Corporate social responsibility: Insights from COVID-19 and stakeholder theory

The transition from primary sustainable goals to crisis management exemplifies a new era of corporate social responsibility, sustainable business models, corporate sustainability, and stakeholder theory. This study examines the varied dynamics of corporate social responsibilities (CSR) during COVID-19, as well as its potential and limitations, in order to gain a better understanding of CSR. The results expand upon the instrumental version of CSR and the application of stakeholder theory during COVID-19. It reflects on the necessity for a wider integration of societal issues in CSR's driving philosophy as well as the underlying need to study diverse sectors of governance across the globe due to the increased potential for exploitation of the weak, particularly during times of crisis. This study examines the theoretical foundations of the themes and the lines of divergence between CSR's past and present by reviewing the social, intellectual, and conceptual structure of the literature. It emphasizes the importance of post-COVID-19 policies that prioritize job creation by implementing stronger labor market standards. Governments should eliminate barriers and implement pro-SME laws and programs. A sustainable fiscal policy takes future generations into account. Sustainable corporate finance incorporates long-term financial goals and social values into stakeholder theory. © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

How does social responsibility investment strategy contribute to hospitality firms' recovery from public health emergencies? The case of COVID-19 pandemic.

Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, this paper explores which configurations of six dimensions of hospitality firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) result in higher (or lower) levels of total factor productivity. We demonstrate that different categories of stakeholders and hospitality firms' dynamic capabilities complement each other under the framework of configurational theory. The result shows that: 1) The CSR dimensions of product quality, CSR communication, and environmental protection are critical to high levels of firm performance; 2) After the pandemic, hospitality firms should make investment in CSR communication and environmental protection a priority; 3) Hospitality firms' choice to invest in a specific combination of dimensions of CSR practice should depend on their overall level of corporate governance (high or low). This paper contributes to the strategic management and corporate governance literature by identifying the role of hospitality firms' governance on the linkage between CSR investment strategy and firm performance.

Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance Post COVID-19: The Nordic Perspective

COVID-19 outbreak has re-designed business activities and changed the priorities in our lives. Since the pandemic is a sign of overexploitation of our habitat, it has stressed the importance of sustainable and resilient businesses and ‘stakeholderism'. A recent survey conducted by Willis Towers Watson (WTW) revealed that 74 percent of the American companies proceed with their executive compensation frameworks widely consistent with last year's;only 12 percent stated that they will make substantive changes in their corporate governance and remuneration structures. Surprisingly, the survey result does not alter too much in the Nordic countries which are egalitarian and stakeholder-oriented. Three-fifth (57 to 61 percent) of the employers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland expressed that they are not planning to change the structure of the executive schemes and that one-fourth (24 to 26 percent) are still unsure. Therefore, this book chapter, as a commentary, aims to disclose and interpret the survey results from the Nordic countries perspective and guide the practitioners and academics on how the corporate governance systems and executive compensation schemes should be modified to reach fair, resilient, and sustainable businesses based on the key takeaways from the COVID recession and stakeholder theory. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

How Has the COVID-19 Crisis Transformed Entrepreneurs into Sustainable Leaders?

EntREsilience, a five-country longitudinal qualitative study, was launched in 2020 in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and the UK to understand how entrepreneurs manifested resilience in response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis events from March 2020 to February 2022. EntREsilience proposed a resilience-manifestation process model describing how entrepreneurs responded to the COVID-19 disruption, aided by external and internal enablers, adjusting their businesses to stabilise and even hunting for opportunities to grow their businesses. The present research adds to the findings of EntREsilience by analysing the strategies applied by entrepreneurs in their response to the crisis. This exploratory study focused on the entrepreneurs' community interactions and studied the effects of these interactions on the response measures adopted by the entrepreneurs. The results describe how the awareness of their stakeholder challenges shaped the entrepreneurial response. Realising the importance of stakeholder well-being to the sustainability of their enterprise motivated the entrepreneurs to develop sustainability competencies towards their stakeholder challenges, innovating solutions for their mutual well-being. By extending the resilience-manifestation process model, this paper proposes a transformation model depicting the process of entrepreneurs transforming into sustainable leaders triggered by stakeholder challenge awareness and moderated by contextual factors.

Risk or benefit? Economic and sociocultural impact of P2P accommodation on community resilience, consumer perception and behavioral intention

PurposeDrawing on the social exchange theory, stakeholder theory and extended theory of reasoned action, this study aims to investigate how consumers view the economic and sociocultural impacts (benefits/costs) of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodations on the local community's resilience and how consumers form behavioral intentions toward P2P accommodation as a part of sustainable tourism behavior.Design/methodology/approachWith data from a survey of 300 consumers who have previously used P2P accommodation, the authors performed partial least squares-structural equation modeling to test the proposed model and hypotheses.FindingsThe current study reveals the significant impact of the sociocultural benefits of P2P accommodations on consumers' perceived community resilience, while economic benefits have a non-significant impact on perceived community resilience. Moreover, neither the sociocultural nor economic costs of P2P accommodation significantly reduce consumers' perceived community resilience. Furthermore, the authors found significant positive relationships among perceived community resilience, attitude, subjective norm, personal norm and behavioral intentions.Practical implicationsP2P accommodation platforms can leverage these research findings and contribute to the community resilience and help community residents by establishing strategic collaboration with various stakeholders (e.g. governments, destination marketing organizations and non-profit organizations) for the community's sustainable development.Originality/valueThis study systematically investigates the role of P2P accommodation in achieving community resilience by categorizing the impacts of P2P accommodation into economic and sociocultural benefits/costs.

Cushioning the Covid-19 Economic Consequences on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: The Role of Stakeholders' Engagement, Collaboration, and Support

The Covid-19 (corona virus) disruptions have necessitated a new way of thinking about how entrepreneurship and its environments (ecosystems) function in times of heightened uncertainty. Based on a sample of 237 entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) stakeholders in Tanzania – an emerging economy, we examine the pandemic economic consequences steered by government countermeasures on the EE-perceived quality and performance. We further examined the role played by EE stakeholders' engagement, collaboration, and support during the crisis. Our structural equation model results suggest that strictness of government counter measures for containment of the current pandemic predicament has a bearing on EE- perceived quality and performance by fueling EE vulnerability via amplifying the magnitude of the negative effects. We further find that stakeholders' engagement and collaboration play a significant role in improving the EE-perceived quality and slowing down EE-vulnerability. We conclude by providing the implications and avenues for future research. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of African Business is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Responsible leadership practices in the hospitality sector family businesses: evidence from an emerging market

Purpose: The study aims to find out the extent to which hospitality sector family-owned businesses in Egypt feel committed to responsible leadership practices and subsequently meet their stakeholders' expectations. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 owners of family restaurants in Egypt. Thematic analysis was undertaken on the collected data resulting in four major themes. Findings: The authors find that the four dimensions (aggregation of virtuousness, stakeholder involvement, individual competencies and ethical contributions) are not fully exercised by the owners despite their readiness to behave correctly according to social norms. Furthermore, the respondents elaborated that they do not fully understand how to commence playing a role in contributing to the common good in their societies. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, the present study is the first to empirically investigate responsible leadership practices in the context of small and medium-sized family businesses (restaurants in this case), particularly in the emerging market and non-Western contexts. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Changes in corporate social responsibility activity during a pandemic: The case of COVID-19

This study examines the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) during COVID-19. Little is known about how organizations practice CSR during acute exogenous crises. Overlooking how CSR practices change during a crisis matters because organizations are compelled into trade-offs that carry implications for their CSR initiatives. Analysis of interview data with CSR managers, from 21 Dubai-based business organizations during COVID-19, uncovers changes in the content and process of CSR during the pandemic. The results show that the practice of CSR underwent a fundamental change in focus as organizations shifted to an employee-centric model of CSR and away from an environmental one. Measures placed on organizations and society to combat the pandemic also led to a recalibration of stakeholder and issue salience, with notable effects on CSR that challenge the capability of the power–legitimacy–urgency framework to anticipate these shifts. We consider the impacts associated with the shift in the content of CSR initiatives and process of their implementation and discuss the implications of the findings for CSR theory, research, policy, and practice. © 2023 The Authors. Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Exploring key factors sustaining micro and small food, wine and hospitality firms through the COVID-19 crisis

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of how micro and small firm owners/managers cope with an extreme event, as this has implications on how firms make decisions. The study considers self-efficacy and stakeholder theory as tools to gain more in-depth knowledge.Design/methodology/approachThe perspectives of owners/managers of 308 micro and small firms operating in the food, wine and hospitality industries in Italy, one of the most affected nations, were drawn through an online questionnaire.FindingsThe importance of determination, passion, family support and a sense of responsibility towards internal and external stakeholders emerged as fundamental factors helping firms confront the crisis. Five theoretical dimensions that help explain how firm owners/managers make decisions to safeguard their firms during the COVID-19 crisis are identified. Three of these, "motivational”, "stepping up” and "firm-based”, are directly associated with tenets of self-efficacy theory, and two, "human-moral” and "entity-based”, with stakeholder theory. Further complementing this second contribution, a theoretical framework underlining conceptual and practical implications is proposed.Originality/valueThe study delves into the challenges and survival of a key group of firms facing an extreme crisis. The identified dimensions provide useful conceptual depth and practical insights that, together, form part of a proposed framework. For instance, the "human-moral” dimension reflects upon aspects that have wider implications, notably, for firms' employees and the wider society.

Circular Economy Disclosure in Sustainability Reporting: The Effect of Firm Characteristics

The circular economy is increasingly establishing itself as a model capable of overcoming the current linear economy of production and consumption recognized as unsustainable by society. Its relevance has also attracted the attention of academics, interested not only in the implementation methods of the circular economy, but also in the ways in which companies communicate information about them. However, although in recent years some scholars have begun to investigate the circular economy disclosure (CED), research on this topic is still in an embryonic state. In fact, in the academic literature there are only a few studies related to the CED and its drivers. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating, under the lens of stakeholder theory, the effect of firm characteristics on the level of CED. To this end, it firstly involves the use of a manual content analysis of the sustainability reports drawn up by 88 international companies to measure the level of CED and, secondly, a regression model to test the impact of the firm characteristics. Empirical results demonstrate a positive effect of firm size, financial leverage and firm profitability on the level of CED. The results have important practical implications for firms and policymakers.

Strategic management theory in a post-pandemic and non-ergodic world

This quote, written 30 years ago, describes the pandemic environment in which the world exists today. As Meyer et al. explained, such quantum discontinuous changes require entrepreneurial responses. In the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, firms must devise strategies to deal with short-term discontinuities and significant uncertainty to survive. After the pandemic eases, longer-term strategic changes may be needed to navigate the competitive landscape arising in the 'New Normal' which has resulted from technological, socio-political, and institutional changes that resemble the causes of environmental jolts explained by Meyer et al. This New Normal is unlikely to be a static equilibrium, because the pandemic shock has triggered another unexpected dynamic. As Nobel Laureate Douglass North explained, we now exist in a non-ergodic world in which the new equilibrium after major disruptions continues to change thereafter, similar to dynamic equilibria in open systems. Thus, firms need new and more flexible strategies to achieve what North described as adaptive efficiency. While it is unclear which changes caused by the pandemic will persist, it seems evident that certain aspects of the business environment will change with the current crisis serving as a tipping point. Hence, this new environment (during the pandemic and thereafter) begs the question 'How does strategic management theory help us understand how firms can navigate the New Normal?'. We examine two main strategic management theories prominent in the field for the last three decades - resource-based theory and agency theory - in light of the opportunities and challenges likely to emerge in the non-ergodic New Normal environment, and comment on implications for strategic management more broadly. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

To what extent does virtual learning promote the implementation of responsible management education? A study of management educators

This paper aims to explore the extent to which virtual learning fosters the implementation of responsible management education (RME) in public business schools in Egypt. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 management educators working at three public business schools in Egypt. Thematic analysis was undertaken on the collected data resulting in four major themes. The findings reveal that management educators perceive difficulty in implementing responsible management education in the context of virtual learning due to the following four factors: employing a student-centred learning approach, inability to use collaborative teaching pedagogies in virtual learning, lack of academic freedom, and poor info-structure characterising the Egyptian context. The present study is the pioneering works to empirically investigate the relationship between the shift towards virtual learning and the implementation of responsible management education, particularly in non-Western contexts.

Value creation and CSR

A more robust, inclusive model of value creation will sharpen dominant normative theories of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) such as stakeholder theory and the theory of communicative/deliberative democracy. When measuring value creation, CSR theories oscillate between traditional, exchange-based approaches utilizing narrow financial metrics and value-oriented approaches embedded in prominent CSR theories. The two are often in conflict. The problem is aggravated by CSR's assumption that all firms, regardless of industry, possess the same generic responsibilities. A mining company, a sports betting service, and a medical device manufacturer are on all fours when measuring CSR success. The paper identifies a contradiction between settled normative convictions and the corporate decision making that normative CSR theories prescribe. Using the pharmaceutical industry as an example, it references the widespread conviction that during the 2019 Covid-19 pandemic some pharmaceutical companies had a responsibility to reach beyond the goal of financial optimization. It then explains why this conviction cannot be rationalized using two prominent normative theories of CSR, namely, stakeholder theory and the theory of communicative/deliberative democracy. The problem hinges on a defective model of value creation. One implication of the analysis is that healthcare companies should readjust corporate governance in order to make health a focal goal alongside that of profit. At the same time, a semiconductor firm might satisfy its CSR responsibilities by only designating profit as its focal goal. The thrust of the paper is to show why reconceiving the model of value creation can advance not only stakeholder and communicative/deliberative democracy theories, but all CSR. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Firms? sustainability, financial performance, and regulatory dynamics: Evidence from European firms

This study examines the association between firms' ESG reputational risk and financial per-formance under the EU regulatory policy changes and the COVID-19 period. Analyzing a panel of 1,816 European listed firms during the period 2007-2021, we document evidence that firms with lower ESG reputational risk have reduced information asymmetry, are less financial constrained and perform better. To establish causality, we design a quasi-natural experiment focusing on the 2014/95/EU directive of non-financial disclosing and the COVID-19 exogenous shock. Our findings are robust to several estimation techniques that address endogeneity, self-selection, and model sensitivity. Crown Copyright (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Greening of supply chain to drive performance through logical integration of supply chain resources

Sustainability has always been a concern of humankind in one form or the other. Still, it has come into sharper focus after the promulgation of the sustainable development goals in 2015 and the disruptive forces unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Supply chain management is an aspect of business operations wherein the need for sustainability has been felt more keenly. The academic and business understanding of various nuances of incorporating sustainability, particularly environmental concerns in the supply chain, is still evolving. Our study seeks to enrich the growing literature in the area by proposing to uncover a novel, logical sequence of intangible supply chain resources that can amplify the impact of green supply chain management practices (GSCMPs) on business performance. We use the dual-theoretical lens of a resource-based view and stakeholder theories to conceptualize the sequential mediational role of supply chain visibility, resilience, and robustness between GSCMP and performance. Analyzing data collected from 318 individuals working in the manufacturing sector in the United Kingdom, we found a positive direct association of GSCMP with performance and the serial mediational role of visibility and robustness between the two. The findings of our study are pertinent for theorists as well as managers. © 2023 The Authors. Business Strategy and The Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The implications of the pandemic for the corporate governance, remuneration and sustainability performance of South African listed companies

The study examined the implications of the recent pandemic on the corporate governance, remuneration and corporate sustainability performance of South African listed companies. Data from 42 companies was analyzed using the panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) methods from 2010-2021. Findings revealed that the pandemic negatively impacted the selected companies. This study revealed that the pandemic had a good impact on some companies and not just bad ones as claimed by previous researchers. Results from COVID-19-related expenses, debt-to-equity ratios and staff costs revealed a negative but significant result in the estimated model. Other variables such as current ratios, net profit margins and board diversity revealed a positive and significant relationship with all the dependent variables. Hence, a very severe implication of the pandemic on the performance of companies is confirmed through COVID-19related expenses, staff costs and directors' remuneration. These have a very strong negative impact on the future performance, survival, and sustainability of the selected companies. Lastly, a strong relationship between corporate governance and corporate sustainability performance was confirmed as shown by ROA, board size, directors' remunerations and board diversity. This study provides insight for stakeholders such as governments, directors and policymakers to develop both preventive and proactive policies to protect and guide companies from future similar pandemics. To avert and prevent future negative implications on companies, this study recommends a well-structured scheme for all of the company's staff, cash reserves and IT governance. © 2023, Innovative Research Publishing. All rights reserved.

Value creation and CSR

A more robust, inclusive model of value creation will sharpen dominant normative theories of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) such as stakeholder theory and the theory of communicative/deliberative democracy. When measuring value creation, CSR theories oscillate between traditional, exchange-based approaches utilizing narrow financial metrics and value-oriented approaches embedded in prominent CSR theories. The two are often in conflict. The problem is aggravated by CSR's assumption that all firms, regardless of industry, possess the same generic responsibilities. A mining company, a sports betting service, and a medical device manufacturer are on all fours when measuring CSR success. The paper identifies a contradiction between settled normative convictions and the corporate decision making that normative CSR theories prescribe. Using the pharmaceutical industry as an example, it references the widespread conviction that during the 2019 Covid-19 pandemic some pharmaceutical companies had a responsibility to reach beyond the goal of financial optimization. It then explains why this conviction cannot be rationalized using two prominent normative theories of CSR, namely, stakeholder theory and the theory of communicative/deliberative democracy. The problem hinges on a defective model of value creation. One implication of the analysis is that healthcare companies should readjust corporate governance in order to make health a focal goal alongside that of profit. At the same time, a semiconductor firm might satisfy its CSR responsibilities by only designating profit as its focal goal. The thrust of the paper is to show why reconceiving the model of value creation can advance not only stakeholder and communicative/deliberative democracy theories, but all CSR. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Corporate donation behavior during the covid-19 pandemic. A case-study approach in the multinational inditex.

The situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the confinement in many countries, has led to a global crisis, not only in health but also in economy and social issues. But it has also provoked a wave of solidarity and unprecedented donation behavior by many companies worldwide. Inditex, one of the main fashion multinationals, has become a referent for its reaction speed and has been ranked number one among the most significant companies for its Corporate Social Responsibility during the lockdown. Drawing from Stakeholder, Legitimacy, and Ethics of Care Theories, the aim of this paper is to analyze Inditex as a case study and reflect on the impact of its donation behavior on its corporate reputation. A desk research approach by using secondary data about the corporation, and a content analysis of press releases with ATLASti software during this time, let conclude that effective corporate donation impacts and improves the reputation of the corporation among its stakeholders.

Does corporate social responsibility protect shareholder value from the shock of COVID-19? Evidence from China

Our study examines whether and how increased engagement in social responsibility activities by a firm affects movements in its stock prices during the COVID-19 public health crisis, which is regarded as an exogenous shock to economic ties between focal firms and their customers, employees, and suppliers. We find that corporate social responsibility has an inverted U-shaped relationship with shareholder value. The nonlinear relationship is more dominant at firms with higher cash-flow constraints and weaker cost-adjustment capabilities. Our research also generates meaningful implications for business practices. © 2022 Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand.

Does corporate social responsibility protect shareholder value from the shock of

Our study examines whether and how increased engagement in social responsibility activities by a firm affects movements in its stock prices during the COVID-19 public health crisis, which is regarded as an exogenous shock to economic ties between focal firms and their customers, employees, and suppliers. We find that corporate social responsibility has an inverted U-shaped relationship with shareholder value. The nonlinear relationship is more dominant at firms with higher cash-flow constraints and weaker cost-adjustment capabilities. Our research also generates meaningful implications for business practices.