Sustainable Change: Education for Sustainable Development in the Business School

This paper examines the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) within a business school. ESD is of growing importance for business schools, yet its implementation remains a challenge. The paper examines how barriers to ESD's implementation are met through organisational change as a sustainable process. It evaluates change brought about through ESD in a UK-based business school, through the lens of Beer and Eisenstat's three principles of effective strategy implementation and organisational adaptation, which state: 1) the change process should be systemic; 2) the change process should encourage open discussion of barriers to effective strategy implementation and adaptation; and 3) the change process should develop a partnership among all relevant stakeholders. The case incorporates, paradoxically, both elements of a top-down and an emergent strategy that resonates with elements of life-cycle, teleological and dialectic frames for process change. Insights are offered into the role of individuals as agents and actors of institutional change in business schools. In particular, the importance of academic integrity is highlighted for enabling and sustaining integration. Findings also suggest a number of implications for policy-makers who promote ESD, and for faculty and business school managers implementing, adopting and delivering ESD programmes

Understanding ethically questionable behaviour in consumption: an empirical investigation

This thesis is a study formulated under the rubric of understanding ethically questionable behaviour in consumption. It is argued that ethics research in the market place has tended to focus with a perspective of business practice, leaving an understanding of the consumer perspective relatively under-researched. Developed here is a theoretical framework seeking an understanding of how and why consumers engage in ethically questionable behaviour. This is initially based upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour, but extended from findings of three interrelated empirical studies conducted during the research period. Using a combined approach of qualitative and quantitative research methods, data is presented to describe the complexity of consumer ethical decision-making considered across a wide variety of situations. In the preliminary stage of the empirical investigation, conducted through interviews and focus groups, explores consumer motivations for engagement in particular kinds of behaviour, taken to be ethically questionable. Following this, findings of two subsequent survey questionnaires, conducted to first establish and then examine underlying components of the behaviour in question, suggest a significance, and casual relationships of the underlying components with judgement, intention and reported behaviour. On this information, recommendations are considered with regard to a developing theoretical framework for ethically questionable behaviour in consumption. The empirical investigation reveals that consumers appear to be equally aware of engaging in ethically questionable behaviour, as well as not always accepting such behaviour as simply 'unethical'. Emphasis then affords to ethicality of a wide spectrum, than merely as in the opposition ethical/unethical. The empirical findings also imply that the decision-making process in an ethical context is far too complex to be explained only in terms of ethical beliefs (i. e., rightness or wrongness of behaviour). Furthermore, it is shown that intention for engaging in the behaviour in question is very much dependent on the specifics of a situation, and represented here, in part, by the degree of estimated outcome, the willingness of social participation and the perception of unfairness of business. These implications and their wider importance are discussed, along with considerations for further research, seeking overall to contribute to a greater theoretical understanding of consumer ethics

Understanding ethically questionable behaviour in consumption: an empirical investigation

This thesis is a study formulated under the rubric of understanding ethically questionable behaviour in consumption. It is argued that ethics research in the market place has tended to focus with a perspective of business practice, leaving an understanding of the consumer perspective relatively under-researched. Developed here is a theoretical framework seeking an understanding of how and why consumers engage in ethically questionable behaviour. This is initially based upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour, but extended from findings of three interrelated empirical studies conducted during the research period. Using a combined approach of qualitative and quantitative research methods, data is presented to describe the complexity of consumer ethical decision-making considered across a wide variety of situations. In the preliminary stage of the empirical investigation, conducted through interviews and focus groups, explores consumer motivations for engagement in particular kinds of behaviour, taken to be ethically questionable. Following this, findings of two subsequent survey questionnaires, conducted to first establish and then examine underlying components of the behaviour in question, suggest a significance, and casual relationships of the underlying components with judgement, intention and reported behaviour. On this information, recommendations are considered with regard to a developing theoretical framework for ethically questionable behaviour in consumption. The empirical investigation reveals that consumers appear to be equally aware of engaging in ethically questionable behaviour, as well as not always accepting such behaviour as simply 'unethical'. Emphasis then affords to ethicality of a wide spectrum, than merely as in the opposition ethical/unethical. The empirical findings also imply that the decision-making process in an ethical context is far too complex to be explained only in terms of ethical beliefs (i. e., rightness or wrongness of behaviour). Furthermore, it is shown that intention for engaging in the behaviour in question is very much dependent on the specifics of a situation, and represented here, in part, by the degree of estimated outcome, the willingness of social participation and the perception of unfairness of business. These implications and their wider importance are discussed, along with considerations for further research, seeking overall to contribute to a greater theoretical understanding of consumer ethics

Understanding Consumer Behaviour for Social Change: An Empirical Investigation of Neutralisation Techniques in the UK

yesThe paper explores the discrepancy between attitude and behavioural intention in ethical consumption, focusing on the role of techniques of neutralisation. Drawing on findings of 251 respondents in the UK, results suggest despite positive attitude towards ethical consumption, consumers are also susceptible to the techniques of neutralisation. Hierarchical and moderated regression analyses reveal that inclusion of the neutralisation construct moderates the influences of attitudes on behavioural intention, and advances the model’s predictive capacity. In spite of suggested positive attitude towards ethical consumption, real existing behaviour is frequently filtered through the techniques of neutralisation. The sample is restricted to in size and location, however the study clearly establishes techniques of neutralisation as a construct in the decision-making process, further warranting examination of each of the techniques. Summary statement of contribution: The study confirms validity of the addition of the neutralisation construct into the modified TPB model noted by Chatzidakis et al. (2007). It suggests improvement in predicting behavioural intention and shows the moderating effects the techniques of neutralisation have on constructs in the modified TPB model. The neutralisation construct is itself found to have a significant impact on moderating purchasing intention in ethical consumption

How Independence and Interdependence Moderate the Self-Congruity Effect on Brand Attitude: A Study of East and West

yesDespite a substantial body of self-congruity (SC) research (cf. Aguirre-Rodriguez, Bosnjak, & Sirgy, 2012) two important questions remain open: First, does the SC effect apply beyond Western countries. Second, does individual level culture moderate the SC effect? This study contributes to SC theory by developing hypotheses on the validity of the four SC effects across East and West and by studying the moderating impact of the individual level cultural variable self-construals on those four effects. This study tests its hypotheses through a survey of over 1,600 consumers in an Eastern (India) and a Western (USA) country. Results show that the overall actual SC effect holds across East and West, while the ideal SC effect holds across contexts yet only for consumers with an independent self-construal. Meanwhile, the social SC effect holds in the Eastern but not in the Western context, while the ideal social SC effect does not hold in either context. Results further show a moderating effect of individual level culture on the SC effect, as the actual SC effect is stronger for interdependent consumers whereas the ideal SC effect is stronger for independent consumers across contexts. Finally, the findings of this study are used to advance managerial implications and to propose a refinement of SC theory

Consumer control, dependency and satisfaction with online service

YesPurpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a new conceptual model in an online service context. The model focuses on an important, yet often neglected customer-oriented construct, i.e., user “control”, which is embedded in consumer behaviour when accessing the internet. The study examines the relationship between control, online dependency, online encounter satisfaction and overall satisfaction. It explains the strategic implications surrounding customer control and online dependency as means for enhancing customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was developed drawing on a combination of existing and new measurement items for the constructs in question. The instrument was later pilot tested on two consecutive occasions ahead of the main survey. A random sample of Hong Kong banking consumers was approached and interviews were undertaken via telephone. The data were analysed via confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses relating to the model. Findings The findings reveal positive relationships between control and online dependency, and control and online encounter satisfaction. Meanwhile control, online dependency and online encounter satisfaction lead to overall satisfaction. Originality/value This study proposes a counterintuitive argument that while online service customers gain control of the online service process, they become more dependent on it, and their control and dependency also lead to their satisfaction, at both the online service encounter level and corporate level. Drawing on the pertinent literature, this is the first study to examine the importance of two information system constructs, i.e., control and online dependency, as predictors of consumer psychological fulfilment, i.e., satisfaction. The findings confirm that control as an initiator and driver of customer satisfaction in an online context, and online encounter satisfaction, further contributes to overall satisfaction at the corporate level

Response-ability: Practicing integrity through intimacy in the marketplace

YesThe paper addresses the problem of pursuing ethical business practices purely under the aegis of ‘integrity’, as frequently used to characterise morally desirable traits. Drawing on the work of philosopher Thomas Kasulis, the paper pairs ‘integrity’ with ‘intimacy’ as a critical concept, placing greater attention upon relational properties, helping to understand ethics as existing between individuals, things and the environment. The argument is that by paying careful attention to spatial and temporal dynamics and proximities of exchange, businesses can better maintain and extend practices of integrity. It reminds us that ethics are developmental (not transcendental); that the cultivation of ethics provides greater depth and ownership and pertains to matters of the body and habits. The paper contributes a way of reading exchanges in the marketplace beyond prescriptive accounts of integrity. Through the lens of both integrity and intimacy, it identifies how we actually ‘live’ or practice greater responsiveness to exchanges

Corporate Social Responsibility and Local Community in Asia

NoThe idea of corporations exercising corporate social responsibility has spread from the West and is now firmly embedded in Asian countries and in Asian corporations. The latest trend in corporate social responsibility, evident also in Asia, is for corporations to apply corporate social responsibility to local communities and to those at the bottom of the social hierarchy. This book explores corporations’ social responsibility engagement with local communities in a range of Asian countries. It provides examples of corporate social responsibility in a wide range of industrial sectors, focuses extensively on "social enterprises" and on governments’ and corporations’ schemes to encourage them, considers how relations with employees and with local workforces fit into the pattern of corporate social responsibility, and discusses the question as to how far corporations engage with local communities as a way of developing new markets for their products