Suchergebnisse

AbstractEuropeanization addresses the impacts of EU (European Union) membership on national politics and policies. Over time, new policy processes have been developed, such as the use of soft law and the open method of co‐ordination. What, though, are the consequences of these new processes for Europeanization? This article contributes to this under‐researched area by examining the extent to which EU soft law influences policy adoption at the national level. Our empirical application is corporate governance, an area of growing EU policy interest, with significant soft law elements. We analyse the extent to which the European Commission's 2003 plan to enhance corporate governance achieved its aim of 'co‐ordinating corporate governance efforts of Member States'. Our quantitative analysis of 95 national codes issued over 1992–2010 suggests that the Action Plan did influence national policy‐making, but that the degree of national policy alignment depends on when the corporate governance code was issued, where, and by whom.

Europeanization addresses the impacts of EU (European Union) membership on national politics and policies. Over time, new policy processes have been developed, such as the use of soft law and the open method of co-ordination. What, though, are the consequences of these new processes for Europeanization? This article contributes to this under-researched area by examining the extent to which EU soft law influences policy adoption at the national level. Our empirical application is corporate governance, an area of growing EU policy interest, with significant soft law elements. We analyse the extent to which the European Commission's 2003 plan to enhance corporate governance achieved its aim of 'co-ordinating corporate governance efforts of Member States'. Our quantitative analysis of 95 national codes issued over 1992–2010 suggests that the Action Plan did influence national policy-making, but that the degree of national policy alignment depends on when the corporate governance code was issued, where, and by whom.

AbstractThis study explores the mediating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) management quality in the relationship between board diversity and CSR performance. It states that generational diversity is a consistent construct of age diversity as variety, and uses three different proxies to measure CSR management quality and performance. The sample consists of 146 companies listed in FTSE 100, DAX 30, and CAC 40 for the year 2009. The results reveal that generational diversity enables a more effective design of vision and strategies to address financial and extra‐financial aspects, and consequently, it encourages companies to adopt a sustainable approach to their businesses. This study concludes that generational diversity is a key component for improving good corporate governance codes. The findings of this research recommend enhancing generational diversity in board structures to encourage sustainability in firms that aspire to be in tune with the needs of the times. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of stakeholder engagement in the context of sustainability reporting (SR) for higher education institutions (HEIs), together with the materiality principle and stakeholder expectations.


Design/methodology/approach
This research uses an exploratory approach based on content analysis, a case study and descriptive and inferential statistics.


Findings
Three key findings come out of this research. First, the results indicate that HEIs use diverse criteria for grouping stakeholders and that stakeholder engagement is a heterogeneous process. Second, the expectations of internal stakeholders align with the material aspects of SR. Finally, among internal stakeholders, students and academics disagree on the prioritisation of some sustainability aspects, with non-academic staff adopting an intermediate position.


Practical implications
This analysis improves our knowledge of stakeholder engagement in HEIs. It helps to identify the relevant impacts of stakeholder engagement, enhances the quality of reporting and encourages a real dialogue with stakeholders.


Originality/value
The study examines stakeholder engagement and how the materiality principle is adopted by HEIs through SR. Furthermore, it compares these results with stakeholder expectations, considering the discrepancies between stakeholders. The results open the way to future research to explore the potential conflicts and collaborations between and within stakeholders to advance towards more sustainable institutions in the higher education sector.