Corporate Engagement Research Articles

Should business have ‘a sense of morality’?: Company director views on corporate engagement with socio-political issues

Increasingly, companies are expected to engage with, or be responsive to, their publics to achieve social acceptance or to be perceived as legitimate. The expectation manifests, in part, through beliefs that companies should engage with socio-political issues. This important component of public relations practice is examined through a qualitative analysis of interviews undertaken with 23 experienced Australian company directors. The empirical research identifies and explores a tension between the contemporary corporation as an amoral agent while also increasingly responsive to pressures introduced by external expectations, reflected in growing attention to the concept of social licence to operate. When resolving to engage with socio-political issues, directors were predominantly motivated by the company’s best interests and ‘good business’. This necessitated identifying issues relevant to key stakeholders and issues that tied to corporate purpose, identity or knowledge. However, some evidence is apparent of director willingness to engage with issues not directly related to core business or corporate purpose. This may reflect support for an enhanced social licence to operate or even in pursuit of wider societal legitimacy-building, pointing the way to potential future increases in corporate social engagement.

Indigenous experiences and perspectives on a mining corporation's community relations and development activities

This article adds to the resources policy literature by taking the unusual stance of examining corporate engagement from the perspective of an indigenous people affected by the activities of a mining corporation. Qualitative fieldwork was carried out in Amungsa in Papua, Indonesia, among the indigenous Amungme. The fieldwork included in-depth interviews, casual conversations, field observations, and perusing physical documents and web pages. All data were analysed with due regard given to previous literature about the mining in question, the mining industry, and this and other indigenous peoples. The Amungme had lived for centuries traditionally, self-sufficiently and virtually undisturbed. Their world has turned upside down since miners entered and encroached on their territory 60 years ago. After 30 years of conflict over the mining and its varied consequences, the mining corporation chose to acknowledge grievances and engage the indigenous peoples. It initiated community relations and development activities (CRDs), which are provided in conjunction with other organisations which the mining corporation established. These organisations are funded from a small proportion of the profits from the mining, nicknamed the One Percent Trust Fund, and are governed with involvement of representatives of the peoples intended to benefit, including the Amungme. While the Amungme acknowledge that the corporation's CRDs contribute to their development and corporation officials are trying to address some shortcomings in how the CRDs are occurring, various issues still trouble the Amungme. These range from specifics about each programme, through asymmetries and imperialism in how the people and corporation relate to each other, to continuing discontent over loss of homelands, and over their treatment for being “in the way” of mining activities. Even so, many Amungme see the presence of the corporation as more beneficial than either the still fledgling local government authorities or the military and civilian representatives of the central government. The findings attest to how important it is for engagement to be multi-sided, allowing expression of indigenous, corporate and civil authority perspectives. The results of the analysis may help the Amungme and similar peoples elsewhere gain greater agency vis-à-vis corporations. The findings provide insights into indigenous theory. Article classificationOriginal research.

Does corporate engagement in social responsibility affect firm innovation? The mediating role of digital transformation

The literature is divided on whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) has an impact on firm innovation. For the first time in the Vietnamese context, using a quantile technique with panel data, this study investigates the types of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and their effects on business innovation. In this article, external and internal forms of CSR are found to be interconnected, and their adoption results in supercharged innovative performance. This research also adds to our knowledge of how digital transformation affects CSR and corporate innovation, implying a favorable relationship between CSR, digital transformation, and firm innovation. This means that even if effective institutions are lacking, firms can still be innovative by adopting CSR practices and adapting to changes in the digital world.

Hyginus O. Ekwuazi: Reflections on filmmakers and film educators1

This reflection explores the pioneering and critical contributions of Professor Hyginus O. Ekwuazi to the development of the Nigerian film, and film studies in Nigeria in particular, as well as to the growth of the African film in general. It highlights that Ekwuazi’s scholarship and contributions – which span teaching and academic administration, research and writing, curriculum development, mentorship, corporate engagement and service to and engagement with industry – count among the earliest to inaugurate and define the discursive landscape of film studies in Nigerian universities. Nevertheless, the reflection contends, Ekwuazi’s scholarship is not fossilized in the past. Ekwuazi has continued to advance the discourse on Nollywood with his ongoing research and writings, as he both highlights its improvements and also critiques its oversights.

SDG Platforms as Strategic Innovation Through Partnerships

This paper examines organizational use of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and why private organizations are using multi-stakeholder SDG platforms as a strategic tool for achieving the goals. Whereas the SDGs’ predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), were specifically formulated for governmental adoption, the SDGs stand apart in inviting diverse stakeholders, including private industry, to participate in sustainable development. Literature is emerging about how private industry can engage in the SDG framework. We aim to contribute to the sustainability and cross-sector partnership literatures by examining the motivations of organizations that partner into SDG platforms. This research started as an exploratory study to understand how corporations use the SDGs strategically, and we identified platforms as a means of strategic corporate engagement with the SDGs. Our findings are based on semi-structured interviews and documents, and they focus on four Danish SDG platforms: UNLEASH, Hello Science, Fra Filantropi til Forretning (From Philanthropy to Business), and the SDG Accelerator. The findings suggest that speed, impact, and scaling of SDG innovations are features of SDG platforms that motivate cross-sector, boundary-spanning collaboration. We suggest that the larger ambition of the platforms is to shift the value framing from profit outputs to SDG impacts and outcomes, ultimately imagined as a business landscape based on SDG innovation; and we propose a model to reflect the SDG platform process structure.

Virtually Enhancing Public Engagement During the Pandemic: Measuring the Impact of Virtual Reality Powered Immersive Videos on Corporate Social Responsibility Communication

Many companies have applied virtual reality (VR), a new and popular technology, to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. This study examines how 360-degree VR-powered videos might further enhance consumers’ engagement in CSR activities and facilitate business outcomes during a crisis setting. The researchers conducted an online survey study, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, with 1422 representative U.S. residents and applied the structural equation modeling for data analysis. Results indicated that the four categories of gratifications-sought (i.e., being there, enhancement, interaction, and fun) on 360-degree VR-powered videos could all positively influence CSR engagement; in contrast, CSR skepticism would reduce such engagement online. Corporate social responsibility engagement further improved the organization-public relationships (OPRs) and ultimately influenced consumers’ word-of-mouth toward the company. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings were discussed.

EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT, AND LOYALTY ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE OF PT. NISSAN MOTOR INDONESIA SURABAYA

The aim of this study is to examine and analyze the influence of corporate culture, corporate engagement and loyalty on employee performance at PT. Nissan Motor Indonesia Surabaya. The hypothesis of this study is that company culture, engagement and loyalty of employees have an impact on employee performance. The data was collected by distributing questionnaires to 25 participants. SPSS version 25 was used for data analysis in this study. The sampling technique used was saturated sampling. The data analysis technique used is validity test, reliability test, classic acceptance test, multiple linear regression analysis, multiple correlation analysis and determination analysis. The F-test and the t-test are used as hypothesis tests.Based on the research of multiple linear regression analysis, Y = 16,613 + 0.428 X1 + 0.464 X2 + 0.595 X3 + e. The results of the F-hypothesis test show that organizational culture, organizational commitment and loyalty simultaneously have a significant influence on employee performance; this can be seen from the Sig value of 0.000 <0.05 and the value of F_count 18.899> F_table 3.07. The results of the t-hypothesis test indicate that the variable organizational culture sometimes has a significant influence on employee performance, this can be seen from the sig value of 0.000 <0.05 and the t_count value of 3,311> t_table 2,080. Partial commitment of the organization has a significant influence on employee performance, this can be seen from the sig value of 0.032 <0.05 and the value of t_count 2.303> t_table 2.080. Loyalty sometimes has a significant influence on employee performance, this can be seen from the sig value of 0.001 <0.05 and the t_count value of 3.974> t_table 2.080. The results of the t-hypothesis test show that the variables organizational culture, organizational commitment and loyalty partially influence employee performance.Keywords: Employee Performance, Loyalty, Organizational Commitment, Organizational Culture.

Collaborative innovation: a technological perspective

Collaborative innovation: a technological perspective

“Getting on the Negro History Bandwagon”: Selling Black History from World War II to the Dawn of Black Power

Drawing on a diverse range of archival material, oral histories, market research literature, and Black periodicals, this article sheds new light on the development of Black history–themed advertising and public outreach campaigns by White-owned corporations from World War II to the dawn of Black Power. While not universally celebrated, corporate Black history campaigns often received tremendous public support and played an important role in promoting better relations between White-owned businesses and Black America. Indeed, when measured against the continued neglect of Black history within the nation’s educational, political, and popular culture, such projects can be argued to have played an intriguing, if largely understudied, role in efforts to relocate Black history from the margins to the mainstream of American society. Nevertheless, through “celebrating” Black history, white businesses also helped to curate it in ways that reinforced gender disparities in historical representation and reified the perceived connections between racial progress and consumer capitalism. Most significantly, these early Black history advertising campaigns set the groundwork for widespread corporate engagement with, and commercialization of, the African American past.

Site, Dance and Body: Movement Materials and Corporeal Engagement, Victoria Hunter (2021)

Review of: Site, Dance and Body: Movement Materials and Corporeal Engagement, Victoria Hunter (2021) London: Palgrave Macmillan, XII, 279 pp., ISBN 978-3-03064-800-8, h/bk, GBP 89.99, e-book, GBP 71.50

Advancing the pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Initiatives of selected publicly listed companies in the Philippines

Advancing the pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Initiatives of selected publicly listed companies in the Philippines

COMMENTARY: Addressing Stewardship Misconceptions in Passive Investments: Can Indexes Enable Scale Engagement?

Passive investing and sustainability engagement were historically deemed at best challenging and at worst incompatible. Now, a growing realization acknowledges that combining index investing and sustainability engagement is not only possible but can reinforce and mobilize significant global assets under management to enable collaborative engagement. By linking engagement to transparent capital reallocation, passive investing has the potential to influence and achieve changes in corporate practices and strategies, which can produce real-world impacts. This article explores the evolution of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) engagement and passive investing and demonstrates that sustainability index design can lead to scalable, efficient, and impactful corporate engagement across entire markets. The use of such indexes to steer investment flows provides clear incentives for companies to improve sustainability performance and deliver the outcomes sought by both asset owners and society at large.

Managing Differences Among Pro-nutrition Actors on Corporate Engagement; A Response to the Recent Commentary.

Managing Differences Among Pro-nutrition Actors on Corporate Engagement; A Response to the Recent Commentary.

Forging a new corporate engagement

PurposeThis paper aims to highlight the need for corporations to engage politically to create a more functional capitalist system.Design/methodology/approachSelective review of relevant economic and sociopolitical developments is presented in this paper.FindingsThere is a growing movement among economists and commentators to hold corporations accountable for political engagement which they ignore at their peril.Originality/valueWhile individual strands of this story have been discussed before, the subject has never been handled from the perspective of corporate reputation in a comprehensive manner.

The Role of Corporates in Governing Carbon Dioxide Removal: Outlining a Research Agenda

With 1,500 companies now estimated to have set net zero targets, corporate engagement with carbon dioxide removal (CDR) has gained substantial momentum. Yet despite the corporate sector becoming a key domain of CDR decision-making, corporates have not received research attention as influential actors in the governance of CDR. This paper provides a perspective on how corporates influence and enact de facto governance of CDR. We collate a preliminary evidence base regarding possible modes of CDR governance by corporates. Focusing on voluntary corporate engagement with CDR, we examine how and why firm-level decision-making takes place, and interrogate the implications of such activity. We find that the current literature focuses on techno-economic attributes of CDR solutions as drivers of corporate engagement; however, the ability for corporates to formulate a (business) case for engaging with CDR is potentially shaped by a broader array of financial and non-financial factors that are currently overlooked. This gives corporates the influence to define what and how to govern, an inherently “political act.” We finally highlight possible lenses for future research, noting lessons to be drawn from climate justice, anticipatory governance, responsible innovation, and futures literatures. These could provide a deepened understanding of the dynamics and implications of current de facto CDR governance, and allow this to be challenged where appropriate. Ultimately, without awareness and oversight of how CDR is being governed in the real world, policy and governance research may not be successful in driving us toward desired net zero futures.

From a Financial to an Entity Model of ESG

ESG investing evolved over time from the earlier concept of CSR. The process of evolution moved the focus from the external impact of corporate activities to the risk and return implications for financial investors of failing to address ESG issues in their portfolio selection and corporate engagement. The bridge between the two approaches was the framing of sustainability in the early part of the millennium as an overarching concept that could be mapped onto the supply of capital and the techniques employed by institutional investors. The financial model of ESG investing is now the standard approach around the world and is reflected in ESG ratings, codes, guidance and regulatory rules. It focuses on the role of capital and investors in driving change in sustainability practices and pays much less attention to the role of board decision-making and directors’ fiduciary duties. In this research, we trace the origins and trajectory of this change in emphasis from CSR to ESG and attempt to explain why it occurred. We identify shortcomings in the financial model of ESG investing and propose an alternative ‘entity’ model, which we argue would more effectively promote sustainability in the corporate sector around the world.

СТАЛІ ІНВЕСТИЦІЇ: СВІТОВА ПРАКТИКА ТА ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ ДЛЯ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ УКРАЇНИ

The article is devoted to investigating the basics and trends of the development of sustainable investing in the global economy and the practice in Ukraine. Sustainable investing is defined as an investment approach referring to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in selecting and managing investments. A comparison of responsible and sustainable investments is made. Sustainable investing is shown to be much more extensive than the responsible one and includes not only ESG strategies of the companies but as well introducing and performing some (or all) of UN principles of sustainable development in their businesses. The following basic sustainable investment strategies are defined: Negative/exclusionary screening, Integration of ESG factors, Corporate engagement&shareholder action, Norms-based screening, Best-in-class/positive screening, Negative/exclusionary screening, and Sustainability themed/thematic investing. Current trends based on statistical data analysis are shown in implementing sustainable investment strategies. The author proves the appearance of a new paradigm of development and interrelations in national investment ecosystems through forming new factors in investment environments and definitely other interaction models, as well as the regulative principles to be introduced and policies to be developed. The sum-up of existing practices in implementing sustainable investment strategies in Ukraine is made. It is stated that the institution of corporate social responsibility, the implementation of the principles of sustainable development in the activities of economic entities at all levels, and the development and implementation of sustainable investment strategies in Ukraine are currently in their infancy. Also, suggestions about profitable products in the Ukrainian investment ecosystem in the post-war renovation are made.

Towards an understanding of corporate (dis)engagement with social justice advocacy

If it can be argued that companies should engage with social justice advocacy, what factors might deter them from doing so? This question is pursued in a qualitative research study with participants from corporate and social justice organisations. Six inhibiting factors are identified: a lack of understanding of social justice concepts; fear of reputational risk; short-term profit orientation; a compliance mindset; disconnectedness from operating environment; and recognition that business purpose will determine its societal engagement. This research extends the theoretical and practice boundaries of corporate social responsibility, while also advocating for an intensified engagement of management education with social justice in practice.

Как интерпретировать показатели вовлечённости персонала в компаниях

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to clarify how to interpret employee engagement scores resulting from corporate employee engagement surveys. Method. The key academic papers in the field of employee engagement are addressed in the article. Consulting approaches to employee engagementare reviewed. The gap between academia and practice in studying engagement is discussed. Due to many methods offered to the companies to study employee engagement, the decision was made to analyze four techniques of major providers: two international (Gallup, Aon Hewitt) and two Russian (ECOPSY Consalting, Happy Inc). Findings. The variety of approaches to defining employee engagement in academic discourse is followed by many different methodologies to study it in practice. The review of consulting approaches to measure engagement has resulted in a suggestion to identify two types of employee engagement surveys: surveys focused at analyzing drivers of engagement and surveys focused at analyzing engagement as a multidimensional construct of relations between employees and organizations. The type of a survey that a company uses determines the interpretation of the employee engagement score. In the first case, the engagement score reflects the extent to which the environment for the development of engagement is formed but does not reflect the real level of employee engagement. In the second case, the engagement score cannot be unambiguously interpreted without taking into consideration the indicators of those components of engagement that were included in the employee engagement score and their theoretical basis. Value of the results. The theoretical contribution of the paper is to suggest a critical perspective on practical instruments of studying engagement. An attempt ismade to classify corporate engagement surveys. Implications for practice. This work can help managers and HR practitioners to interpret employee engagement scores more precisely and to make correct managerial decisions based on them.

Holistic Dialogical Corporate Communications in the Food Retailing Industry: The Importance of Conscious Communication in Social Networks

ABSTRACT Conscious Communication, or Corporate Social Responsibility Communication, which is the communication about corporate engagement and activities, has received growing attention. This study analyzes the communication of two companies in the German food retailing industry: ALDI Süd and Alnatura. Quantitative data allow for an analysis of the general social media presence of the companies, user interactivity, and corporate choices with regard to social media communication. The results show that Alnatura pursues a clear and consistent communication strategy on social media. The organic food retailer boasts a strong, active, and involved fan-community and performs better than ALDI Süd in manifold categories, especially when it comes to interactivity and content. The findings concerning Instagram in particular underscore high levels of corporate engagement as well as the strong participation of users in the dialogue on sustainable topics.