The Impact of Implementing ISO 26000 on Firms’ Performance: The Mediating Role of Corporate Governance

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of implementing social responsibility ISO 26000 on firms’ performance in the telecommunication industry in Jordan through considering the mediating role of corporate governance.   Theoretical framework: Three telecommunication companies are licensed in Jordan: Zain, Orange and Umniah. Jordan telecommunication industry has witnessed big growth in the latest years (Obeidat, 2016.). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an essential factor that is expected to boost performance of Jordanian telecommunication companies (Al-ma’ani, et. al., 2019). They added that applying CSR will result in employee and customer satisfaction and increase the levels of loyalty of internal and external stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility has a highly positive effect contribution to the development of society and firm's achievement in terms of profit (Al-Kayed, 2014). This paper investigates social responsibility impact on firms' performance from the perspective of ISO 26000 seven core subjects that are organizational governance, human rights, labour practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues and community involvement and development.    Design, Methodology, Approach: A purposive sample of 350 senior employees from both organizations were given the questionnaire. There were 304 valid questionnaires for the actual analysis. Two statistical methods were employed to examine the data. The preliminary data were analysed using SPSS version 24, which also provided descriptive analysis of the sample's data collection, including means, standard deviations, and frequencies. Additionally, to evaluate whether the mediator variable is acting as a mediator or not, the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with AMOS 22 was used to analyse the hypothesis.   Findings: The study findings show that there is a statistically significant impact of the implementation of social responsibility ISO 26000 on firms’ performance in the Jordanian companies within the telecommunication industry. Furthermore, the study also found that corporate governance had a significant impact on firms’ performance, where the relationship is significant and positive, but it doesn’t have a mediating role between implementing social responsibility ISO 26000 and firms’ performance.   Research, Practical & Social implications: The theoretical implication is that this study is expected to be a reference for further researchers who study social responsibility especially for those who wish to conduct research in ISO 26000. For the practical implication, to achieve more validation of the study model and to achieve more generalized findings, further investigation needs to be conducted with the national perspective, developing the study model to consider other industries in Jordan.  In other words, more research could validate the same model by replicating it in a comparative study in different industries as an attempt to ascertain if the model could be more general in the different industries.   Originality: All organizations wanting to comprehend social responsibility from the perspective of ISO 26000 will find benefit in this article

Managerial perseptions on corporate social responsbility: A Transatlantic comparison between forest products companies in Europe and North America

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) addresses the responsibility of companies for their impacts on society. The concept of strategic CSR is becoming increasingly mainstreamed in the forest industry, but there is, however, little consensus on the definition and implementation of CSR. The objective of this research is to build knowledge on the characteristics of CSR and to provide insights on the emerging trend to increase the credibility and legitimacy of CSR through standardization. The study explores how the sustainability managers of European and North American forest companies perceive CSR and the recently released ISO 26000 guidance standard on social responsibility. The conclusions were drawn from an analysis of two data sets; multivariate survey data based on one subset of 30 European and 13 North American responses, and data obtained through in-depth interviewing of 10 sustainability managers that volunteered for an hour long phone discussion about social responsibility practices at their company. The analysis concluded that there are no major differences in the characteristics of cross-Atlantic CSR. Hence, the results were consistent with previous research that suggests that CSR is a case- and company-specific concept. Regarding the components of CSR, environmental issues and organizational governance were key priorities in both regions. Consumer issues, human rights, and financial issues were among the least addressed categories. The study reveals that there are varying perceptions on the ISO 26000 guidance standard, both positive and negative. Moreover, sustainability managers of European and North American forest companies are still uncertain regarding the applicability of the ISO 26000 guidance standard to the forest industry. This study is among the first to provide a preliminary review of the practical implications of the ISO 26000 standard in the forest sector. The results may be utilized by sustainability managers interested in the best practices on CSR, and also by a variety of forest industrial stakeholders interested in the practical outcomes of the long-lasting CSR debate

An investigation of management systems for sustainable e-government

Sustainable e-government has become an important issue for countries wishing to sustain their e-services and promote integration with smart cities. Such new challenges require policy makers to move toward sustainable e-government and encourage organisations to engage with management systems that promote sustainability; these include systems for environmental sustainability (ISO14001) and social sustainability (ISO 26000). The literature related to sustainable e-government shows a lack of research into the acceptance and adoption of such management systems and their influence on e-government sustainability. A quantitative case study was conducted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which investigated the Saudi Ministry of Justice (MoJ), together with private software companies employed by the MoJ. The purpose of the study was to understand the current situation regarding standards that support sustainability in e-government and its affiliates in the private sector. Survey data was gathered from 83 e-government project employees from the public and private sectors; participants reported on their adoption of management systems designed to support sustainable egovernment. Social management systems were more highly ranked than other management systems, namely those related to environmental and economic administration. This raises concerns about the low level of awareness of green-ability (environmental considerations). While social management systems were more likely to be adopted, these four management systems, environmental, social, quality and economic, showed a strong positive interrelationship: when organisations agreed on the adoption of one form of system, they tended to respond positively to others. These results will be utilised to support future work in designing a framework for sustainable e-government

Doing Business in a Connected Society: The GSK Bribery Scandal in China

Focusing on the bribery scandal plaguing global healthcare giant GlaxoSmithKline LLC (GSK), this manuscript documents and offers proposals to redress the myriad of harms caused when multinational corporations (MNCs) accept bribery as an unspoken cost of doing business in connected societies Despite its history of being a connection-based society, Chinese culture does not condone commercial bribery. Recognizing this important distinction, we argue that bribery committed by MNCs is a threat, not only to China’s burgeoning market economy, but also to Chinese culture. Responding to this threat, and drawing on international anticorruption regimes, our manuscript outlines reforms that GSK and other MNCs might adopt in order to prevent their employees and directors from falling prey to unspoken rules of corruption.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110784/1/1268_Schipani.pd

Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Assessing Current CSR Status at Haldex

The rise and dominance of the corporate form of business organization and its impacts on society and the environment, has lead the concept and practice of Social Responsibility (SR) or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to grow, flourish and spread. This thesis focuses on the assessment of the current CSR status of Swedish commercial vehicle component manufacturer Haldex. The company is going through business re-structuring and CSR is in the agenda, as there is understanding from the management that social and environmental initiatives can result into financial benefits. The research was conducted on global level by investigating documented policies and standards, and site specific, through the application of a questionnaire in 12 Haldex units in 10 different countries. Prior to establishing a CSR programme, Haldex aims to identify existing CSR related elements and have a diagnosis of its current CSR status. The International Standard for Social Responsibility ISO 26000 served as the main structuring framework of the thesis and related GRI G4 aspects were used as complimentary elements adding materiality and tangibility. The assessment shows that Haldex counts with global policies that well support CSR subjects. Despite differences in the level of the implementation of CSR related elements from unit to unit, Haldex has a good base for the continued implementation of CSR on Global level

Does Environmental and Social Standards Influence Workers Psychology? A Cognitive Analytics Management as A Strategic Factor

Background: The desire to contribute to sustainable development was translated into a search for the broadest possible consensus, at the international level, on the means of integrating responsible behavior into the company, by providing operational guidelines on dialogue with stakeholders. In spite of the complexity of challenges of environmental and societal standards effect on workers psychology, there has been limited research which explains this relationship. Therefore, the goal of this article is to explore the ripple effect generated by employment of environmental management criteria (ISO 14000) combined with social responsibility standard (ISO 26000) as integrated system designed to cope with cognitive analytics management (CAM) on employees psychology and behavior. Method: The study is based on survey instrument and it was targeted a sample of 300 companies from Tunisian industrial sector. The quantitative and qualitative exploratory research design was adopted through the structural equation model (PLS-SEM). Results: The findings showed that there is an indirect relationship between organizational effectiveness as a determinant of ISO standards and intention, sense of self-efficacy as a workers psychology criteria. The causality path of different constructs has been approved via CAM which played the mediator role and ensured the establishment of ISO practices and its effects to employees’ behavior by extracting tacit knowledge to explicit. Conclusion: The organizational effectiveness induced through the coding of knowledge towards the decoding of employee behavior through loyalty, commitment, pride, trust, belief in personal effectiveness, promote the role gives by the manager to his employees in achieving the strategic ambitions of the organization, and more specifically in their confidence ability to coordinate voluntarily in the interests of the company

Corporate Social Responsibility in Romanian Companies – between Perceptions and Reality

Starting with the premise that corporate social responsibility is a major factor for lasting development in a global economic society, this article sets forth an analysis of the realities and tendencies within the Romanian CSR. The present article offers the analysis done after the research of the organization, coordination, and activity model for CSR in Romanian companies, and of the benefits these have as a consequence of socially responsible involvement within the communities they relate to. We focused on communication methods and the transparency degree within CSR activities of these companies, and we noticed the perceptions regarding the specifics of local CSR.corporate social responsibility, transparency, communication, social reporting

Going green: the impact of integrated sustainability reporting within JSE companies

The world is threatened by the possibility of an irreversible catastrophe that many would blame on the environmental impact of the present lifestyle, the results of which are climate change or global warming. This is clearly unacceptable to both present and future generations. If going green really means changing the way we live and pursuing knowledge and practices that can lead to more environmentally friendly and socio-ecologically responsible decisions, it is time to protect the environment and sustain its natural resources for current and future generations. Integrated sustainability reporting should be viewed as a vehicle to accomplish this global agenda of going green beyond mere legal requirements. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of integrated sustainability reporting (ISR) on achieving green business status within JSE listed companies. To achieve the purpose, an in-depth literature study and empirical research were undertaken using a triangulation method. After a detailed descriptive and content analysis of the collected primary and secondary data, the study found the following: Most of the JSE listed corporations’ integrated reports are not utilising the CSR, GRI guidelines and voluntary standards as effective tools to drive the process of green sustainable business. Some of the JSE listed organisations are treating financial and non-financial matters as separate issues in their integrated reports; The ISR has no impact in terms of using the NEMA framework in driving the process of green sustainable business in the JSE listed organisations; Most of the JSE listed organisations were fully aware of ecological sustainability as a pillar to drive the process of green sustainable business. They treat this pillar of sustainable development as a separate entity from socio-economic developmental issues. Most of the JSE listed corporations adhere to all the bylaws and regulations of ecological sustainability within their required certification of ISO 14001 standards in order to remain effectively certified by the auditing authority. Some integrated reports indicated much support for staff in terms of health, educational activities, labour laws and programmes that advance the socio-economic aspects of human beings; The study has found that the social pillar of sustainability is mostly supported by JSE listed organisations in South Africa - to the level of the requirements of labour relations legislation. It is not integrated with sustainability policies beyond the statutory requirements; It was further noticed in this study that integrated sustainability reports, based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) principles and the King III reporting guidelines, disclose outcomes and results regarding the JSE listed organisations’ obligations, strategy and management approach which occurred within the reporting period. To address the above-listed findings, the researcher recommended that the JSE listed organisations integrate the NEMA, EMS, CSR, GRI and King III guidelines in their integrated sustainability reporting, in order to produce an effective sustainable green business in South Africa that is ecologically accountable and socio-economically supportive to all multi-stakeholders. The government and non-governmental organisations are the key players to drive the process of going green using the ISR. The government needs more structured policies and regulations that will support the National Development Plan in the pursuit of green economy in the form of grants and incentives that are beyond the present status quo