Suchergebnisse

Der Verfasser spricht die Kombinationsmöglichkeiten von Religion und Wirtschaft in verschiedenen Disziplinen an, um auf der Grundlage dieser Schnittmenge Perspektiven einer kommensurablen Religionsökonomie zu entwickeln. Angelpunkt ist dabei die methodische wie inhaltliche Bedeutung des Individuums. Als Rahmen wird die in diesem Feld bereits bewährte Neue Institutionenökonomie gewählt. Ein institutionalistischer Ansatz erlaubt es, auch Fragestellungen zu aggregierten Individuen (Kollektive, Institutionen) zu behandeln, wie der zweite Teil des Aufsatzes anhand der Einbeziehung des kognitionswissenschaftlichen Ansatzes der "shared mental models" zeigt. Daran schließt sich der Ausblick auf ein fünfstufiges Forschungsspektrum an, das eine kommensurable Religionsökonomie im Feld exakter Wissenschaftlichkeit von theoretischer Modellierung bis hin zu "policy papers" umfasst. Abschließend werden aktuelle Herausforderungen aufgezeigt. (ICE2)

This paper provides, from a business ethics perspective, a basic clustering of the morally (a) favorable, (b) unfavorable, and (c) ambivalent dimensions of blockchain technology and its various emergent applications. Instead of proffering specific assessments on particular aspects of blockchain-based business models, we aim to offer an initial overview that charters the territory so that future research can bring about such moral assessments in an informed and orderly fashion. The main contribution of this paper lies in identifying several morally ambivalent dimensions of blockchain technology, which we finally link to two strands of business ethics research: ethical and legal aspects of legislation as well as a link to Habermasian corporate social responsibility theory arguing for transparent data production and consumption on the blockchain. We conclude that future research is necessary for moral assessment of the ambivalent cases, since their ethical evaluation changes depending on whether one analyzes them through the lenses of utilitarianism, contractarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics, respectively.

Engaging in comparative lobbying research is a challenging task, because public affairs is complex and highly context‐dependent. Thus, qualitative case studies have been researchers' primary choice. However, the case method has been subject to much debate surrounding its rigor, in terms of reliability, internal validity, and generalizability, and particularly its potential for theory building. To propose a framework for researchers conducting lobbying case studies as well as for reviewers receiving such work, we apply a positivistic approach on case study rigor from management studies and expand the framework to tackle the specific challenges of comparative qualitative lobbying research. Thus, we expand the research framework by a set of variables specific to public affairs: We add enrichment for internal validity, contextuality, and comparability for external validity, interdisciplinarity for construct validity, and hypertext‐searchable databases for reliability. Thereby, we aim to transfer the lessons learned from management studies in terms of rigorous qualitative case studies to public affairs to help build novel and explanatory theory in the field and to provide guidance to researchers how to design a rigorous case study.

In this article, we posit that corporate political activities (CPA) such as lobbying make use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to advance instrumental goals. We juxtapose the theoretical foundations of the normative concept of political CSR and the strategic notion of nonmarket strategy to show that they are in opposition conceptually regarding the role of corporations in public policy. Using a systematic theoretical comparison along seven dimensions, we discuss the juxtapositions and identify the common ground of the two theories. Building on examples from the alcohol industry, we describe how CPA uses instrumental CSR to advance goals in public policy—we call this politicized CSR. Hence, we illustrate the shift from political to politicized CSR, a misuse of CSR for purposes of CPA, and discuss consequences for the theory and practice of public affairs and CSR.

Purpose
This paper aims to study the state of the art of corporate social responsibility (CSR) governance and operational structure within the most sustainable companies to arrive at a typology of CSR organization. Whether companies consider corporate social responsibility (CSR) a strategic management task is mirrored in the department and governance structure of CSR.


Design/methodology/approach
By conducting a web content analysis, the authors apply a "best practice" approach to examine the vertical and horizontal organization of CSR within the "most sustainable companies worldwide" (Robeco SAM, 2013).


Findings
The results show that most corporations have in place governance structures for CSR that organize it horizontally in stand-alone departments. Three types of CSR organization best practice emerged: the single-headed, two-headed and infused types.


Practical implications
The paper indicates three different ways that companies can organize CSR internally. The authors discuss the feasibility of such organization for large and small companies and their day-to-day business.


Originality/value
The paper addresses the under-researched area of vertical and horizontal CSR organization at the micro level. The authors analyze the state of the art of organizational and governance structures of CSR in the most sustainable companies and deduce three types of CSR governance and operational architecture.

AbstractThis paper aims to deepen the understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting practices toward stakeholder group investors. Quantitative content analysis was applied to 437 articles of CSR reports from the chemicals, and banking and insurance industries in Germany and Switzerland. The results were benchmarked to the Sarasin sustainability rating's weighting of social and environmental industry risks. It was found that the chemicals industry's CSR reports meet the benchmark, whereas those from the banking and insurance industry do not (RQ1). Swiss chemicals producers perform well in reporting on their specific industry risks, while German companies mirror the sector‐specific risks in the banking and insurance industry (RQ2). The results thus indicate the appropriateness of investor‐specific reporting and suggest – in line with GRI and the European Union – further standardization in order to level the playing field of CSR in Europe. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment