Research Tidbits

A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently on executive compensation issues. Do CEO incentives drive corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Yes, according to Michele Fabrizi, Christine Mallin and Giovanna Michelon. These researchers explored the role of CEO incentives on CSR. Incentives were monetary (based on both bonus compensation and changes in the value of the CEO’s portfolio of stocks and options) and non-monetary (career concerns, incoming/departing CEOs, and power and entrenchment). In 597 US [...]

A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently on workplace ethics and codes of conduct. Does the quality of a firm’s code of ethics make a difference? Many studies have investigated the content of codes of ethics, as well as their capacity to condition the behaviour of people within organisations. However, few studies have considered the intrinsic quality of codes of ethics. This study aims to investigate the impact that specific factors—firm size, [...]

A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently on Corporate Social Responsibility. Does corporate social responsibility enhance access to finance? Apparently so, according to Beiting Cheng, Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim, who hypothesised that better access to finance can be attributed to (1) reduced agency costs due to enhanced stakeholder engagement and (2) reduced informational asymmetry due to increased transparency. Using a large cross-section of firms, Cheng et al. found that firms with [...]

A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently on innovation and creativity. Core values and beliefs in leading innovative organisations Innovation is a key driving force for sustainability and growth even in the current economic global slowdown. At present hardly any studies show why innovation is successful at some organizations and yet fails to achieve the desired results at others. Sai Manohar and Shiv Pandit investigated the role of “core values and beliefs” [...]

A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently on HRM and Sustainable Performance. Is sustainable human resource management next? Yes, according to Robin Kramar. She notes that strategic human resource management (SHRM) emerged as a dominant approach to human resource management (HRM) policy during the past 30 years. However, during the last decade, a new approach to HRM has evolved. This approach has been labelled sustainable human resource management (sustainable HRM). It is [...]

A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently on corporate governance & CSR/environmental disclosure. Motivations for initiating disclosure of environmental liability information Jennifer Chen, Charles Cho and Dennis Patten examined potential motivations for late adopting US companies to begin disclosing environmental liability amounts in their financial statements. After reviewing 10-K reports filed from 1998 through to 2012, they identified 55 firms initiating environmental liability disclosure over the period, with all but three doing [...]

A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently. What do private family firms do about paying out dividends? Sigrid Vandemaele and Mark Vancauteren applied behavioral economics to explain dividend policy in private family firms. Based on a sample of 501 Belgian firms, their results indicate that dividend payout is low when a family chief executive officer (CEO) leads the business and in the presence of a family-dominated board. The tendency of a family [...]

A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently. Role of Chief Sustainability Officers in top management teams Robert Strand notes that strategic leadership and corporate sustainability have recently come together through the emergence of “Chief Sustainability Officer” (CSO) roles in top management teams (TMT) among large corporations. These positions have dedicated corporate sustainability responsibilities. Strand explores the CSO phenomenon by considering two questions: Why are corporate sustainability positions being installed to the TMT? [...]

A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently. Do firms with responsible tax strategies have better consumer success? Yes, according to Inga Hardeck and Rebecca Hertl. These researchers looked at the effects of media reports on companies’ aggressive and responsible corporate tax strategies (CTSs) and corporate reputation, consumer purchase intention, and the consumer’s willingness to pay.  Results suggest that aggressive CTSs diminish corporate success with consumers, while responsible CTSs enhance corporate success with [...]

A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently. Does ethical reason sleep in for-profit education? Yes, according to Samuel Natale,  Anthony Libertella and Caroline Doran, who discuss the philosophical concerns and foundational challenges raised by a for-profit model of education. They argue that the for-profit model is governed by a business paradigm, without reference to the context in which it is found. The authors explore primary ethical questions and challenges presented by this [...]