In the last decade, political pressure from international organisms has contributed to the divulgation and the adoption of social accountability practices. Using an inductive method, this research examines the state of the art of best social reporting practices carried out by Italian listed companies, by scoring and assessing the different maturity levels in application of the principles required by the main reporting models mentioned and by exploring the indicators disclosed in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. We analyze CSR reporting by Italian companies making up the FTSE ECPI Leaders Index of the Italian Stock Exchange. The findings show an overall good level of disclosure. The data confirm the results of previous studies as they highlight the escalation in sustainability reporting: both the quantity and quality of sustainability information are increasing. However, the results may raise doubts that companies consider CSR as a ‘fashion’. In fact, one of the criticisms levelled against CSR is that information is self-gathered and self-reported. More mandatory rules may improve transparency; however these may compromise the CSR concept, so it is necessary to further investigate the findings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Remuneration to executives has risen sharply, even during the recent economic decline and financial crisis, giving rise to public outcries and harsh criticism. At the same time, there has been a shift toward more performance-based remuneration, which is generally awarded over the long term. Coincident with these observations is an evolving literature aimed at studying executive pay and its determinants to learn if a pay-for-performance link exists. Although most studies focus on corporate financial performance (CFP) as a compensation determinant, which is based on shareholder theory, others broaden performance to include activities linked to corporate social responsibility (CSR), which relies on stakeholder theory. In this latter case, a nexus is identified between the pay-for-performance relationship and that between CFP and corporate social performance (CSP). In this research, we use a system of equations to form this connection and examine the influence of short-term versus long-term compensation measures on the resulting interrelationships. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

This paper examines the scope, types, and degree of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices currently employed in human resource management (HRM) in Spain, and its determinants. It analyses firm, employee, and job-related characteristics which affect the implementation of CSR in HRM. It also offers an overview of the current situation regarding CSR in HRM for a wide range of economic sectors, employees, job characteristics, and HRM practices. Information is obtained from employees rather than CEOs. Results show that companies do not engage in CSR practices to the same extent. The scope of CSR differs among types of HRM practices. The practices curently applied are grouped more according to type than to degree of responsibility. Another relevant result is that some variables such as a firm's dimension, have a clear effect on the likelihood that an employee benefits from responsible labour practices, but their effects generally vary for different types of practices. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

In order to have a greater understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this paper investigates continual learning that has occurred in an exemplary SME. This qualitative case study used interviews, observations, and memorandums to investigate an SME that has achieved national recognition in sustainable management practices. Reflective and cyclical learning within a participative environment allowed for the internalisation of values, behaviours, beliefs, and actions required for the positive uptake of CSR and sustainable management practice. Measurable results were identified in terms of business performance that can be directly attributed to the SME's greater social and environmental engagement. This initial investigation highlights the relationship between learning, the development of organisational values that underpin CSR and improved business performance within an SME setting. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Spain is the world's leading country as regards corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting (KPMG, 2011). In addition, Spain is taking new initiatives with regard to environmental policy, sustainable development, and stakeholder engagement in accordance with Law 2/2011.This is why we choose Spain as the setting to analyze whether the determinants for external assurance posited by existing literature (industry, size, profitability, leverage) have an impact on the decision of companies to assure their CSR reports. Our study is a pioneer in the sense that it investigates the possible links between the auditor of the annual report and the provider of assurance. The results of this study indicate that assurance of CSR reporting depends on the size, leverage, and profitability of the company. We find that the sustainability assurance market is dominated by the Big-4 firms, who develop different strategies in this field. Finally, we find that the decision to hire an auditor to perform sustainability assurance sometimes depends on the industry. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This study aims to seek ways to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) a vehicle for the sustainable development of companies and society. It examines the effect of CSR beneficiary positioning on purchase intention based on social exchange theory. It also investigates the moderating roles of product category, situation, and consumer's self-monitoring level based on impression management theory. The results show that consumers will be more likely to buy products from those companies which employ a self-benefit CSR positioning. In addition, the findings also suggest that the effect of the CSR beneficiary positioning on purchase intention depends on product type, situation, and self-monitoring level. Specifically, when the impression management motivation is heightened, people will pay more attention to information about companies' CSR efforts. Thus, CSR beneficiary positioning will have less effect on purchase intention. However, the effect of CSR beneficiary positioning persists when the motivation is not heightened. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

As a major part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, Chinese companies have emphasized employee satisfaction to achieve sustainable development. However, it is still unclear how employees perceive organizational CSR efforts and whether such perceptions bring employee satisfaction and loyalty. To answer these timely inquires, we developed and empirically tested a theoretical framework modeling employee satisfaction as both mediator and moderator on the relationship between employee perception of organizational CSR efforts and their loyalty to enterprises. Based on 438 usable questionnaires collected from four typical companies, we found that solely providing money-related welfare and improving the working environment can be detrimental to employee loyalty, but by increasing employee satisfaction of personal treatment, companies can mitigate such a side-effect. Employee satisfaction of personal treatment and general company effort are necessary to enhance their affective commitment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This article examines whether the relative market value and corporate responsibility (CR) performance of multinational corporations (MNCs) that comply with rigorous international standards are explained by the degree of institutional development, the capitalist model of the country of origin, and the industrial sector in which the MNCs operate. Based on a sample of 336 MNCs from 24 countries included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Index, we find that the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy among large MNCs is primarily determined by the capitalist (and institutional) model of their country of origin and the sector of activity in which such firms operate. Namely, more than four-fifths of the firms belong to globally integrated sectors. In general, MNCs perform a global (integrated) CR strategy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This paper empirically examines a corporate community involvement (CCI) initiative in Bangladesh. Drawing on a conceptual framework of ‘collaborative betterment’ and ‘collaborative empowerment’ and by using focus group discussions and interviews, it assesses the initiative to examine the extent to which it meets expectations of the community where it operates. Some of the key findings of the paper include: (i) although the initiative provides vital healthcare services to some of the most vulnerable and desperately poor communities, the level of actual engagement of the local people – the main stakeholders – has been marginal; (ii) when the principles of collaborative betterment and empowerment are considered, it can be concluded that the initiative struggles even as a ‘betterment’ process; and (iii) notwithstanding the rhetoric and high-blown statements, corporate role in terms of practical efforts in the field has been mostly superficial and limited. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

In the corporate quest for sustainable development, production- and product-related environmental impacts of a company can form a basis for defining the corporate environmental profile, as well as for defining environmental leaders. Awareness of the production- and product-related dimensions of the environmental profile varied among companies. This paper studied descriptions and reporting of environmental issues among 19 companies ranked as Global Supersector Leaders in 2009/2010 by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). The results show that all of these companies are aware of production- and product-related environmental aspects. There are also examples, both as headings on websites and as sections in sustainability reports, where companies structure their environmental initiatives separately with respect to production (or their own operations) and the product. The paper ends with a proposed model of corporate environmental profile. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The stakeholder theory recognizes that, besides shareholders and creditors, there exists a broad range of agents who are interested in companies' attitudes towards sustainability. Through corporate social reporting, the social and environmental effects of companies' economic actions are communicated to interest groups. However, the information contained in financial and social reports tends to be presented quite separately from that in the others, and this may lead to confusion among users. Therefore, several major companies have introduced an integrated reporting system, which coherently summarizes the information available, thus making stakeholders participants in business management.

Corporate governance mechanisms such as the Board of Directors play an important role in good practices of corporate social responsibility, implementing policies of stakeholder engagement, including processes to achieve holistic transparency.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the influence played by certain features of the Board of Directors in the degree of information integration presented by leading non-financial multinational firms. Specifically, we examined 568 companies from 15 countries, for the period 2008–2010. The results obtained show that growth opportunities, the size of a company and its management bodies, together with gender diversity, are the most important factors in the integrated dissemination of information. This effect has been confirmed for the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and Latin models of corporate governance. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

As large companies embrace and integrate the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR) into their business practices, company personnel are expected to show actions that are connected to communicated corporate values and related policies. To enhance the likelihood that employees at the frontline level will accept these principles and become engaged with these values, it is in the firm's best interests to quantify and understand employee attitudes toward the social responsibility construct itself.

The present work considers whether the variables of work climate perception, education level, and age directly influence one's social responsibility perspective at work, extending the Marz model to understand what may impact frontline CSR attitudes. A case study is presented, based on a survey of frontline personnel employed by a North American energy transportation company. This investigation uses an updated survey tool and method for polling a sample population. Survey development is described, analysis methods are explained, and results are presented with statistical measures to verify hypotheses related to employee engagement in CSR. Some potential implications of the results for corporate strategy are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This study investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and product evaluation and the role of brand familiarity in moderating the relationship between CSR and product evaluation. Using different levels of brand familiarity (high versus low) and CSR initiatives (high versus low), a between-subjects experiment was carried out. The study finds that CSR has a positive impact on product evaluation and this positive impact is greater for products with high brand familiarity than products with low brand familiarity. The level of brand familiarity moderates the relationship between CSR and product evaluation. The study also reveals that the higher the CSR commitment and the brand familiarity, the more positive the product evaluation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

This study examines the relationship between institutional investment (II) and corporate social performance (CSP) of public listed companies (PLCs) in Bangladesh using cross-sectional data. The sample includes 152 firms as listed in Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). Structured questionnaires, annual reports, CSR reports, websites, regulatory notifications, and newspaper articles were used for data collection.

The results of the study indicate that CSP has a positive but insignificant relationship with institutional investment in Bangladesh. This would also improve the investment climate by encouraging the institutional investors to make their investment decisions based on long-term sustainability. To the best of our knowledge, the paper investigates, for the first time, the linkage between institutional investment and CSP in the context of a developing country like Bangladesh. In the process, this paper attempts to develop the first known comprehensive CSP Index in the context of Bangladesh. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Companies which manage global supply chains face a high level of complexity with a large number of suppliers in diverse socio-economic contexts and growing expectations of customers and standardization schemes to control social and environmental aspects. In the context of sustainable development, the effective management of supplier relationships has therefore attracted particular attention in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). This paper investigates two SSCM strategic approaches in Germany's largest stock companies with regard to supplier management. Supplier evaluation and selection adopts a risk-oriented strategic perspective whereas supplier development represents a business-opportunity-oriented approach to managing supplier chains for sustainable products. The survey-based analysis reveals that large German stock companies mainly implement risk-oriented SSCM strategies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

The truthful and correct representation of a company's current performance and its future prospects needs to account for a variety of sustainability issues, given that they are exerting an ever greater impact on strategic and operational decisions, risk profiles and balance sheet item valuations.

Nowadays, companies operate in a context in which such issues as sustainable development, environmental policy, and stakeholder engagement are of increasing strategic importance.

While such issues are also addressed in regulatory provisions, they require further study to meet the challenge of representing social and environmental factors, as, in the context of annual report disclosures, it is not possible to proceed simply by analogy.

The present study compares sustainability disclosures from the annual reports of the top 50 listed firms (by number of employees) in two countries – Italy and the United Kingdom – which have different legal systems. The objective is to analyze whether different territorial contexts might affect, under different headings, the qualitative aspects of the non-financial disclosures contained in the annual reports of the firms under examination. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

This study explores the relationship between CEO demographic characteristics and consistency in corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance among firms. The sample is based on results from major ranking agencies between 2005 and 2010. A total of 661 firms were included in the sample with 392 observations in total. The results indicate that firms' CSR performance, as measured by the consistency of their CSR rankings, is associated with their CEOs' educational specializations in Master's-level business administration (MBA) and science (MSc). In addition, CEO tenure and gender are shown to affect firms' CSR performance. Furthermore, a firm's number of employees also has a significant relationship with its CSR performance. The results are encouraging for supporting universities' efforts to integrate CSR issues into their curricula. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Corporations and their leaders are increasingly recognising their role in making societies more sustainable. This has fostered the development of voluntary tools and initiatives (mainly based on ‘hard’ technocentric solutions) to help them address sustainability. However, discussions on ‘soft’ issues have been limited. This paper analyses the organisational change efforts for corporate sustainability (CS) of three case studies. It was found that CS drivers catalyse change from the unsustainable status quo (SQ) towards more sustainable activities. Barriers to change usually block these efforts; identifying them can help to apply appropriate strategies to overcome them, thus helping to better incorporate and institutionalise CS. This would bring the system to a more sustainability oriented state (MSOS). In time, the MSOS becomes the SQ novo, and the process starts again. Planning such organisational changes could help companies better overcome resistance to change and integrate their efforts for was sustainability more holistically, including technological and human changes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This study seeks to understand the underlying relationship between managerial ownership and corporate social performance in privately owned Chinese firms. Agency theory predicts that corporate expenditure on social practices is merely a managerial expropriation in an ordinary business setting. However, the business context of natural disasters in China has been characterized by stakeholder pressure on corporate responsibility. We propose that in our context of study, corporate social performance constitutes an investment and managers who own significant parts of the company are more likely to promote corporate philanthropic actions. Using a hand-collected database that includes firm-level data on corporate contributions after the Sichuan Earthquake on 12 May 2008, we find that higher managerial ownership is associated with a significantly higher probability of donation and charity. Furthermore, we find that corporate board size and political ties with the government moderate this relationship. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

There is increasing pressure on corporations for sustainability reporting. However, current patterns in corporate sustainability reporting are not well understood. Additional research is needed to identify the contents of current reports and to provide a basis for improvement. The aim of this research is to analyze the sustainable development reporting patterns of Dutch companies. A content analysis of Dutch sustainability reports was conducted. The findings show that the contents of Dutch sustainability reports vary widely. While some areas in these reports are well developed, others – such as the use of cross-cutting indicators, linking sustainability initiatives with broader public policy, future reporting directions, systematic presentation of data, and discussion of non-conformances – require significant improvement. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

The stakeholder theory is a useful tool for collecting and evaluating corporate social responsibility (CSR) data. Using a multistakeholder approach, we have succeeded in evaluating the CSR performance of the Chinese forest industry. In all, 810 observations have been made using a quantitative research method. This study contributes in three aspects. (1) The findings demonstrate that the stakeholder theory is a useful tool for collecting and evaluating CSR data. (2) We have systemically studied CSR issues in the Chinese forest sector, finding that the Chinese forest industry performs slightly better in its economic responsibility than environmental and social responsibilities. (3) Its results provide strong empirical evidence to suggest that values have a significant effect on the stakeholder perception of CSR performance. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

To promote an understanding of green consumption behavior, this paper investigates how consumer value relates to loyalty and price consciousness through consumer satisfaction. The proposed model of the variables underwent empirical validation through data collected from a cross-sectional survey of 517 consumers in the USA who had bought and possessed a hybrid car – a representative green product. The results indicate that perceived social, emotional, and functional values have a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction with respect to green innovation. Further, customer satisfaction leads to customer loyalty, while lowering price consciousness. This study demonstrates the importance of consumer value and satisfaction in facilitating the diffusion of green innovation, with resulting implications for marketing strategy and public policy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

There are numerous studies analyzing the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and financial performance, and even if recent surveys give the upper hand to a generally positive relationship, this question still gives rise to debate. I have chosen to approach this theme from a different angle in order to provide an alternate perspective on this issue: does CSP play a role during periods of uncertainty? I test this hypothesis of CSP acting as an insurance-like protection on a sample of French listed companies, over several reference periods around the current financial crisis. My findings show a significant positive link between CSP and financial performance for the period corresponding to the beginning of the crisis (second-half of 2007), but in early 2007 and after the first six months of turmoil, there is no longer a significant connection between the two variables. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Assuming differences among the stakeholders, the study investigated stakeholders' expectations of different aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in Kazakhstan. As a transition economy, both internal stakeholders and the government still place more emphasis on economic and legal responsibilities for the sustainability of business organizations. On the other hand, civil society members and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) argue that business organizations need to focus more on ethical and discretionary responsibilities in Kazakhstan. The findings of the study will help both local business organizations and multinational corporations (MNCs) to understand stakeholders' expectations and to modify CSR activities in the right direction in the context of emerging economies. The policy implications of the study are also discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

The objectives of this research are to analyze the determinants for the adoption of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 guidelines and GRI G3 application levels (undeclared, C, C+, B, B+, A, A+). Content analysis of the 2009 sustainability reports published by the world's 500 largest companies (Fortune Global 500) was conducted. Based on legitimacy theory and signalling theory, the study yielded two main findings. First, the binary logistic regression reveals that the adoption of GRI G3 guidelines is influenced by company size, profitability, business culture of a country, and industry. These results are consistent with past research on the factors influencing sustainability reporting. Second, the ordinal logistic regression shows that the GRI G3 application level is influenced by the industry in which a firm operates but not by company size, profitability or business culture of a country. In high-risk industries, the GRI G3 application level is more likely to be considered as a signal to manage the reputational risk of the companies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.