Suchergebnisse

Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Tourism development in Macau -- Gaming industry development in Macau -- Corporate social responsibility practice in Macau -- Corporate social responsibility (CSR) -- Responsible gambling (RG) -- Measurement issues of CSR -- Case study -- Appendices -- References -- About the author -- Index

Research in environmental epigenetics explores how environmental exposures and life experiences such as food, toxins, stress or trauma can shape trajectories of human health and well-being in complex ways. This perspective resonates with social science expertise on the significant health impacts of unequal living conditions and the profound influence of social life on bodies in general. Environmental epigenetics could thus provide an important opportunity for moving beyond long-standing debates about nature versus nurture between the disciplines and think instead in 'biosocial' terms across the disciplines. Yet, beyond enthusiasm for such novel interdisciplinary opportunities, it is crucial to also reflect on the scientific, social and political challenges that a biosocial model of body, health and illness might entail. In this paper, we contribute historical and social science perspectives on the political opportunities and challenges afforded by a biosocial conception of the body. We will specifically focus on what it means if biosocial plasticity is not only perceived to characterize the life of individuals but also as possibly giving rise to semi-stable traits that can be passed on to future generations. That is, we will consider the historical, social and political valences of the scientific proposition of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. The key question that animates this article is if and how the notion of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance creates new forms of responsibilities both in science and in society. We propose that, ultimately, interdisciplinary conversation and collaboration is essential for responsible approaches to transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in science and society.

The business strategy perspective argues that achieving competitive advantage hinges on pursing a coherent competitive strategy. Family businesses are also said to manifest a strong desire to develop enduring and committed social relationships with external stakeholders. This study examines the effect of business strategy on performance of family businesses and how their managerial social networking relationships with external entities moderate the business strategy–performance link. Using data from 54 family firms from Ghana, the findings indicate that: (1) the pursuit of the business strategies of cost leadership and differentiation create competitive advantage for family businesses; (2) social networking relationships with government bureaucratic officials and community leaders are beneficial to family businesses, but social networking relationships with political leaders is detrimental to family businesses; and (3) the benefit of business strategy to family businesses is moderated positively by networking with community leaders, but negatively by networking with political leaders.

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is any improvement in the extent and quality of corporate social responsibility disclosures (CSRD) in Malaysia between 2011 and 2014 and to determine the factors that influence the extent and quality of CSRD in these two years. Also, this study examines the methods of disclosures and the items that largest Malaysian companies addressed.


Design/methodology/approach
A self-constructed CSR is utilised to measure the extent and quality of CSRD in the annual reports of the top 71 Malaysian companies listed in Bursa Malaysia for the years 2011 and 2014. Multiple regressions along with their associated toolkits for data verification and diagnostic tests are used to assess the improvement in CSRD between 2011 and 2014 and the factors that affect CSRD.


Findings
Results show a slight increase in the extent and quality of CSRD between 2011 and 2014. With regards to the factors influencing CSRD, only awards are found to be significant in determining the extent and quality of CSRD either in 2011 or in 2014. Board size, ownership concentration, independent non-executives and return on assets influence both the extent and quality of CSRD in 2011. Director ownership and firm size determine the extent and quality of CSRD in 2014. Government ownership only influences the extent of CSRD in 2011.


Research limitations/implications
Some traditional limitations are found to be considered in future research, such as the use of annual reports as the only source of CSRD information. Results support the legitimacy theory that assumes that Malaysian companies disclose CSR information as a reflection of the incidents that happen in that environment of the firm without ignoring the role of the government in pushing those companies towards being socially responsible by issuing regulations, or in motivating those companies by introducing awards and giving fiscal facilities.


Practical implications
The results help the policymakers to introduce more awards in some domains that were less addressed by Malaysian companies and also to examine the causes behind the non-influence of the new Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG 2012) on CSRD.


Originality/value
The study can be considered as one of the limited empirical studies that assess the changes in CSRD before and after the issuance of MCCG 2012 in Malaysia.

Purpose
This study aims to examine the extent and quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in Jordan for the time periods of 2005–2006 and 2014–2015, ultimately establishing whether there was a change in the extent and quality of disclosure practices before and after the new regulations for CSR. Furthermore, this study additionally seeks to determine if the regulations are a major factor in changing CSR disclosure practices, or whether there are other factors for such a change.


Design/methodology/approach
The annual reports of 55 manufacturing companies (11 sub-sectors) on the Amman Stock Exchange for the years 2005–2006 and 2014–2015 were selected, and a CSR checklist was measured via the construction an index covering 36 items in 4 themes: environmental; human resources; community; and products and others. The study measures the quantity of CSR via the number of sentences and the quality of CSR by the weighting approach (on a scale of 0–3); furthermore, the paired sample t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to establish whether there was a change in the extent and quality of CSR disclosure practices.


Findings
The results of the study revealed that there being a significant increase in the extent and quality of CSR for the period 2014–2015 compared to that of 2005–2006, the most optimal performance being in 2015, bragging an average of 61,41 total sentences per annual report and an average quality score of 1.423. Moreover, detailed analysis of CSR extent and quality by theme reveals that the highest percentage of CSR extent and quality was within the environmental theme, with an average score 28.6% of total sentences in 2014 (extent) and 1.743 in 2015 of total sentences (quality).


Research limitations/implications
The current study has some limitations, which have implications for future studies. First, this study examined the extent and quality of CSR for only two time frames: before and after regulation. However, a longitudinal study would have provided a wider scope of study. Second, the study focussed only on the industrial sector, thus limiting the results to only this area. Indeed, the exploration of the CSR extent and quality for other sectors (e.g. financial and services) would generalise the results further, allowing for the making of comparisons compare among different sectors. Moreover, the study at hand has focussed solely on annual reports, which could lead to subjectivity, thus reducing the reliability of results. Future studies should thus focus on other means of disclosure (e.g. websites; environmental reports).


Practical implications
The current mandatory requirements would suggest Jordanian regulators have begun specifying CSR disclosure requirements in an easier, more user-friendly and traceable format. Indeed, the increase in CSR extent and quality for the post-regulations period would increase the need to organise mandatory requirements in CSR. For managers, on the other hand, the study provides the CSR as a strategic tool for reflecting the actual environmental activities, comparing it with the society's expectations. Moreover, when budgets are limited, managers prioritise CSR activities that yield a positive impact on financial performance by allocating the limited resources in a broad manner.


Social implications
The results additionally highlights the ways in which the Jordanian industrial companies increase their levels within the environmental theme in CSR for the post-regulations. It could be argued that a great number of companies in the past decade have started adopting environmentally friendly practices and strategies to protect the natural environment, such as greenhouses, extracting non-renewable resources and reducing amount of industrial waste.


Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is currently no existing study within Jordan exploring the change of CSR over time – specifically in terms of before and after the regulations. In addition, exploring the quality of CSR using a weighted approach (scale out of 3) is not conducted in Jordanian studies before.