Celebrating the End of Enlightenment: Organization Theory in the Age of the Anthropocene and Gaia (and why Neither is the Solution to Our Ecological Crisis)

This article aims to change the terms of the conversation about the ecological crisis. We argue that the human–nature dualism, a product of Enlightenment thought and primarily responsible for the ecological crisis, cannot be the basis for any meaningful solutions. We show how more recent Western imaginaries like the Anthropocene and Gaia proposed to overcome the separation of nature from culture are also based on exclusions that reflect Enlightenment rationality and legacies of colonialism. In sharp contrast, we show that Indigenous philosophies that preceded the Enlightenment by thousands of years have developed systems of knowledge based on a relational ontology that reflects profound connections between humans and nature. We demonstrate that such forms of knowledge have been systematically subjugated by Western scholarship based on arguments inspired by Enlightenment ideals of rationality and empiricism. A decolonial imagination will be able to generate new insights into understanding and addressing the ecological crisis. We therefore call for organization and management scholars to challenge the anthropomorphic biases and the economism that dominates our field through a respectful engagement with Indigenous worldviews

Performative Work: Bridging Performativity and Institutional Theory in the Responsible Investment Field

Callon’s performativity thesis has illuminated how economic theories and calculative devices shape markets, but has been challenged for its neglect of the organizational, institutional and political context. Our seven-year qualitative study of a large financial data company found that the company’s initial attempt to change the responsible investment field through a performative approach failed because of the constraints posed by field practices and organizational norms on the design of the calculative device. However, the company was subsequently able to put in place another form of performativity by attending to the normative and regulative associations of the device. We theorize this route to performativity by proposing the concept of performative work, which designates the necessary institutional work to enable translation and the subsequent adoption of the device. We conclude by considering the implications of performative work for the performativity and the institutional work literatures

State pension funds and corporate social responsibility: do beneficiaries’ political values influence funds’ investment decisions?

This study explores the underlying drivers of US public pension funds’ tendency to tilt their portfolios towards companies with stronger corporate social responsibility (CSR). Studying the equity holdings of large, internally-managed US state pension funds, we find evidence that the political leaning of their beneficiaries and political pressures by state politicians affect funds’ investment decisions. State pension funds from states with Democratic-leaning beneficiaries tilt their portfolios more strongly towards companies that perform well on CSR issues, and this tendency is intensified when the state government is dominated by Democratic state politicians. Moreover, we find that funds which tilt their portfolios towards companies with superior CSR scores generate a slightly higher return compared with their counterparts. Overall, our findings indicate that funds align their investment choices with the financial and non-financial interests of their beneficiaries when deciding whether to incorporate CSR into their equity allocations

Opening accounting: a Manifesto

Because accounting needs serious #change (it must go way beyond the narrow focus on capital markets but also let go of \u27old school\u27 traditions and gatekeeping, and embrace progressive mindsets)... watch and read our #Manifesto to #Open #Accounting below. #Decolonize #IndigenousPerspectives #Africa #LatinAmerica #Asia #DefenseIndustry #Feminism #Queering #Disability #Labour #PrefigurativePoliics #Engagement #Impact #EarlyCareerResearcher #PhDStudent #Journey #MakeChange Many thanks to all contributors listed here: www.openaccountingmanifesto.co

Sunken CSR and SMEs

Summary Despite the increased recognition and emphasis attributed to CSR, numerous problems and scandals involving large corporations continue to emerge. This contradiction nurtures a growing interest in intrinsic CSR rooted in ethical concerns spread among the company’s culture. While larger companies have to consider the expectations of shareholders and multiple stakeholders, SMEs do not need to be accountable to stakeholders through a systematic and formalized approach grounded on the adoption of sustainability reports useful to assess and demonstrate their CSR performance. However, the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic CSR is often very difficult (first) to understand and (second) to bridge and some authors advocate that the extrinsic and the intrinsic motive for CSR could evolve and be integrate

Impact Investment and the Sustainable Development Goals: Embedding field-level frames in organisational practice

This chapter aims to understand whether and how impact investment, a novel approach to financing social and sustainable entrepreneurship, is aligned with, and contributing to, the sustainable development goals (SDGs). We theorise the SDGs as a ‘field-level frame’, a cultural template guiding social and environmental change. We analyse performance data of impact investors both in Australia and globally and map this impact data to the 17 SDGs. We find that impact investors are engaging with language consistent with the SDGs a possible field-level frame to guide impact strategy and measurement. To date, impact investors measure social outcomes more frequently than environmental outcomes; this may be explained, in part, by our analysis that reveals some SDGs create greater points of leverage to generate layers of impact across SDGs. This chapter explains how impact investors are engaging with the pursuit of the SDG agenda