Attitudes Toward Business Ethics in Different Contexts: a Cross-Cultural Comparison between professionals in Jordan and UK

Understanding the attitude and perception of business professionals towards ethics, in an era of dynamic globalisation is important for investors to make strategic decisions. We explore this manifestation of business ethics across cultures in terms of ethical perceptions, moral philosophies and ethical judgments, by focusing upon the attitudes of professionals towards ethics, in two culturally and institutionally different countries: Jordan and the UK. We base our theorisation on Hofstede's Theory of International Cultures, selected business philosophies and incorporate individual and situational factors influencing ethical perception to develop our hypotheses, which were then tested by applying ATBEQ and EPQ. Our findings show significant differences in between in professionals’ views to Social Darwinism and ethical relativism in Jordan and UK. This difference was detected in based on variations between Muslims in UK and Jordan in their views to business ethics. Collectively our study shows that but the culture and societal factors have the higher effect when compared to religion. Moreover, weighing the views toward Ethical Relativism by using of Attitudes Toward Business Ethics Questionnaire (ATBEQ) and Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ) is inconsistent in the current research, which can be an opportunity to develop a new measures for attitude toward business ethics

An investigation of corporate responsibility practices amongst MNCs' subsidiaries in Sri Lanka. Implementation and influencing factors.

This thesis examines the implementation of Community Corporate Responsibility (CCR) practices among ten subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in Sri Lanka and the different factors which influence such implementation. Within this context, it specifically focuses on examining the internal factors residing within the MNC as an organisation and those factors which exist outside in the institutional environment of the host country. The study combines three broad theoretical domains: Corporate Responsibility implementation literature, International Business Strategy literature and Neo-Institutional theory. It uses a qualitative research methodology based upon the interview method. Qualitative interview data collected through sixty-two in-depth interviews with managers of the ten subsidiaries and key institutional actors in the host country were analysed using descriptive coding, interpretive coding and conceptualisation to arrive at the findings. The findings showed that non-specialist functional departments were mainly responsible for implementing CCR practices, indicating a lack of strategic and structural integration of CCR practices. The findings reinforces the dominant role of the MNC headquarters in implementing CCR practices within subsidiaries operating in a developing country, indicating that ¿power¿ relationships between subsidiary and parent is an important denominator in internal organisational practices implementation. Furthermore, dynamic and complex relationships were found between the subsidiaries and the Sri Lankan government and other institutional actors indicating the existence of a strategic approach towards legitimisation by iii subsidiaries, using CCR practices. Based upon these findings, this research proposes the need to conduct future studies across different MNCs and their subsidiaries located in multiple developing countries to further examine the implementation of CCR practices as it would enable public policy makers and business managers to better influence the global CSR of MNCs.Bradford University School of Managemen

Determinants of Corporate Environmental Disclosures in Sri Lanka: the role of Corporate Governance

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose – This study explores the levels of, and trends in corporate environmental disclosure (CED) among a sample of Sri Lankan listed companies from 2015 to 2019. Further, this article examines the firm-level determinants of CED, including corporate governance (CG) mechanisms, in Sri Lanka from a multi-theoretical perspective. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of 205 firm-year observations, this paper distinctively applies a panel quantile regression (PQR) model to examine the determinants of CED in Sri Lanka. This method was supported by estimating a 2-step generalised method of moment (GMM) model to tackle any possible existence of endogeneity concerns. Findings – Our findings indicate an increasing trend in CED practice among the sampled companies (i.e., 41 firms, the only adopters of the GRI framework) in Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2019. However, it is still considered at an early stage compared with other developed counterparts. Furthermore, this study suggests that board size, board independence, board meetings, industry type, profitability and firm size are positively associated with CED level. In contrast, and consistent with our expectation, CEO duality is negatively attributed to the disclosed amount of environmental information in the Sri Lankan context. Research limitations/implications– Our empirical evidence reiterates the crucial need to propagate and promote further substantive CG reforms, mandating CED in Sri Lanka. Originality/value – Our findings provide much-needed insights for indigenous companies, operating across similar emerging economies, to understand how CED can be incorporated into their reporting process based on the GRI framework in order to enhance their firm value, reduce legitimacy gaps and mitigate other operational risks

How does transparency into global sustainability initiatives influence firm value? Insights from Anglo‐American countries

Corporations use global sustainability reporting principles, certifications, guidelines, and indices to promote corporate transparency. However, the effectiveness of adopting these global transparency approaches, either separately or collectively, in increasing firm value is as yet unclear. Thus, we examine whether different global transparency approaches engender different outcomes related to firm value and whether adopting a comprehensive or integrated global transparency approach could better enhance firm value. We use a sample comprising 6978 firm‐year observations of firms listed in the United States (S&P 500), Canada (S&P‐TSX 221), and the United Kingdom (FTSE 350) from 2013 to 2019. A fixed‐effects regression model is then used to examine the primary associations in this study. This technique was complemented by a two‐step dynamic generalised method of moment (GMM) model to overcome the expected endogeneity concerns. Our findings indicate that adopting global sustainability reporting principles, certifications, and an integrated global transparency approach is positively attributable to the market value of firms. In contrast, firms' adoption of international guidelines and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings cannot predict the firm value in the study context. Our evidence implies that firms' adoption of an integrated global transparency approach adds the most value to those firms when compared with adopting a standalone transparency approach across the three sampled countries. Our study provides practical implications for policymakers and corporate managers and suggests avenues for future studies to build upon our findings

Embedding Responsible Management Education – Staff, Student and Institutional Perspectives

There is a resurgence in responsible management education, with business schools’ considering its adoption as vital for business courses. Nevertheless, initiating institution-wide changes for responsible management education is an inherently complex activity in business schools, requiring not only revisions in their curriculum, but also sustained faculty and institutional support. This paper explores this complexity in one UK business school, a signatory to the Principles of Responsible Management Education, who have commenced a programme of change in RME. Based on primary data obtained from two workshops with the business schools’ faculty, a student survey and a systematic analysis of the curriculum of four undergraduate degrees and two post-graduate degrees, we find that misalignment between faculty skills and institutional bureaucracy, together with an inconsistent focus on responsible management across the curriculum raises key challenges for its adoption. We extend the premise that significant change in RME, requires fundamental changes of a business school’s own ethos of what responsibility means to itself. Ke

Determinants of corporate environmental disclosures in Sri Lanka: the role of corporate governance

Purpose This study explores the levels of and trends in corporate environmental disclosure (CED) among a sample of Sri Lankan listed companies from 2015 to 2019. Furthermore, this article examines the firm-level determinants of CED, including corporate governance (CG) mechanisms, in Sri Lanka from a multi-theoretical perspective. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 205 firm-year observations, this paper distinctively applies a panel quantile regression (PQR) model to examine the determinants of CED in Sri Lanka. This method was supported by estimating a two-step generalized method of moment (GMM) model to tackle any possible existence of endogeneity concerns. Findings The authors’ findings indicate an increasing trend in CED practice among the sampled companies (i.e. 41 firms, the only adopters of the GRI framework) in Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2019. However, it is still considered at an early stage compared with other developed counterparts. Furthermore, this study suggests that board size, board independence, board meetings, industry type, profitability and firm size are positively associated with CED level. In contrast, and consistent with our expectation, CEO duality is negatively attributed to the disclosed amount of environmental information in the Sri Lankan context. Research limitations/implications The authors’ empirical evidence reiterates the crucial need to propagate and promote further substantive CG reforms, mandating CED in Sri Lanka. Originality/value The authors’ findings provide much-needed insights for indigenous companies, operating across similar emerging economies, to understand how CED can be incorporated into their reporting process based on the GRI framework in order to enhance their firm value, reduce legitimacy gaps and mitigate other operational risks

Seeking legitimacy through CSR: Institutional Pressures and Corporate Responses of Multinationals in Sri Lanka

Arguably, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of multinational enterprises (MNEs) are influenced by a wide range of both internal and external factors. Perhaps most critical among the exogenous forces operating on MNEs are those exerted by state and other key institutional actors in host countries. Crucially, academic research conducted to date offers little data about how MNEs use their CSR activities to strategically manage their relationship with those actors in order to gain legitimisation advantages in host countries. This paper addresses that gap by exploring interactions between external institutional pressures and firm-level CSR activities, which take the form of community initiatives, to examine how MNEs develop their legitimacy-seeking policies and practices. In focusing on a developing country, Sri Lanka, this paper provides valuable insights into how MNEs instrumentally utilise community initiatives in a country where relationship-building with governmental and other powerful non-governmental actors can be vitally important for the long-term viability of the business. Drawing on neo-institutional theory and CSR literature, this paper examines and contributes to the embryonic but emerging debate about the instrumental and political implications of CSR. The evidence presented and discussed here reveals the extent to which, and the reasons why, MNEs engage in complex legitimacy-seeking relationships with Sri Lankan institutions

Is corporate environmental disclosure associated with firm value? A multi-country study of Gulf Cooperation Council firms

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.open access articleSeveral studies have found a relationship between corporate social and environmental disclosure and firm value or accounting profitability. Where environmental disclosure has been the focus, though, only single-country studies have been published; and most of the previous research concerns the developed world. This study examines the association between corporate environmental disclosure (CED) and firm value (FV) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, where CED has been increasing from its previous low base. Findings from a multi-country sample of 500 firm-year observations using a 55-item unweighted environmental disclosure index suggest that CED is significantly and positively related to FV as measured by Tobin’s Q (TBQ). The relationship is robust to using a weighted version of the disclosure index, individual countries and environmental disclosure sub-indices. Some evidence of a positive relationship between CED and return on assets (ROA) is also found, but even where statistically significant, the relationship is much weaker than in the case of TBQ. For empirical and theoretical reasons, we recommend that future studies pay greater attention to market-based proxies, if possible when investigating the value relevance of CED in both developed and developing countries. Our results suggest that both managers and policymakers in GCC countries should take a positive view of expanded CED

A neo-institutional perspective on ethical decision-making

Drawing on neo-institutional theory, this study aims to discern the poorly understood ethical challenges confronted by senior executives in Indian multinational corporations and identify the strategies that they utilize to overcome them. We conducted in-depth interviews with 40 senior executives in Indian multinational corporations to illustrate these challenges and strategies. By embedding our research in contextually relevant characteristics that embody the Indian environment, we identify several institutional- and managerial-level challenges faced by executives. The institutional-level challenges are interpreted as regulative, normative and cognitive shortcomings. We recommend a concerted effort at the institutional and managerial levels by identifying relevant strategies for ethical decision-making. Moreover, we proffer a multi-level model of ethical decision-making and discuss our theoretical contributions and practical implications

Politicising government engagement with corporate social responsibility: “CSR” as an empty signifier

Governments are widely viewed by academics and practitioners (and society more generally) as the key societal actors who are capable of compelling businesses to practice corporate social responsibility (CSR). Arguably, such government involvement could be seen as a technocratic device for encouraging ethical business behaviour. In this paper, we offer a more politicised interpretation of government engagement with CSR where “CSR” is not a desired form of business conduct but an element of discourse that governments can deploy in structuring their relationships with other social actors. We build our argument through a historical analysis of government CSR discourse in the Russian Federation. Laclau and Mouffe's (Hegemony and socialist strategy: Towards a radical democratic politics,Verso Books, London, 1985) social theory of hegemony underpins our research. We find that “CSR” in the Russian government’s discourse served to legitimise its power over large businesses. Using this case, we contribute to wider academic debates by providing fresh empirical evidence that allows the development of critical evaluation tools in relation to governments’ engagement with “CSR”. We find that governments are capable of hijacking CSR for their own self-interested gain. We close the paper by reflecting on the merit of exploring the case of the Russian Federation. As a “non-core”, non-western exemplar, it provides a useful “mirror” with which to reflect on the more widely used test-bed of Western industrial democracies when scrutinising CSR. Based on our findings, we invite other scholars to adopt a more critical, politicised stance when researching the role of governments in relation to CSR in other parts of the world