Collective Social Responsibility Research Articles

The Portrayal of Environmental Concerns: An Ecolinguistic Analysis of Media Discourse

The global focus on environmental/climatic concerns and sustainability has intensified in recent years due to the growing recognition of the urgent need for action to mitigate and adapt to climate change. As one of the key goals of Saudi Vision 2030, the Saudi Green Initiative strives to mitigate the effects of climate change and improve biodiversity through multiple measures including promulgating awareness and responsibility in the general public. With this respect, undoubtedly media plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion and influencing policy decisions. Therefore, it is essential to investigate how environmental issues and sustainability are portrayed in media discourse in the Saudi context. This research intends to analyze media representations of environmental concerns specifically in English newspaper discourse using an eco-linguistic framework. For the said purpose, the corpus developed was based on content published in Arab News an English newspaper, and analyzed through Sketch Engine and LancsBox6.0 software. The key frames that emerged were evaluated and interpreted both statistically and qualitatively to ascertain the role of media in imparting and creating collective consciousness regarding the need for sustainable environmental actions. The study demonstrated that the newspaper discourse portrayed the climate concerns effectively by framing the climate as a change, crisis, fight, and collective social responsibility through discursive strategies such as frequent repetition of concepts, specific lexical choices like negative, strong expressive words as well as techniques of naming and making concrete references. Additionally, the writers suggested practical solutions and measures people and nations must need to take collectively to address the ever-growing climate challenges.

Who ought to look towards the horizon? A qualitative study on the collective social responsibility of scientific research

There is a growing concern for the proper role of science within democratic societies, which has led to the development of new science policies for the implementation of social responsibility in research. Although the very expression ‘social responsibility of science’ may be interpreted in different ways, many of these emerging policy frameworks define it, at least in part, as a form of anticipative reflection about the potential impacts of research in society. What remains a rather under-discussed issue is the definition of the bearer of the social responsibility of science. In other words, it is not clear who is supposed to engage in such an anticipative reflection, whether individual researchers or research groups. In the past few years, philosophers of science have begun to use qualitative research methods to fill the gaps between normative models of the organisation of ideal scientific communities and the reality of actual scientific practices. In this article, I follow this approach to discuss the issue of the collective dimension of the social responsibility of science. I rely on a qualitative study conducted on an interdisciplinary research group and I describe how group dynamics position individuals and distribute duties and roles, including social responsibility. Qualitative descriptions of the distribution of duties within actual research groups should inform the formulation of general prescriptive theories on the collective responsibility of science.

Australian rental housing standards: institutional shifts to reprioritize the housing–health nexus

ABSTRACT A large proportion of Australia’s housing stock offered for private rental or socially let is of poor quality, which has implications for residents’ health and well-being. This problem has arisen from historically weak regulation of housing standards and under-investment in public housing services, both features of Australia’s neoliberal housing regime. In this paper, we reviewed the institutional contexts of two policy settings used to address problems of housing quality: the Homes Act 2018 (UK) and the Healthy Homes Guarantee Act 2017 (Aotearoa–New Zealand). From these two case studies, five institutional shifts required to reprioritize the housing–health nexus in Australia were synthesized: (1) policy objectives should explicitly link housing conditions and health outcomes; (2) community awareness and sector advocacy should be harnessed to overcome complex structures of government; (3) policy approaches should foster collective social responsibility; (4) mandatory requirements should be made transparent and objective; and (5) robust protocols for tracking progress should be developed and applied.

Collective Social Responsibility: An extended three-dimensional model of Corporate Social Responsibility for contemporary society

The Collective Social Responsibility model (CSRm) arises as a response to questioning the current vision of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). After analysing several authors and sources, this research proposes a vision that is more in line with reality and events in contemporary society and can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The study had three main objectives: (i) to propose a theoretical model to expand the concepts associated with CSR, (ii) to explain the proposed model and its implications for companies, society, and the environment, and, finally, (iii) to establish the relationship between the proposed model and the SDG promoted by the UN. This study used a qualitative methodology based on documentary review and inferential and deductive reasoning. The Collective Social Responsibility model (CSRm) proposed here is an expanded and updated version of CSR, observed from a three-dimensional perspective. The proposed model seeks to transform not only the impact that organizations and businesses have on society, but also the way in which governments, companies, groups, and individuals complement each other in relation to this field.

Recognizing Complexity in Our Changing Contexts: Centering What Matters in Comparative and International Education

Recognizing Complexity in Our Changing Contexts: Centering What Matters in Comparative and International Education

Shifting foci of ethical concerns: a new generation enters the corporate world

ABSTRACT As a new generation enters the workforce, it is important to understand the ethical concerns of these emerging professionals and future leaders. Crucially, because forces such as technology, globalization, and social responsibility are transforming the business environment. The present study defines ethical concerns as topics of ethics that are important to oneself that are influenced by the social context and affect attitudes and behaviors. Inspired by past studies and trends, this research examines a four-decade historical perspective of ethical concerns of college students in the United States. Our findings indicate that the foci of concern for business-related ethical issues among incoming professionals have significantly shifted – focusing more on environmental, collective, and corporate social responsibility concerns of bettering society, but less on ethical standards meeting the needs of organizations. Of cautionary note, incoming professionals feel increased pressure to act unethically and to overlook ethical concerns related to application of new technologies in order to succeed. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Editors' Note

Editors' Note Red Washburn and Brianne Waychoff bell hooks states, "Love is an action, never simply a feeling." This issue, Black Love, arrives during a critical moment in the ongoing struggle for racial justice. With the political urgency of the Movement for Black Lives, prison abolition, cops out of Pride, decolonize the curriculum, and bell hooks joining the ancestors, we remember love is a verb. We use this vision to help us imagine a better life in which love transcends rigid concepts of romantic coupledom under capitalism, and instead, expands the thought and practice of love as a community project of mutual aid, trust, care, kindness, compassion, respect, and solidarity across the spectrum of difference. The politics of love holds much promise for honoring self-care, educating for critical consciousness, and promoting social change. Love allows us to hold space for Black people to heal under white supremacy, cisheteropatriarchy, and capitalism, as well as move toward a collective social responsibility to build a better world where we all are free. The guest editors, writers, and artists who contributed to this issue explore the knowledge/power of Black love from different angles of vision that enrich this interdisciplinary area of study in exciting ways. We are indebted to the guest editors Mary Frances Phillips, Rashida L. Harrison, and Nicole M. Jackson for convening this issue. We are delighted to feature work on Black love, nationally and transnationally, ranging from the United States to Nigeria, as well as Trinidad and Tobago. We commend the stellar academic essays on social movements, self-care, and cultural productions, especially centering the writings of Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde. We celebrate the stunning creative writing and visual art by Arisa White, Roya Marsh, and Mel Michelle Lewis, among other notable contributors. We are grateful for this scholarship and activism. We want to thank WSQ, including the editorial board; poetry, prose, and [End Page 10] art editors; and editorial assistants. In particular, we want to extend a tremendous thank-you, thank-you, thank-you to the editorial assistants, Amy Iafrate, Alex Johnson, Joe Goodale, Ivy Bryan, Googie Karrass, and Kayla Reece, all of whom worked tirelessly on communicating with the scholars, writers, and artists to make this issue happen. In addition, we want to extend a very generous thank-you to Dána-Ain Davis, Director of the Center for the Study of Women in Society, and administrative staff Eileen Liang and Jennifer Bae for providing WSQ with internships in feminist publishing for graduate students in women's and gender studies at the City University of New York. Our partnership has significantly enriched the quality of the journal for our feminist communities across CUNY and beyond. We are greatly indebted to the Feminist Press for all its help with scheduling, copyediting, and distributing our issues, especially to Interim Executive Director Lauren Rosemary Hook and Assistant Editor Nick Whitney. We cannot thank you enough for your help and support. We also wish to thank Associate Director of the Center for the Humanities Kendra Sullivan, as well as Jordan Lord and Sampson Starkweather for collaborating with us and building a new vision for the journal, including aiding with publicity and administrative matters. We acknowledge the support we have received from President Kaye Wise Whitehead and Former Interim Executive Director Jen Ash of the National Women's Studies Association, as well as the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP). Lastly, we want to thank each other as general editors of WSQ for continuing this work during a global pandemic with much loss and grief. We are looking forward to celebrating fifty years of WSQ and the future of this important feminist journal. Red Washburn Kingsborough Community College Director of Women's and Gender Studies Associate Professor of English City University of New York Brianne Waychoff Borough of Manhattan Community College Associate Professor of Speech Communications and Theatre Arts, Gender and Women's Studies Program City University of New York Works Cited hooks, bell. 2001. All About Love: New Visions. New York: William Murrow. Google Scholar Copyright © 2022 Red Washburn and Brianne Waychoff

Empowering children to make and shape our digital futures – from adults creating technologies to children transforming cultures

PurposeDigital technology education of children needs to be reconsidered. The purpose of this paper is to focus on empowering the young generation as regards digital technology. Digital technology education should reap the benefits of recent developments brought in by extensive, ongoing digitalization and prepare the young generation to manage and master in their technology rich future. The recent COVID 19 pandemic has made this particularly relevant and visible in the society. The young generation should adopt a proactive and critical stance toward digital technology and consider how design and technology can be used for making the world a better place.Design/methodology/approachThis commentary reviews literature on the complex concept of empowerment and suggests a model on the aspects to be considered when aiming at empowering the young generation as regards digital technology in the context of digital technology education.FindingsA model is proposed that comprehensively addresses empowerment of children as regards digital technology both at individual and collective levels and in mainstream sense as a relational and motivational construct as well as in critical sense in terms of collective empowerment, social responsibility and liberation of the oppressed.Research limitations/implicationsRadical renewal in the children's education is needed in the digital age. This model outlines aspects to be considered in such a transformation. The insights should be valuable for research communities addressing the topic of children's education in the digital age in general or the topic of children's digital technology education in particular.Practical implicationsThe model should also be of help for practitioners, i.e. teachers and facilitators working in informal learning spaces for developing children's digital education in practice.Social implicationsThe commentary addresses significant societal issues. It is actually not only children who should be empowered to engage in making and shaping our digital futures, but people in general. The model provides novel and valuable insights on what aspects to consider in such a significant endeavor.Originality/valueThe model proposed is novel and clearly needed in the research addressing this topic.

The influence of relational pluralism in developing collective corporate social responsibility strategies

PurposeA literature gap has triggered a discussion on the influence of relational pluralism in the adoption of new practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on this literature, this paper aims to understand how relational pluralism influences small companies in the development of their collective CSR strategies.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the case of a Brazilian hotel network called Charm Routes, which comprises 66 members. The study adopted a qualitative approach based on qualitative comparative analysis (QCA).FindingsThe results show that relational pluralism influences small companies in their collective CSR strategies. This is especially because of the relationships among different actors within the network.Research limitations/implicationsQCA does not explain the correlation between variables, but rather the logical relations among them. The adoption of multivariate techniques is suggested for future studies to evaluate the correlations among the variables and not only the possible causal conditions.Practical implicationsThe results bring added clarity to the collective CSR strategies of networks composed of small companies.Social implicationsThe findings may be of use to networks of small companies working collectively to develop initiatives aimed at providing social and environmental benefits.Originality/valueInstead of a framework, the study generated the expression RPN*(INT+LON) → CSR_CS. This means that relational pluralism within the network, enhanced by the intensity and the longevity of the relationship, influences small companies in the development of their collective CSR strategies.

Ripple effect of moral hazard: how does CSR misconduct impact firm performance in the dairy industry

In this article we study how collective corporate social responsibility (CSR) misconduct affects the market performance of enterprises in the dairy industry. We do this by revisiting the melamine-tainted milk powder event in China. By comparing pre- and post-event retail data of three different types of infant milk powder manufacturers, as well as by analysing the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) of those milk powder companies listed on stock markets, based on an event study approach, the ripple effect of China's melamine incident as an exogenous shock was investigated. The results show that industrial CSR misconduct has a suppression effect on the enterprises involved, overlapping suppression and spillover effects on domestic enterprises that were not involved, as well as spillover effects for foreign peers. Lessons from the melamine contamination incident and its policy implications should be valuable in promoting the CSR level and sustainability of other similar fast-growing industries in developing countries.

Who will think outside the sink? Farmers’ willingness to invest in technologies for groundwater sustainability in Pakistan

Concerns over depleting aquifers tend to recommend water-saving irrigation technologies as a potential solution. This study examines farmers’ enthusiasm towards one of such technologies in four south-western districts of Pakistan. The required information was obtained through a survey questionnaire administered to a sample of 283 groundwater users, and it was analysed descriptively and via an ordinary least squares regression technique. Results indicate that adopting water-saving technologies is less likely in the absence of incentives such as subsidized system installation, a reliable supplier who can provide warranties on the system’s service and spare parts and training the participating farmers. Besides, promoting such technologies would be relatively easier in the southern region due to those farmers’ relatively greater enthusiasm there compared with their northern counterparts. We conclude that promoting technologies such as drip irrigation may continue, but only as the mandatory initial step of a broad-based strategy aimed at nurturing water conservation values at the societal level. Among various possible interventions, enhancing water literacy is extremely important so that farmers discover and correct wasteful aspects inherent in their current irrigation practices, work through options to minimize those wastages, and develop a sense of water conservation as a collective social responsibility.

A Nordic transition regime? Policies for school-to-work transitions in Sweden, Denmark and Finland

In recent decades, a range of policy measures to support young people’s school-to-work transitions has been initiated across Europe. However, these transition policies have rarely been studied systematically, particularly from a comparative perspective. Thus, the aim of this article is to compare Swedish, Danish and Finnish policies for supporting young people’s educational and school-to-work transitions. Synthesising and analysing recent research, the article critically draws on Walther’s (2006) classification of transition regimes that recognises a Nordic universalistic regime of youth transitions characterised by emphasis on collective social responsibility, individual motivation and personal development. We conclude that significant policy changes have occurred during the last two decades. Coercive measures have been adopted and social support reduced, making young people more individually responsible for the success of their transitions. Hence, current transition policies diverge in many respects from qualities traditionally ascribed to the Nordic transition regime. We also find significant differences between the three countries’ transition policies, which in some cases indicate policy trade-offs. In addition, we conclude that transition policies are generally weakly coordinated across policy domains, which increases the risk of unintended consequences of these policies.

Collective Corporate Social Responsibility: The Role of Trust as an Organizing PrincipleDate submitted: September 30, 2017Revised version accepted after double blind review: October 18, 2018

Organizing corporate social responsibility (CSR) on a collective, rather than on the individual firm level, results in a set of specific challenges for organizations. The aim of this article is to assess these challenges inherent in collective CSR and to conceptualize trust as an organizing principle within these networks. To do so, we explore and outline the chief challenges faced within horizontal cooperation between inter-organizational actors aiming to realize CSR efforts collectively. Subsequently, we draw from the literature on trust as an organizing principle in inter-organizational networks and go on to develop mechanisms through which trust can address these challenges. This article contributes a new analytical framework that informs future studies on the role of trust in collective CSR. It enables a differentiated analysis of the potential, but also the pitfalls, of trust-based CSR at the network level.

Ripple effect of moral hazard: How do CSR misconducts impact firm performance in the dairy industry

In this article we study how collective corporate social responsibility (CSR) misconduct affects the market performance of enterprises in the dairy industry. We do this by revisiting the melamine-tainted milk powder event in China. By comparing pre- and post-event retail data of three different types of infant milk powder manufacturers, as well as by analysing the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) of those milk powder companies listed on stock markets, based on an event study approach, the ripple effect of China's melamine incident as an exogenous shock was investigated. The results show that industrial CSR misconduct has a suppression effect on the enterprises involved, overlapping suppression and spillover effects on domestic enterprises that were not involved, as well as spillover effects for foreign peers. Lessons from the melamine contamination incident and its policy implications should be valuable in promoting the CSR level and sustainability of other similar fast-growing industries in developing countries.

How does national culture enable or constrain entrepreneurship? Exploring the role of Harambee in Kenya

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to conceptualise how various value dimensions of Harambee, the Kenyan culture, affect the fostering of entrepreneurial behaviours. Theoretically, we draw upon perspectives that view culture as a toolkit and use cultural variables provided by Hofstede to examine the links between national culture and entrepreneurial endeavours in an African context.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on review and synthesis of accessible secondary sources (published research, country-specific reports, policy documents, firm-level empirical evidences, etc.) on the topic and related areas to understand and advance research propositions on the link between enterprising efforts and national culture specific to the Kenyan context.FindingsSeveral theoretical propositions are offered on themes of collective reliance, social responsibility, enterprising, resource mobilisation and political philanthropy to establish relationships, both positive and negative, between values of Harambee and entrepreneurial behaviours. Further, the study provides initial insights into how actors blend both collectivistic and emergent individualistic orientations and display collective identity in the process of mobilising resources and engaging in entrepreneurship.Research limitations/implicationsThe conceptual framework presented bears a considerable relevance to the advancing theory, policy and practice associated with the national culture and entrepreneurial behaviour in the African context and has potential to generate valuable insights.Originality/valueThis original study provides a springboard for studying the relationship between African cultural context and entrepreneurial behaviours.

Breastfeeding in Udmurtia: Past and Present

The article presents an excursion into the history of breastfeeding by the example of children’s eating patterns in Udmurtia and highlights the current requirements of the World Health Organization for breastfeeding maintenance. The Udmurts’ familial rites supporting a pregnant and lactating woman and the high prevalence of free breastfeeding have contributed to a decrease in infectious morbidity and mortality rates. The physiological type of carrying Udmurt babies has a positive effect on lactation. The current researches indicate that breastfeeding is the ideal diet that has numerous benefits to baby and mother. Therefore, there must be a collective social responsibility for supporting breastfeeding and lactating mothers.

Bad Mothers and Monstrous Sons: Autistic Adults, Lifelong Dependency, and Sensationalized Narratives of Care.

Sensationalized representations of autistic families in film and other media frequently feature violent encounters between mothers and sons. This essay analyzes two media stories and three films that suggest how limited-and therefore misleading-popular representations of the autism family are. Except for one of the films, these representations blame the problem of adult autistic dependency on either monstrous autism or bad mothering. Doing so elides collective social responsibility for autism care and denies the reality that autistic adults continue to have complex dependency needs that families cannot always meet. Narratives that sensationalize youth and adults with autism or scapegoat their maternal caregivers also diminish opportunities for social inclusion and for autistic people to live fully and dependently.

Life on the Grid: Implanting Humans. A Look at the Ethical & Moral Considerations for Relative Legislation in Ireland Relating to Implanted RFID Tags.

This paper introduces the concept of Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) technology and its inevitable use in humans. Generally speaking, these technologies should theoretically enable us to be better and stronger human beings, but at what cost? Philosophers have countered that such alterations are unethical and/or immoral, yet it remains unclear on what basis such rights would rest. I propose that answers may come from an angle of rights issues. Therefore, I have principally focused on the notions of ‘bodily integrity’ through privacy issues, fundamental rights of the individual, and the collective social responsibility in Ireland. As a global community, we frequently waive rights in the quest for technological participation . It is because the synergy between man and machine is both equally a seductive and profitable enterprise, security of basic human rights becomes vital as the RFID technology takes on a revolutionary status. As acceptance grows, so too does its reliance through familial integration in every aspect of modern day life - thus it becomes an inevitability, and exerts an indirect pressure for conformity throughout society. Historically however, it has been the vulnerable classes who have had need of protection of their basic human rights and dignity through the law. For the purposes of this work, sexual offenders have been used to represent one vulnerable class in an effort to demonstrate how this technology could effectively lead us to balance the needs of the many against the needs of the few, in light of legislative measures. Research of this subject revealed however, that despite being in existence for over 50 years, RFID technology information has only recently been taken seriously by academics. I propose to bring some level of substance to RFID implantation as a real possibility, and how Ireland may have to look not just to the EU or Constitution for guidance, but ultimately to ourselves. I sought to demonstrate this using Ronald M. Dworkin’s final theory of justice, and implemented his normative focus of putting human dignity at the centre of what he constituted to be a good moral system. A basic requirement one would expect legislators to wholly regard when creating legislative justice is the consideration of both the moral and ethical issues this technology raises, and subsequently its consequences. Dworkin ultimately summed up this premise in Justice For Hedgehogs where he wrote, “Without dignity our lives are only blanks of duration. But if we manage to lead a good life well, we create something more. We write a subscript to our mortality. We make our lives tiny diamonds in the cosmic sands.”

The Politics of Recognition: Changing Understandings of Human Rights, Social Development and Land Rights as Normative Foundation of Global Social Policy

The recent literature has identified ‘global social policy’ as a new field of global politics. The assumption is that since the 1990s ‘social’ issues have moved to global agendas which had been dominated by military and security matters and by economic issues. We inquire into the normative foundations of the new policy field. We conceive of social recognition – recognition of social problems, of individuals and groups in need, and of collective social responsibility – as the most basic normative and cognitive foundation of social policy. We, therefore, investigate if, when and how global politics of social recognition have emerged since the 1940s, focussing on human rights, social development, and land rights. We argue that these three fields have become key arenas for the recognition of the social, underpinning the rise of global social policy. The three fields emerged in the 1940s and 1950s but, as we demonstrate, only changing interpretations and understandings of human rights, of social development, and of land rights turned them into unequivocal normative foundations of social policy. The recognition perspective also highlights limitations of global social policy, such as a recognition overload and categorically bridled universalism. The article draws on interdisciplinary empirical work from law, sociology and land policy.

Fate, Experience and Tragedy in Simmel’s Dialogue with Modernity

This article explores the neglected idea of fate in Simmel’s thought. It examines the specific definition of fate present in Simmel’s writings and the relation of this definition to tragic drama. The argument operates under the assumption that tragic drama represents the ‘natural habitat’ for the exploration and expression of the fate problematic. In this context, it is argued that Simmel’s rediscovery of the relevance of fate emphasizes the modernity of tragedy. The article explores Simmel’s translation of fate from drama and philosophy into sociology, but into a sociology replete with a distinctly existential and metaphysical consciousness. It is argued that Simmel’s application of fate to modern social life constitutes a sociologization of fate, but that rather than involving a reduction of fate to society, this sociologization actually involves a form of re-enchantment of the social through life. In relation to this sociologization and building on the argument of Peter Baehr, it is argued that the concept of fate is uniquely endowed with a capacity to encourage a sense of pathos conducive to the development of a reflexive and critical sense of collective social responsibility and of shared future. In this regard, the article examines Simmel’s engagement with Naturalist tragedy and the transition from ancient to modern drama. Throughout, it is argued that the experience of modernity, where ‘all that is solid melts into air’, is conducive to a rediscovery of the relevance of fate and tragedy.