The influence of unions on companies’ CSR profiles: more internal policies and programs, but not always at the expense of external endeavors.

This paper compares the CSR profiles of companies operating under the same macroeconomic institutions but with different levels of union density. Drawing from stakeholder and neo-institutional theories that distinguish between internal and external actions, this paper finds that companies initially have to substitute internal for external CSR. After some experience dealing with unions, companies can complement both actions. There is perhaps a reinforcement of mutual trust and loyalty, and has implications for managerial prerogatives

Do heavily-unionized companies compensate their CEOs less in periods of financial distress? Evidence from Canadian companies during the financial crisis.

This paper studies the strategic interaction between employee stakeholders, in particular labor unions, and top management, and evaluates the effect of the two parties’ inherent competitive rent-seeking behavior on CEO pay. Using a panel of firms listed on the S&P/TSX composite index, this paper finds that CEO compensation withstood the financial crisis despite lower and even negative corporate performance. Further, heavily-unionized companies were associated with higher CEO pay in terms of non-equity elements such as salary and pension allocations. The presence of unions had no observed effect in reducing bonuses, stock options, and restricted stock units. These findings have implications for the debate on income inequality, and the power of unions to bring about change

Volkswagen affair: global coordination is needed to enforce ethical corporate behaviour

Is the world ready to review its system of carrots and sticks for corporations?, asks Muhammad Umar Boodo

Does mandatory CSR reporting regulation lead to improved Corporate Social Performance? Evidence from India.

This paper analyses whether mandatory CSR reporting regulation leads to an improvement in corporate social performance. Using a quasi-natural experiment where the Stock Exchange Board of India mandated all companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange to disclose their CSR activities and practices, this paper finds that companies significantly improved in all aspects of Environment, Social, and Governance performances. However, governance and social performance improvements were significantly greater than environment performance, which is attributed to the stakeholder salience typology. Potential harm from definitive, dominant and dangerous stakeholders was given greater consideration by management, which improved governance and social performances accordingly

The influence of unions on CSR : is there a trade-off between employee-oriented and non-employee-oriented policies

Strategic managers are consistently faced with decisions of how to allocate a company's scarce resources to meet the demands of shareholders and other powerful and legitimate stakeholders. This article analyses whether higher union density at company level pushes management to engage more in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Drawing from stakeholder theory and the resource allocation approach of CSR as well as union voice and monopoly models, this article finds that companies have to substitute non–employee‐oriented CSR with employee‐oriented CSR as union density increases but is still at low levels. At higher levels of union density, companies can complement both types of CSR. This perhaps represents a reinforcement of mutual interests between management and organized labour, which has implications for managerial prerogatives as well as union positioning in the labour and political process

Demobilised or dormant? Exploring pro-strike attitudes among employees who have never joined a strike

The general decline of strikes does not necessarily imply that workers are demobilised. A dormant strike potential can be present. Drawing on strikes as ‘experience goods’, this article sheds light on this point by studying pro-strike attitudes among employees in 24 countries who have never been on strike. The variation in pro-strike attitudes is explained by both contextual (collective bargaining coverage, economic conditions and freedom of rights and liberties) and individual (union membership and confidence in unions, political values and household financial situation) factors. Deeper analyses of three countries highlight the potential impact of specific repertoires of contention developed over time on the formation of pro-strike attitudes. Implications for the labour conflict literature and union strategies are discussed

Putting the “love of humanity” back in corporate philanthropy : the case of health grants by corporate foundations

With the growing call for private sector actors to address global challenges, it is necessary to first assess whether regions with the greatest needs are accessing corporate philanthropy. In this paper, we ask whether corporate philanthropy is reaching those with the greatest health-care needs. Drawing on economic geography and corporate homophily, we argue that corporate philanthropy tends to exacerbate health inequality as grants are destined for counties with fewer health problems. We test and find support for this hypothesis using data on health grants made by US corporate foundations and county-level health data. Our results that corporate health grants are less likely to go to counties which have a lower proportion of medical service providers and insured citizens suggest that corporate foundations are unwittingly complicit in worsening the resource gap between small, poor, rural counties and large, wealthy, urban counties. From an ethical perspective, we provide some guidance as to how this may be corrected

Governance structures, unions, and their relation to CEO pay

Corporate scandals and the advocacy of austerity measures have led to increased board oversight and increased stakeholder outcry over corporate executive compensation packages. This paper, using a sample of firms listed on the S&P/TSX composite index, finds while Boards of Canadian companies have become more ethical and effective, the extra scrutiny has been associated with an increase in the magnitude of the non-equity components of CEO compensation. CEOs have been able to extract higher salaries and bonuses even as their companies steer through the financial and economic crisis. Using a fixed-effects-specification, this paper further finds that companies that tend to be more heavily unionized pay their CEOs less in terms of the equity components of the compensation package. Overall, the paper suggests that CEOs have been recession-proof in that despite the recent stock market difficulties, they have been able to hold more or less similar levels of compensation. Governance structures and unions have not exerted enough pressure to curb the tren

The role of unions in corporate social performance

This paper was also presented at LERA/AEA/ASSA Conference, Boston, MA