Responsible Business Behavior Research Articles

The Impact of the Petroleum Industry Act on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation in Nigeria’s Upstream Oil and Gas Sector: A Path towards Sustainable Development

Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas sector is extensively contributing to the economic growth of the country, but the sector is plagued with challenges around corporate social responsibility (CSR) and taxation practices. The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was introduced to tackle these challenges towards promoting sustainable development in Nigeria. The aim of this study is to explore the PIA’s provisions on CSR and taxation, identify the Act’s implementation challenges and improvement opportunities, propose an integrated framework for monitoring and evaluating the PIA’s impact on CSR and taxation over time, and recommend measures for enhancing the PIA’s impact on CSR and taxation support for sustainable development in Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas sector. This study adopts the qualitative desk review method to analyse the existent literature, reports, and documents regarding the PIA’s provisions on CSR and taxation. The findings reveal that the PIA’s provisions greatly emphasize CSR initiatives and taxation transparency in improving responsible ethical business behaviour. An integrated framework for monitoring and evaluating the PIA’s impact over time is developed. This study concludes that the PIA’s provisions can balance CSR and taxation practices for sustainable development. The study’s recommendations include using the integrated framework as a structured strategy for monitoring and evaluating the PIA’s impact. This study contributes to the discussion on the imperatives of ethical business practices and regulatory frameworks for sustainable development drive in the oil and gas sector.

“When money is more valuable than people…”: The pandemic as a call for business to care

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic created extreme conditions in which the need for care was overwhelming and led to competing stakeholder demands. What are society's expectations of business in such conditions, and how might these expectations challenge traditional understandings of the business in society relationship? Using a qualitative survey during the initial stages of the pandemic, the study draws on participants from the US public to identify what they viewed as responsible and irresponsible business behavior in response to the COVID‐19 crisis. Analysis reveals that participants' perceptions are strongly rooted in ethics of care reasoning. This reasoning exposes gaps in CSR and stakeholder theories around “who and what really counts”, while offering a different conception of balancing business self‐interest with external demands. Drawing on this finding, the study joins scholarship highlighting the need for a political care movement and argues that untangling care from neoliberal capitalist logics would resolve many of the competing stakeholder demands and paradoxes that characterize grand challenges such as the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Analysis of the Application of Modern Slavery in Responsible Business

The United Nations enacted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 and the social impact of modern business has become particularly important, but unfortunately several companies face the problem of modern slavery, this paper provides a specific analysis of Mondelz International Inc's business practices and combines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16 and 17 SDGs. The 17D thinking tool is used to help companies analyse responsible business be-haviour in a specific business context; a judgement is made on whether companies should eliminate modern slavery from a utilitarian and Kantian perspective respectively. The re-sults found that companies that approach modern slavery from a utilitarian perspective are in violation of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. And utilitarianism has be-come a justification for external sophistry by multinational corporations such as Mondelez.

Linking employees' work orientation and corporate social responsibility practices: Multilevel and multistakeholder cross‐sectional study

AbstractIn its part to contribute to the query of “why some firms act responsibly while others do not?”, the work has devised a “moderated micro‐macro model,” wherein employees' work orientation took the micro (individual‐level) independent variable role, stakeholder‐based corporate social responsibility practice conceived as the macro (organizational‐level) dependent variable, and organizational culture singled out as macro‐level (organizational‐level) moderating variable for the link. A sample of 53 large manufacturing firms in the Amhara region of Ethiopia constituted the organizational‐level units. A random sample of 473 employees evaluated the recent performance of the firms and themselves. Croon and van Veldhoven's multilevel analytical package suited the designed model. The study has revealed that (1) concerning CSR practice, even though CSR performance varies across stakeholder groups, overall, healthy (responsible) business behavior has been in general evident, (2) work orientation is indeed a potential driver of corporate social responsibility practice, (3) organizational culture and one of its dimensions, adhocracy culture, played a buffering moderation role in job orientation‐corporate social responsibility practice link, and (4) while firm effect has been paramount in explaining CSR practices, the individual effect has attributed a non‐negligible part to CSR practices. Notwithstanding its limitations, the study has provided valuable insights into CSR theory and practice. Similar studies with tailored designs are encouraged for future research.

Impact of Socially Responsible Business Behavior on Implementing the Principles of Sustainable Development (Experience of Large Business)

Impact of Socially Responsible Business Behavior on Implementing the Principles of Sustainable Development (Experience of Large Business)

Doing well and doing good? Small rural businesses’ performance and responsibility towards local communities

Small businesses play a significant role in the vitality of rural communities. Due to the locally embedded nature of many small rural businesses, owner-managers consider taking care of the well-being and success of the local community as an important business responsibility. We examine whether responsibility towards the local community is also reflected in the positive business performance of small rural businesses. Our study is based on a survey with 258 small rural businesses. The results show that exceptional financial (objective or subjective) business performance is neither a prerequisite nor a direct result of local-level responsible business behavior. Instead, the results demonstrate a positive association between small businesses' perceptions of support and community's appreciation for the businesses and businesses' responsibility towards the community. We thus contribute to the discussion on small business social responsibilities by highlighting the role of reciprocity in the relationships between businesses and local communities.

Sustainability and interactive network branding in fast‐changing business environments

Sustainability and interactive network branding in fast‐changing business environments

Development of the Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility: Practice in Ukraine

The article considers topical issues of the implementation of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Ukraine. It is emphasized that the concept of corporate social responsibility involves changes in the legal support of the self-regulation of economic activity. CSR in Ukraine includes the voluntary establishment of norms on social corporate responsibility and determination of the mechanism and means of its implementation. The submission of a corporate social responsibility report is an essential element of CSR though it is not currently mandatory in Ukraine. In Ukraine, the development of CSR in agriculture should be a priority. It has been established that CSR advocacy is insufficient in Ukraine, and therefore public authorities and non-governmental organizations have to introduce the practice of explaining the need introduce and implement CSR institutions through seminars, conferences, training on responsible business behavior, educational programs, and training courses. Observance of labor rights and guarantees should be a mandatory task for Ukrainian companies in terms of CSR development. It is proposed to amend a number of regulations namely the Law of Ukraine “On Business Associations” and the Economic Code of Ukraine. The creation of the Concept for the Development of Corporate Social Responsibility should determine the prospects and directions of CSR support by the state, expand the interaction between business entities and civil society, systematize existing and prospective tools for its development. Such changes update the implementation of the rules of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU and they will facilitate the implementation of the rules on CSR liability in practice.Taking into account the ongoing war of Russia against Ukraine since 2014 and its new stage – the full-scale invasion by Russia of Ukraine in 2022, business entities have proposed the separation of CSR policies in the conditions of war. Human rights protection of the conditions of war, workers’ safety (mobilization, evacuation), the organization of the business entity’s work (the responsibility of each employee from the head of the company to the lower level of the executive, payment of labor, taxes, etc.); assistance to the state, armed forces, employees, and other citizens, termination of cooperation with counterparty residents in the Russian Federation and Belarus, withdrawal from the market, etc. of these countries should become the key elements of such policies. The preservation of human life will be an overriding imperative of CSR in wartime.

When the Right Thing to Do Is Also the Wrong Thing: Moral Sensemaking of Responsible Business Behavior During the COVID-19 Crisis

This study examines how individual members of the public make moral sense of the potentially conflicting “economic problem” or “public health problem” representations of the COVID-19 crisis when judging responsible business behavior. The data are based on a qualitative survey involving a thought experiment with 119 participants in the United States conducted at the initial stage of the pandemic. This article proposes a typology matrix using the theories of cognitive polyphasia and cognitive dissonance to understand better individual moral sensemaking of responsible business behavior in the context of a societal paradox in which there are contradictory and interdependent demands between important social objectives. The typology, referred to as the 4R Model of Moral Sensemaking of Competing Social Problems, provides insights for how companies may be perceived when responding to competing social problems, expanding the micro-CSR (corporate social responsibility) and paradox literatures.

Концепция „устойчиво развитие“ – предизвикателство за съвременното предприемачество

The formation of the sustainable development concept is associated with a commitment to discover alternative environmentally friendly solutions that meet the needs of generations in the long run. Fundamental principles, goals and tasks for translating ideas into practice stand out. The focus is on the relationship “economy – society – ecology”. A system of criteria for indicating the degree of resilience is envisaged. Emphasis is placed on the need for entrepreneurs to be aware of modern requirements and to develop responsible business behaviour.

Corporate Ethics: Philosophical Concepts Guiding Business Practices

In the highly competitive global market, characterized by rapid political, economic, environmental and technological changes, there has been an increased interest in the role of ethics for shaping corporate actions and highlighting the essential tasks and measures to fulfill two generic missions: support enterprises to make distinctive, lasting and substantial improvements in their performance and build a great firm that attracts, develops, excites and retains exceptional people. This paper addresses the issues arising from opposing forces, namely on the one hand the extremely challenging external environment and on the other hand the increasing demand for responsible business behaviour and ethical decision-making focused on the shared and sustained value creation to serve the interests of all stakeholders, society and the environment. Primary objective is to provide coherent and compact definitions for the key values dealing with professionalism, equality and sustainability that should be clearly defined, thus providing the key drivers for creating a working environment that inspires and motivates employees on one hand; and promote each enterprise socioeconomic footprint in the regional and global business ecosystem. When handling the concepts of responsibility, ethical codes, integrity or trust, philosophy provides an invaluable framework and a foundational basis on which to create and maintain sustainable structures and processes for the business of the new era.

THE IMPACT OF BUSINESS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE REGION

Future generations of mankind will have the opportunity to survive and obtain a decent standard of living only with the gradual implementation of the principles and goals of sustainable development starting from today. To do this, it is necessary to achieve consolidation of the efforts of a business that adheres to a socially responsible strategy for its own development. The purpose of the article is to specify the impact of business social responsibility on the implementation of the principles of sustainable development in the region. The work defines and concretizes the content of the five principles of sustainable development. The first principle is determined by the rationality and efficiency of human interaction with nature. The second principle is related to the maximum preservation of the diversity of the natural environment and cultural life. The third principle is related to the managed use of resources. The fourth principle is related to the observance of the criteria of rationality, safety, expediency and efficiency in decision-making, regardless of the level of management. The fifth principle emphasizes that any actions today lead to a specific result, and efforts must be made so as not to worsen the scenario for the future development of mankind. The paper provides a deep analysis of the latest scientific papers indexed in the Scopus scientometric database on the subject of the study of corporate social responsibility and the possibilities of achieving the principles of sustainable development in a particular region or the world as a whole. The views that have developed in the scientific community on the expedient objects of the social responsibility of business are characterized. The components of the social responsibility of business are summarized. Possible directions of efforts to implement socially responsible business behavior are identified. The main arguments for the expediency of choosing a socially responsible policy of actions by business are concretized. The conditions under which the enterprise will be able to obtain the expected result from the implementation of corporate social responsibility projects are analyzed. The impossibility of obtaining the same result in the implementation of the same types of manifestation of socially responsible behavior by representatives of the business environment is proved. The role of business in the implementation of each of the five principles of sustainable development is determined. The impact of corporate social responsibility on the implementation of the principles and goals of sustainable development, demonstrated by developed business representatives in Ukraine and the world, is illustrated.

THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES AND PROSPECTS OF USING MODELS OF FUNCTIONING OF SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

The article considers the features, disadvantages and advantages of existing models of socially responsible business. The state of socially responsible business in Ukraine is also analyzed, the main obstacles to development are identified. Based on the results obtained, ways to overcome obstacles and prospects for dissemination are proposed. The main incentives for the implementation of CSR would be the introduction of preferential taxation, reducing administrative pressure on local authorities and providing them with proposals for social development programs in the region. In the context of globalization of the modern market, an increasing number of large enterprises in developed countries are paying attention to issues of socially oriented business. Corporate citizens, along with their core business activities, carry out activities aimed at solving social, environmental and other problems in the community. Corporate social responsibility is beginning to be used as one of the indicators of ensuring the competitiveness of the enterprise. Such changes in the socio-economic environment require a more detailed analysis of the criteria of socially responsible and socially oriented business to build an effective model of operation of the entity. In world practice, there are several models of socially responsible business, due to national and cultural characteristics of doing business. They correspond to three models of corporate governance. These are American, European and Japanese models. These models of CSR are quite common and are based on the cultural traditions of countries, economic and environmental situation. As for Ukrainian enterprises, companies do not perceive CSR as a policy that is integrated into the company's business strategy and is a factor of competitive advantage in the market. To develop CSR, it is necessary to develop a legal framework that would promote these activities, raise awareness of responsible business behavior, introduce CSR courses in university programs and increase the participation of business associations in promoting practices.

STRENGTHENING THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES OF THE COMPANY THROUGH THE PRISM OF SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR

The role and importance of corporate social responsibility as a tool for forming the company's competitive advantages in modern conditions are researched in the article. Competition as a basic principle of a market economy forces companies to consider the problem of strengthening competitive positions differently.
 The role of corporate social responsibility in strengthening the competitive advantage of companies is growing, and the relationship between trust and social activity of business in the face of intensifying international competition is becoming more and more visible. Hypercompetition is a specific feature of the new behavioral paradigm of modern companies in the world, which is caused by the transition from competition to its new aggressive state. Continuous creation of new competitive advantages is the only way for companies to survive in such conditions.
 Sustainable competitive advantage in the long run can provide companies with tools of corporate social responsibility. Socially responsible business behavior can significantly affect the company's reputation, image, brand and reflected in sales.
 RepTrak methodology from the international consulting company The RepTrak Company includes a system of indicators that can determine the impact of corporate social responsibility on the formation of the company's reputation. The Global RepTrak100 ranking makes it possible to determine which companies have the highest level of corporate reputation and which factors have the greatest influence on it. The RepTrak Pulse Confidence Index is the average ratio of consumers to a company's reputation on a scale from 0 to 100.
 Social responsibility is the company's attitude to product quality, consumers, employees, stakeholders, the environment, so it is a significant competitive advantage in business. The Lego Group's competitive advantage is its high level of customer loyalty, and its socially responsible strategy is to launch social and environmental initiatives according to the Global RepTrak100 rating. The Lego Group is an example of a global leader in honesty, ethics, openness and cleanliness of business.

Sustainability and Transparency to Safeguard Fashion Industry Workers

The global fashion industry has the most dynamic complex supply chain. A completed garment or footwear reaches consumers through different brands, from developing countries to Western countries. The workers at the bottom of the supply chain, who work hard to produce a product, earn minimum wages. On the top of the supply chain, the owners of the factories, brands and retailers earn huge profits from these labourers’ hard work. Because of the lack of direct control over labourers, as they are not employed by the brands and retailers, they often ignore the abuse of labourers’ rights in their supply chain. To improve the fashion industries’ working conditions and to maintain workers’ rights, strong labour law and its implementation is not sufficient. The brands andretailers can play a vital role in changing the labourers’ conditions. By incorporating soft laws like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UN Guiding Principles) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector (OECD Due Diligence Guidance on Garments), in their responsible business behaviour. The IFAs between the brands and the tread unions. The brands and retailers took some voluntary initiatives to incorporate these soft laws. Among the many voluntary initiatives, the Transparency Pledge of 2016 and sustainable development goals (SDGs) have had a significant impact on labour rights in the supply chain. This article is to evaluate how the Transparency Pledge of 2016 has impacted labour protection in the global fashion industry and how far transparency and incorporation on sustainable development goals (SDGs) has improved labourers’ abusive conditions in the fashion industry supply chain. This shall be done by analyzing the Human Rights Watch’s reports, ILO, better works and other labour organisations’ reports. What further initiatives can be taken to improve the labourers’ conditions.

КОРПОРАТИВНАЯ СОЦИАЛЬНАЯ ОТВЕТСТВЕННОСТЬ КАК СТРАТЕГИЧЕСКИЙ ОРИЕНТИР БИЗНЕСА

The features of the implementation of the concept of socially responsible business behavior are considered, and the analysis of the main non-financial indicators of the activities of Russian Railways is carried out. Attention is focused on the need to address key tasks to improve the efficiency of corporate social responsibility.

The business responsibility matrix: a diagnostic tool to aid the design of better interventions for achieving the SDGs

PurposeThis paper aims to propose an integrative framework that enables the mapping of firm activities along two dimensions of responsible business behavior: a width and a depth dimension. Width includes associative, peripheral, operational and embedded responsibility. In terms of depth, we identify delinquent, neutral, nascent, enhanced and advanced levels of responsibility.Design/methodology/approachThe responsibility matrix is developed by drawing on the literature and the ambition to provide a more nuanced map of a firm’s activities and its contributions toward the sustainable development goals (SDGs).FindingsThe matrix enables the classification of firm activities into different functional categories based on how they relate to a firm’s business model. Further, the meaningfulness of each activity can be identified by determining its depth.Research limitations/implicationsMapping all the relevant activities of a multinational firm onto the responsibility matrix enables managers and policymakers to identify areas where transformation is most needed. Further, multinational firms can use the matrix to map the activities of their value chain partners and design more effective standards and interventions.Practical implicationsThe business responsibility matrix represents a diagnostic tool that enables the detailed mapping of firm capabilities and the identification of areas where further capacity building is necessary and where pockets of excellence exist.Social implicationsThe responsibility matrix offers a benchmarking tool for progress that can be used in conjunction with existing guidelines and initiatives such as the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative.Originality/valueThe responsibility matrix acknowledges that firms can engage with the SDGs through different types of activity (width dimension). Simultaneously, it recognizes that activities in the same category can have varying levels of effectiveness (depth dimension).

Business social responsibility. Search for assessment methods

Purpose of the study. The research materials continue the author's series of articles devoted to the problems of the stakeholder approach. The social responsibility of business acts as a launching pad for fruitful cooperation and interaction between business structures and authorities. The concept of corporate social responsibility is very dynamic, characterized by constant transformation, change and enrichment with new ideas. So, if in the middle of the XX century it developed rather slowly, not finding a response in the business environment, then in the XXI century it is “preached” as the main business philosophy by most of the advanced countries. At the same time, a characteristic feature of existing scientific approaches is the emphasis on technocratic and economic positions and the complete absence of approaches based on the relationship between business and stakeholders. However, such approaches from the author's point of view are insufficient for the entire range of requirements imposed by the external and internal environment on modern business. The ambiguity of the interpretation of the concept under study made it possible to state the complexity of this category and its multidimensional nature. In this regard, there is a need for a comprehensive statistical assessment of the degree of business socialization and the choice of appropriate tools for this.Materials and methods. The statistical assessment of the degree of business social responsibility is based on local criteria, combined into five blocks. The presented system of criteria characterizes the activities of the business taking into account the requirements of the stakeholders. At the same time, the list of criteria can be adjusted when socio-economic trends and problems of society change. The information base of the study was the annual and financial reports of regional enterprises, the results of expert assessments. The hierarchy analysis method and the graphical polygon (radar) method were used as a tool for assessing the degree of business socialization.Results. The article concretizes the concept of social and economic responsibility of business. The author's approach covers the idea of a responsible partnership based on the interaction of business with a wide range of interested groups involved in active and passive forms of participation in its operations. The variety of interests of stakeholders representing various subjects of market interaction emphasizes the multi-criteria nature of the category of “social and economic responsibility of business”. Statistical tools are fully capable of providing an assessment of the entire spectrum of signs of corporate social responsibility. The integral indicator of the degree of social responsibility, built on the basis of the hierarchy analysis method, made it possible to distinguish four degrees of business socialization: low, moderate, noticeable and high. For each degree of socialization, characteristic features are determined. The results of the study showed that as the degree of social responsibility grows, business performance indicators increase and its well-being in the long term depends on the coordination of the interests of key participants in corporate relations. An integral assessment of the degree of business socialization was carried out according to twenty-six local criteria. As a result of calculating the private and local ranks of the values of the corresponding criteria, fifteen polygons of the degree of socialization of the regional business were built, included in the sample. The results obtained make it possible to ascertain the existence of a high degree of heterogeneity of regional enterprises in terms of the investigated integral indicator. The leaders in terms of social responsibility are JSC “Teplichnoye”, OJSC “Mordovcement”, OJSC “Elektrovypryamitel”, OJSC “Lato”. Outsiders include OJSC Cheese-Making Plant “Ichalkovsky”, Ltd “Lisma”, OJSC “Stankostroitel”, OJSC “RubEx”. Among the features of regional enterprises, one can single out the heterogeneity in the distribution of indicators along the radial straight lines. JSC “Teplichnoye” is characterized by sharp fluctuations in rank values, which is most active in interaction with consumers, its own personnel, but also stands out as one of the smallest values of the block associated with relationships with business partners. A similar situation is observed among outsider enterprises. The proposed methodology can be used as a tool for a comprehensive study of existing trends in the practice of socially responsible business behavior, characteristics of the results achieved, as well as identifying problem areas that focus additional attention.

Humanization of the Technological Environment as a Vector of Social Responsibility of Business

Purpose: the main goal of the research is to develop a humanistic approach to digital transformation management based on the principles of social responsibility in the current uncertain environment.Methods: the research is based on the integration of conceptual approaches to understanding the specifics of the functioning of a modern organization in the context of digital transformation and the impact of the new crisis on Russian business. The author attempts to determine the emerging trends in the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the decisions made by company managers in relation to their employees. The basic concepts of the research cover the areas of digitalization of the economy, humanization of economic growth, human capital, personnel management, and social responsibility of business.Results: the analysis of the combined influence of factors of economic, technological, demographic and cultural Genesis on the formation of a new approach to the construction of interaction between organizations and people in the direction of greater emphasis on anthropocentrism. It is determined that this kind of relationship should be based on the principles of socially responsible business behavior, recognizing the person as the main resource for digital transformation, achieving commercial success and sustainable development. The article assesses the real situation in the labor market and in Russian companies under the influence of digital challenges and the coronavirus pandemic. It is emphasized that the demand for social orientation of business increases many times during crisis periods, during which there is a rethinking of values and the formation of new foundations for future development. Recommendations are given for eliminating or minimizing the conflict between humanistic and technocratic approaches in the management of companies based on the principles of social responsibility.Conclusions and Relevance: the solution of a set of tasks for the digital transformation of the economy, saturating the business environment with new technological solutions, in the current conditions of uncertainty formed under the influence of the coronavirus pandemic, actualizes the problem of preserving humanity in a technologizing world. It is imperative to find ways to remove the generally accepted (perhaps far-fetched?) contradictions between human essence and technological transformations. Companies, while adopting strategic guidelines in the field of goal setting, building their potential and building prospects, should give priority to the development of human resources as an integral element of technological progress and a key factor in creating long-term value for companies and society as a whole.

Socially responsible corporate customers

Corporate customers are an important stakeholder in global supply chains. We employ several unique international databases to test whether socially responsible corporate customers can infuse similar socially responsible business behavior in suppliers. Our findings suggest a unilateral effect on corporate social responsibility (CSR) only from customers to suppliers, an evidence further supported by exogenous variation in customers’ close-call CSR proposals and by product scandals. Customers exert influence on suppliers’ CSR through positive assortative matching and their decision-making process. Enhanced collaborative CSR efforts help improve operational efficiency and firm valuation of both customers and suppliers but increase only the customers’ future sales growth.