaction amongst the parents of children with disabilities about inclusion. Large class sizes and time constraints have been established as barriers to inclusion.
Implications/Originality/Value: The study would be beneficial for the school department to consider the factors adversely affecting the process of inclusion. Parents’ guidance and counselling may be made mandatory to make inclusive education successful.
This study aims to explore whether or not social responsibility disclosure contributes to improve the financial information environment, through examining the impact of quantity and quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure on the accuracy of analysts' forecasts and audit fees. Content analysis technique has been used to measure quantity and quality of CSR disclosure in annual reports of Saudi registered companies. OLS regression model is used to examine the relationship between the quantity and quality of CSR disclosure in the annual reports and the quality of the analysts' forecasts, and the audit fees. The results indicated that CSR disclosure provides useful information for outsiders, where it is associated with more accurate analysts’ expectations and reduced audit fees. These results suggest that CSR disclosure is associated with high quality financial information environment. This paper provides comprehensive analysis for financial information environment in Saudi companies. The findings of paper provide useful insights concerning the importance of social responsibility disclosure in Saudi business environment.
Untl recently, in business practce, there was a belief that companies were operatng solely for the proft of their owners. Few companies have recognized the need to combine their actvites with ethics, and in partcular with their obligatons toward society or the environment. However, the percepton of ethical issues has changed radically in business over the last 20 years. If a company wants to be perceived as a reliable business partner and a respected member of the business sector, it should demonstrate a high level of insttutonalizaton of business ethics principles and practces, and it must practce outstanding ethical behavior. This is exceptonally true in some controversial industries. The purpose of our study is to identfy the scale and scope of the use of these principles and practces in two Central European countries, i.e., Poland and Hungary, in three controversial sectors of the economy, i.e., pharmaceutcal, tobacco and alcohol. The data were achieved on the basis of data gathered through survey methodology. The target subjects included a group of 48 companies (25 Hungarian and 23 Polish ones). Our survey mainly focused on the degree of insttutonalizaton of business ethics (such as the presence of a code of conduct, an employee appointed to deal with ethical issues, ethical training, and so on), the perceived ethical behavior of the frms, and their relatonship with their key stakeholders. Our study confrmed that business ethics is regarded as a signifcant factor which has an influence on business success and the corporate image of companies from the sectors in queston. However, it is necessary to emphasize that the scale of this phenomenon varies, across both sectors and countries. The level of insttutonalizaton is somewhat higher at Hungarian frms while preventng and handling corrupton cases are more at the forefront of Polish companies. Although it seems that stakeholders from Polish frms have greater ethical expectatons, we did not observe signifcant differences between perceived ethical behavior in the two countries. The originality of the paper is the result of the presentaton of unique qualitatve research related to business ethics in sensitve sectors of the economy in two Central European countries. To the best of our knowledge, such research is relatvely rare (due to the sensitve nature of the sectors analyzed) not only in these two countries but also on an internatonal scale.