ABSTRACT Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting is critical for sustainable business practices. However, the reliability and transparency in CSR reporting raise significant concerns. Although formal regulations and institutional frameworks are often used to explain the need for CSR assurance, the role of informal institutions, particularly social trust, in driving CSR assurance remains underexplored. Grounded in institutional theory, this study uses Chinese A‐share listed companies from 2010 to 2018 to examine how social trust affects CSR assurance decisions. Social trust enhances external institutional development and internal governance quality, driving firms' decisions to obtain CSR assurance. The positive influence of social trust on CSR assurance is pronounced if the state is the majority shareholder and the firm operates in regions with high social governance. The findings provide insights for corporate leaders and managers into how social trust within institutional contexts drives credible CSR practices and promotes effective and trustworthy corporate governance.
T.P. Ostapchuk, S.F. Lehenchuk, P. Ucheklak-Yezh
et al.
Statistical data on the profitability of operating activities of enterprises by type of economic activity were analyzed and general trends in the development of marketing enterprises were determined. Based on the construction of a trend equation, the trend of changes in the average size of operating income was determined and forecast values for 2024 and 2025 were calculated. A comparative description of statistical indicators on the use of information and communication technologies in processing, trade, construction, transport, tourism and marketing enterprises is presented. The advantages of providing conditions for the use of digital technologies at marketing enterprises compared to other enterprises in terms of covering a larger part of employees with Wi-Fi access to the network, a greater frequency of online events, which contributes to the effectiveness of its activities, have been identified. The main areas of use of information and communication technologies in marketing enterprises are summarized according to the following criteria: the level of providing employees with access to the Internet; the level of providing employees with remote work; the structure of cloud computing services used for activities; the purposes of using the Internet of Things; types of social media in business activities; main types of artificial intelligence technologies and areas of their use; main areas of use of robotics; organization of security control when using information and communication technologies at the enterprise; methods of communication with employees regarding security issues of information and computer technologies used in the enterprise; security measures in the enterprise’s information systems; environmental responsibility regarding the acquisition and disposal of computer equipment.
Kondratenko Nataliia O., Troian Vladyslava I., Bratash Myroslava A.
The article defines the socio-ecological aspects of innovation management in the sphere of subsoil use. It is noted that innovative management in the field of subsoil use is a separate branch of management and relevant activity, which arose and developed as a result of contradictory trends in the growth of subsoil use and limited opportunities for their effective involvement in economic processes. It is noted that the social aspects of innovative management in the sphere of subsoil use require an appropriate assessment to obtain an adequate answer to the question of the effectiveness of this type of management. It is determined that the ecological aspects of innovation management in the field of subsoil use are considered very important, since the modern competitive environment requires that ecological responsibility becomes the life philosophy of an economic entity and be the basis for building relationships with suppliers and consumers, as well as local communities. The principles and directions of improvement of innovation management on ecological issues in the field of subsoil use in Ukraine are determined. Attention was focused on ecological audit, which is a tool for determining how production activities meet national and international standards of sustainable development. It is noted that due to the full-scale war in Ukraine, the responsibility of each business entity for the preservation and restoration of the environment is growing. It is concluded that the socio-ecological aspects of innovative management in the sphere of subsoil use form the basis for the interest and combination of interests of the State, business and society to achieve a certain balance in matters of national security, meeting the needs of the population in public goods and ecological development on the basis of innovativeness, which in the future will create conditions for the formation and implementation of appropriate ecological strategies that will contribute to the development of education and science, social protection of the population, reducing the outflow of highly qualified workers, increasing innovative activity in the country’s economy, etc.
The article is devoted to the current topic of development and implementation of sustainable marketing innovations based on the concept of socially responsible marketing to ensure business competitiveness. The work provides definitions of «marketing innovation» by various authors (P. Drucker, S. Jobs, J. Notter, L. Duncan, V. Govindarajan, M. Porter), highlighting the diverse nature of innovation, covering everything from the introduction of new products and services to cultural and organizational change. Marketing innovation has been proven to play a key role in driving sustainable business development by shaping consumer behavior, improving brand reputation, promoting stakeholder engagement, and creating a positive impact on the environment and society. During the innovation process, it is important to consider the concept of VUCA (Variability, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity). It is stated that sustainable marketing innovations go beyond traditional marketing practices, integrating environmental and social responsibility into the core of business strategies.
AbstractOrganizational Social CapitalThe history of social capital goes back to classical economists like Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill and sociologists like Max Weber who used cultural factors to analyze economic phenomena. Social capital has been defined as the total of real and potential resources hidden inside, available and emerging from the network of relationships belonging to an individual or social unit (Joeng & et al, 2021). According to Putnam, social capital refers to the connections between people - social networks and mutual and reliable norms that arise from them. According to these definitions, social capital is defined as an asset that exists in social relationships between individuals, networks and communities to achieve mutual benefits (Tuominen, & Haanpää, 2022).Brand PerformanceBrand performance means the degree of brand success in the market and tends to measure the strategic success of a brand (Lee et al, 2008). The success of a business undoubtedly comes from the performance of that business's brand (De Chernatony et al, 2004). Brand performance is a measure of a brand's results against business and marketing goals. While brand delivery focuses on how branding is executed during the marketing campaign, brand performance measures campaign results to see how effective branding has been for the business. And since each brand is different, performance varies significantly from one brand to another (Wu et al, 2020).The factors that affect the company's performance have two main dimensions: objective (or financial) and judgmental (or non-financial). The methods of measuring financial parameters to evaluate the company's performance suffer from the limitation that the marketing department's efforts in creating long-term financial value have not been considered. Therefore, it is essential that academics consider more dimensions than financial numbers to create a comprehensive performance measure. Therefore, non-financial performance measures belonging to perceptual and behavioral categories such as brand, customer satisfaction and loyalty are considered, acknowledging that an integrated and strategic view of performance evaluation is required (Sarkar et al, 2021).Brand citizenship behaviorBrand citizenship behavior is an employee's brand altruistic behavior to increase brand equity. It enables employees to automatically display altruistic brand behavior such as good service behavior that can improve brand image. Although this concept refers to employee behaviors toward a brand, it can also be extended to customer behaviors, as customers are more likely to support a brand that exhibits altruistic behaviors. Brand citizenship behavior includes all behaviors that are performed by the organization's internal stakeholders and to empower the organization's brand personality. According to Zeppelin, brand citizenship behavior is defined as a task outside the job description, but in later researches, brand citizenship behavior was developed not only to behaviors outside the job description, but also to behaviors inside the job (Kirimi et al., 20) 16).Materials and Methods The current research method is correlation through structural equation modeling. The research was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of method and correlation type. The statistical population of the research included all the employees of the companies producing dairy products in Ardabil province, according to Cochran's formula, 260 people were selected as a sample, and these people were selected from the statistical population as available. Three standard questionnaires of social capital (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998), brand performance (Punjaisri & et al, 2009) and brand citizenship behavior (Marzban brand citizenship behavior questionnaire, 2016) were used to collect data. Structural equation modeling method was used to analyze the hypotheses. The data was analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software. Validity was checked and confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis and reliability by Cronbach's alpha.Discussion and Results Today, corporate social responsibility is a very important issue in management circles. Organizations and companies are becoming more interested in the discussion of social responsibility day by day and are paying more attention to this issue. Corporate social responsibility, through its effect on brand performance, can be an important factor in the growth and increase of the market share of companies producing dairy products, which is a long-term strategy and planning for increasing social capital and brand citizenship behavior, and as a result, strengthening performance. They have a company brand. Based on the image of their brand in the minds of customers, companies producing dairy products should strengthen the brand citizenship behavior of employees and improve the performance of their brand by strengthening the social capital of employees. Social capital is an important resource for individuals and can greatly affect their ability to act and the visible quality of their work life. The higher the social capital of a company, the better the performance of the brand and also the brand citizenship behavior of the employees in the company. Social capital by increasing the creation of proper relationship between employees and creating and strengthening common values in the company affects the branding activities of the organization and strengthens the behaviors in accordance with the brand promise towards the customers.ConclusionThe findings of this research confirm that social capital has a significant and positive effect on brand performance, and the brand citizenship behavior of employees also plays a mediating role between social capital and brand performance. In case of further expansion of social capital and brand citizenship behavior in companies producing dairy products, it can be expected that the performance of the brand will be strengthened and lead to the creation of a sustainable competitive advantage over competitors in the field of further expansion of social capital and brand citizenship behavior. They do not have a clear strategy.Therefore, in today's era, companies should pay special attention to the performance of their brand in addition to environmental dynamics, in addition to using their physical assets, and by strengthening the social capital of employees and brand citizenship behavior in the organization, they should cause the growth and development of their brand among competitors.
Political institutions and public administration (General)
Syeda Ammarah Bano, Lubna Zaheer, Nasir Hameed
et al.
This study reveals that online video games have emerged as a novel platform for social interaction, wherein numerous gaming options facilitate player’s competition and collective interaction within the virtual realm. Gamers have increasingly begun to form distinct virtual social communities due to the inherent capacity of these games to facilitate social networking in a multiplayer online setting. This phenomenon has given rise to a unique social dynamic among video game enthusiasts. The present study delves into an exploration of the social gaming behaviour exhibited by participants engaged in multiplayer online games. Additionally, it seeks to establish a correlation between virtual and real-world behaviours by examining the relationship between destructive and constructive social behaviours and the dominance and affiliation dimensions of social interaction.
Purpose: Online gaming has become a unique phenomenon among the young players with a significant influence on them. The basic objective of this study was to determine the social interaction caused by online gaming among young game players. This study conducted in Pakistani perspective has achieved the objections set to analyze the influence of online gaming and increased level of social interaction.
Design/Methodology/Approach: To conduct this investigation, an online survey was administered to individuals who regularly engage in multiplayer gaming activities and dedicate a substantial portion of their daily time to gaming. The study sample consisted of 200 gamers spanning an age range of 16 to 30 years.
Findings: The results of this inquiry shed light on the prevalence of pro-social behaviour and anti-social behaviour, characterized by constructive and destructive actions among gamers, respectively. Furthermore, the study reveals that destructive behaviour negatively predicts affiliation, while constructive behaviour has a positive predictive influence on affiliation. Moreover, certain demographic variables, such as age and gender, exert a significant impact on the prediction of dominance within the gaming community. The findings of this study provide substantial support for the notion that virtual social interactions have a notable influence on real-world behaviours, underscoring the interconnectedness between the online gaming environment and broader social dynamics.
Implications/Originality/Value: Online gaming has become a common practice not only among young adults but also among the minors. Thus, this phenomenon has reduced physical activities among the youth and even among the school going children. This study may provide an insight into the matter and possible appropriate recommendations as well.
Isaac Onyeyirichukwu Chukwuma, Uzoma Ogochukwu Okonkwo
Organizations are consistently optimizing their opportunities to advance their goals, advantages, and relevance in the global market landscape; among the options utilized in the advancement of such strategic intent are the tool of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a strategy in social-economic engagement. Notwithstanding the universal applicability of CSR and its benefits to organizations, its engagement still raises subtle curiosity as to the ethics of gaining legitimacy from stakeholders. Hence, this chapter seeks to qualitatively (narrative literature review methodology) explore the dynamics of ethics in legitimacy quest through CSR and makes postulation on the prospect of CSR in sustaining business engagement. The study postulates that the prospect of CSR in its ethical navigation to legitimacy is one in which the government will eventually exercise some level of control and regulations; this is because the organizational quest for legitimacy will no longer be linked to the exclusive consolidation of their economic interest, but may intermediate with other mediating agendas that are of interest to the government and national sovereignty. Hence, an evolving conceptualization of CSR engagements, as organizations begins to explore the avalanche of opportunities they can influence as non-primary actors in sectors that are beyond their economic interest.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received comparatively less attention in developing countries like Nigeria. This review provides an overview of CSR in general including the conceptual definitions, aspects and benefits of CSR; and subsequently, focuses on the Nigerian context including the perception, practice, impact and contemporary challenges of CSR implementation in Nigeria. CSR, which has been defined in numerous ways, basically refers to the demand on business organisations to extend their relevance beyond profit making to taking responsibility for the welfare of their environment and stakeholders. Five aspects of CSR are discussed including economic, legal, ethical, philanthropic and political responsibilities. The perception and practice of CSR in Nigeria has been largely in the aspect of philanthropic responsibilities and although CSR activities of corporate organisations has been widely reported, the impact is yet apparently very low. Contributory to the reported low levels of CSR is the fact that the tone of CSR obligations of corporations in Nigeria is still largely voluntary, unlike in some countries like India and China that have made CSR mandatory by law. Recent empirical studies reviewed on the outcomes of CSR in Nigeria showed both positive and negative outcomes of CSR on businesses, suggesting that more research is needed to validate the findings. Finally, challenges to CSR implementation in Nigeria include: failure of government, lack of an effective CSR enforcement framework, institutionalized corruption as well as political and social insecurity.
Purpose: Society’s expectations of business are said to be increasing, with business expected to play an influential role from a triple bottom line perspective. Shared value creation is a new, emerging theme in the literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR). The stagnating South African economy, the increasing incidence of protests against community conditions and the increased expectations of stakeholders for business frame the study.
Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative research study aimed to gain insight into how shared value creation could be effected in a developing country. Additionally, it provided insights into the reason for the nature of the expectations, the approach in effecting shared value creation, and the benefits that could be realised by employing this business model.
Findings/results: The study found that shared value creation can be effected successfully through a partnership between government, business and communities together with strong inter-stakeholder. Measurement of outcomes and feedback to the various stakeholders will strengthen relationships with employees and fence-line communities and lead to improved business performance. Benefits were identified as improved social capital, reduced dependency on companies and a sustainable business.
Practical implications: This concept proposes an approach to social responsibility that will enhance the competitive advantage of the firm and is presented as strategic CSR. Numerous literary contributions have criticised the concept for being too vague in its approach and for being built on western world principles.
Originality/value: Understanding the role of institutions (or lack thereof) in ecosystems and the networks that are established and required was considered important in furthering the operationalising of social responsibility concepts such as shared value creation.
Purpose: The Govt. of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan formulated Women Empowerment Policy-2017. The goal of WEP-2017 was to empower women in all spheres of life with a particular focus on social, cultural, political-economic, legal, and personal life. This study conducted a gendered departmental analysis focusing on workplace analysis, human resource capacity analysis, and training need assessment. Data from 332 officials representing 13 civil secretariat departments were collected using a self-administered questionnaire.
Methodology: A proportionate sampling technique was used to select the subjects. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis.
Findings: All the departments scored ‘very low’ or ‘low’ on the HR capacity analysis and previously received training experience. However, the demand for training was either ‘High’ or ‘Moderate’ in all departments.
Implications: Fully paid maternity leaves, flexible working hours, and functional harassment committees were the highlights of workplace analysis whereas pick and drop facilities, separate prayer rooms, and female-only spaces were the areas that require attention
The article discusses the interconnection of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development of companies considering climate changes. Corporate sustainable development imposes attention to environmental problems that makes companies to switch to environmentally friendly technologies, reducing carbon emission, cutting natural sources’ deployment. The main goal of the article is to research if there are different strategies may be applied to shift companies’ activities to environmentally friendly mode. Different opinions and points of view were introduced within the article and confirm the importance of corporate social responsibility. According to corporate cases of corporate social responsibility implementation several principles were elaborated to manage environmental issues. As a result, actual business practices were observed through the principles of corporate social responsibility so, that an average strategy of companies’ sustainable development was described. There is a conclusion in the article, that corporate social responsibility can’t be applied within the company’s activity without dealing with sustainable development, because the responsibility appears as a tool of sustainability, but not the independent purpose. It has been outperformed that social responsibility within environmental issues takes significant place in strategies of sustainable development in present time and even overshadows the issue of financial achievements increase.
Purpose: Gender-based discrimination in the workplace in the private service sector is well known all over the world phenomenon, but in developing states like Pakistan the issue is comparatively high. The purpose of this paper is to determine the causes and factors of Gender-based discrimination in the private service sector workplaces in Pakistan.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The quantitative method was used. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire. The population of the research is the employees of the private service sector of Pakistan. The sample size was 120 (N=120). Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software is used for analysis.
Findings: In this study, it is investigated that Unequal treatment of employees, favoritism, and educational qualification (Independent Variables) are causes of Gender-based discrimination (dependent variable), and this relationship is mediated by the human resource department’s rules and policies, unfortunately, the role of HR policies and the department is not satisfactory in the private service sector of Pakistan.
Implications: Managers, policymakers, and educationists must reassess their dependence on stereotypical ideas of women as women become an increasingly important component of the workforce.
Originality/Value: The paper explores the factors that contribute to gender-based discrimination and uses HR rules as a unique mediator between these factors and prejudice.
In 2020, Huize insurance came to the market in the United States, which will again push the Inter net insurance industry to the peak of social concern. As the one of three pillars of the financial industry, the Internet insurance industry is generated with the promotion of Internet finance. After experiencing a blowou t growth around 2015, the Internet insurance industry bypassed the monopoly of traditional insurance indust ry, At that time, big and small companies had their own characteristics. But as the policy tightens, Internet i nsurance suffers. With the impact of the epidemic in 2020, people’s insurance awareness is constantly streng thened, and the Internet insurance industry will usher in a spring with its unique advantages. This paper com prehensively reviews the development of Internet insurance, analyzes the main problems of the Internet ind ustry, and put forward development recommendations based on Huize’s business model, explore methods th e Internet industry in the social sense of responsibility, product design, and connect with the epidemic, comb ine with the government, to strengthen the construction of preferential and universal insurance, innovate the PPP mode, combine insurance technology to carry on the prospect.
Civic republicanism endorses a freedom ideology that can support the corporate social responsibility movement [CSR] in some of the challenges it faces. This article is a call for CSR to embrace this normative guidance as a superior alternative to mainstream liberalism. Part I is the introduction. Part II discusses the institutional changes that gave rise to CSR’s present incarnation. Part III builds upon this discussion, explaining how corporate risk management strategies pose a threat to CSR’s persuasive authority today. It then considers CSR’s options for enhancing governance when such persuasive authority is not available. It determines that inspiring integrity – above all else – is integral to success and that, in turn, the removal of moral distance is key to inspiring such integrity. It also notes that whether a form of coercive authority exists or not to back a governance mechanism, the removal of moral distance will be key to its effectiveness. Part IV notes that efforts to remove moral distance have been attempted since the 1970s, but time has proven that business actors have been resilient to meaningful change. It argues that this failure to reduce moral distance is, in part, the result of mainstream liberalism, which continues to nullify such efforts to make business actors feel more accountable for the impacts of their decision-making. It then explores liberalism, detangling the meaning of possibly the most contested, and normatively powerful, concept from the twentieth century to the present. Part V explains civic republicanism. It then explores civic republicanism’s conceptual proximity to liberalism. Part VI makes the case for why civic republicanism ought to amend the liberal message, recasting the rights and responsibilities of both imperium (that is, the authority of the sovereign) and dominium (that is, the private authority usually emanating from property and contract) within society. Part VII concludes with a short reflection on the ground covered.
Law, Law in general. Comparative and uniform law. Jurisprudence
This study attempts to provide empirical findings for the advantages of implementing Bal-anced Scorecard System (BSC) combined with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for ser-vice providers in determining the effects of BSC and CSR on businesses performance (BP). The concept of BSC is employed to evaluate the perceived importance of the relationship between the BSC and BP to facilitate the goals of service providers. BSC covers key perspectives, including financial perspective, customer perspective, internal process perspective, growth and ideal learning perspective towards service quality. CSR can influence goals of business directly and indirectly by different paths, including: Firstly, from CSR to Goals directly; secondly, from CSR to the Financial dimension and then to Goals; thirdly, from CSR to Learning & Growth and to Goals; and fourthly, from CSR through Learning & Growth, including causal relationship effects that affect the Financial dimension, then to Goals. To achieve the objectives, the study designs a questionnaire and distributes it randomly to three major groups of stakeholders (i.e., two hundred customers, seventy employees and thirty managers). This study uses CSR variable and BSC perspective variables which is frequently employed to assess the performance of financial perspective, customer perspective, internal business process perspective, learning and growth perspective. Using ordinary least squares regression and the sample of three groups of stakeholders, the results show that the changes towards sustainability occur in this country. The stakeholders of firms hold the perception that CSR can help firms reach their goals and visions. Secondly, the study contributes to the literature of performance measurement systems in the service industry. Our findings provide empirical evidence for the suggestion that BSC can help service firms achieve their goals and visions. The combination of CSR and BSC in this study can become a foundation to discover more for service firms in developing countries. Thirdly, our approach concentrates on important stakeholders, which can illustrate differences in the perceptions of important stakeholders about CSR, BSC dimensions, goals, and visions. Furthermore, this helps to enhance the chances to develop the appropriate visions and goals for their business.
AbstractIn this article, the focus is on developing a governance concept built on integrating the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility (SR) standard with an “employee social responsibility” (ESR) concept developed by the authors. To this end. The authors propose to compliment the voluntary, organizationally adaptable, ISO 26000 SR standard for the organization/firm with a seamlessly integrated—and equally adaptable—ESR concept for the individual/employee of that organization/firm. An SR/ESR governance concept emerges, with an emphasis on implementing a SR‐based business enterprise code of conduct and ESR‐related functional‐level codes of conduct, the latter firmly ensconced in an organization's ethical climate. The conclusion section discusses the strengths and weaknesses of our proposed SR/ESR governance concept.
This article deals with the revision of the state of sustainable development in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The main patterns and problems are overviewed, also some forecast and recommendations are given by the author. The relevance of the work consists in analyzing the correlation of the positions of the theory and conceptual principles with real practice implementation of corporate program. Applied to the Kazakhstani practice issues of institutionalization of the notion of corporate social responsibility in the business and political environment, as well as highlighted the most important factors of decision-making in the field of corporate responsibility in corporate sector. With the use of primary and secondary data, the sustainable development is assessed by the 3 main categories. During the paper, some statistics is given, as well as the world practices and benchmarks.
Economics as a science, Marketing. Distribution of products
ISO 26000 represents a guidance on corporate social responsibility and it is, at the present time, one of the most important document on CSR in the world. Without being mandatory or regulated, ISO 26000 is focus on seven core subjects that have to be approached synergistic – governance, human right, labor, environment, business practices, consumer, and community – in order to achieve its goal. The present paper intends to present and analyze the seven core subjects of ISO 26000 from tow perspectives: by emphasizing the benefits of implementing the standard into the business strategy and by revealing the correlation between corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.