Social Responsibility Standards Research Articles

Building responsible and sustainable supply chain frameworks: limits of international investment law and the CSR initiatives taken by the EU and China

ABSTRACT Supply chains play a pivotal role in global economic relations, fostering growth, employment, and poverty alleviation. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are central actors in these chains, bearing responsibilities towards workers and the environment. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards guide MNEs in assessing the societal and environmental impacts of their activities, though these standards remain largely voluntary. Recent investment treaty practice shows a trend to incorporate CSR provisions in international investment agreements (IIAs), but such clauses fail to impose direct human rights, labour and environmental obligations on investors. Amidst this landscape, the EU and China, major players in global trade and investment, have established diverging legal and policy frameworks to build responsible and sustainable supply chains. Considering these developments, the objectives of this article are twofold. First, the article explores the integration of CSR in international investment law. Second, it evaluates the different CSR initiatives taken by the EU and China that frame their foreign direct investments. Focusing on EU–China FDI relations, the article delineates implications for global supply chain governance offering insights into the evolving landscape of CSR frameworks, and the plagued path in adopting mandatory corporate responsibility standards.

Rajkumar and Venkataraman: Cross-Sectioning Sustainable Supply Chain Governance: A Bibliometric Analysis

Sustainable supply chain governance is pivotal in modern business, addressing global supply chains' profound environmental, social, and ethical impacts. It necessitates establishing and administering policies to guide sustainable practices, ensuring adherence to the supply chain's environmental, social, and ethical standards. Effective governance aligns and supports business operations with sustainability goals, fostering transparency, accountability, and responsible practices. This framework guides decision-making, mitigates risks, and enhances overall supply chain resilience, contributing to a more sustainable and ethically responsible business landscape. The corporate shift towards sustainable supply chain management(SSCM) is manifested by the emerging literature documenting comprehensive changes in governance. A bibliometric-based systematic review of 128 Scopus-indexed documents (2014-2023) reveals four interconnected themes: SSCM, Sustainable Business & Operations Management, Global value chains, and Supply chain risk management. Analysis highlights the critical role of governance mechanisms in driving positive social, ecological, and economic outcomes. Governance achieves this by establishing clear policies and standards for social and environmental responsibility and ensuring robust mechanisms for compliance and accountability. Sustainable supply chain governance provides a blueprint for integrating sustainability. It ensures ongoing commitment and accountability, fostering significant and lasting positive effects on society, the environment, and overall supply chain resilience.

Doing great by doing good: organizational Pao culture and its CSR effect

PurposeThis paper explores the mechanism of organizational Pao culture in an Oriental cultural context and its impact on CSR implementation and outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThree short cases are presented to reveal how the traditional Chinese Pao culture influences CSR implementation and outcomes in Chinese firms.FindingsThe findings suggest that the traditional Chinese Pao culture is the driver behind the value orientation of the norms of passing on favors and doing good deeds will be rewarded. Knowing this can help leaders in such organizations to incentivize member participation in building organizational Pao culture.Practical implicationsThrough the collaborative construction of the core of Pao culture and external evaluation standards of corporate social responsibility, enterprises can thus achieve the dual goals of self-development and social benefits.Social implicationsEnterprises and managers can be encouraged to draw management wisdom from the essence of cultural norms, so as to achieve the goal of realizing the interests of all CSR participants.Originality/valueThis paper emphasizes the dynamics and outcomes of CSR implementation in the context of the traditional Chinese Pao culture and expands the boundary of CSR research beyond a Western cultural setting.

CEO career horizons, foreign experience, and state ownership impact on the adoption of the Global Reporting Initiative standards for corporate social responsibility reporting

AbstractThis study investigates the influence of chief executive officers' (CEOs) career horizon on the adoption of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards for corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. Using data from A‐share Chinese listed firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2010 to 2020, we employ logistic regression analysis to examine the empirical relationship. Our findings indicate that companies led by CEOs with shorter career horizons (older CEOs) are less inclined to adopt GRI reporting standards for CSR reporting. This association is particularly pronounced in non‐state‐owned enterprises compared to state‐owned enterprises. Additionally, we observe a weaker relationship between CEO career horizon and GRI adoption when the CEO possesses foreign experience. These results remain robust across various measures of CEO career horizons and econometric methodologies as well. The implications of our findings are significant for understanding the development and implementation of GRI standards for CSR reporting, particularly within the context of China.

The Contribution of Perceived Brand Ethics to the Development of Consumer Trust: A Qualitative Study of Moroccan Islamic Banks

The Moroccan banking sector is facing growing challenges to adhere to emerging standards of business ethics and corporate social and environmental responsibility. A marketing ethic based on good organizational conduct is now necessary to consolidate competitive advantage, strengthen market positioning and ensure the long-term sustainability of the corporate brand. This article primarily aims to delve into a relatively overlooked subject within marketing literature: the consumer-perceived ethics in the service sector, the brand equity of Islamic banks, and their consequential influence on brand trust development.

Shaping corporate social responsibility standards in the global economy: Chinese industry guidelines for responsible mineral supply chains

Between 2014 and 2023, the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters (known by its acronym CCCMC) developed a set of corporate social responsibility guidelines which aim to steer Chinese outward mining investment toward a socially responsible model. This article presents an in-depth analysis of these voluntary industry-specific corporate social responsibility guidelines. The article also unfolds the less visible processes in which a Chinese industry association proactively engages with the dynamics of multi-level governance of corporate social responsibility in global mineral supply chains. While focusing on the rising role of the CCCMC, the article takes a ‘multi-level and actor-centred’ approach to understand the development of corporate social responsibility standards in the global economy. The article finds that CCCMC guidelines are inspired by and infused with pre-existing corporate social responsibility standards, especially international standards. Furthermore, it showcases the CCCMC’s continuing follow-up measures to implement the guidelines and increase recognition from other actors in global mineral supply chains. In particular, the article finds that the CCCMC has taken substantive measures to formulate and implement applicable labour standards in global mineral supply chains.

Entangling global chains of wealth and value through CSR-ization: A critical Polanyian perspective on Weda Bay Nickel

Recent contributions to Global Value Chain studies have cast the intertwining of global finance and production in a new light, through the concept of entanglement of Global Wealth Chains (GWCs) and Global Value Chains (GVCs), and their uneven social consequences have been questioned. The paper contributes to this emerging debate through a critical Polanyian perspective on GVCs/GWCs where the processes of fictitious commodification pertain not only to money, labor, and the land as theorized by Polanyi, but also to ethics, which is commodified via Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards and discourses. Our contribution is based on a grounded research study of Weda Bay Nickel (WBN), a mining project that unfolded over two decades of exploration and across the intertwined scales of financial markets, multinationals, government, activists, and the villagers residing in Weda Bay, on the Indonesian island of Halmahera. We show how “CSR-ization” was orchestrated by lead corporate and financial players to obtain the World Bank’s ethical approval and financial guarantee for the project. Standardized ethicality was granted to WBN even though high social and environmental risks were acknowledged, and several contestation movements had to be erased, discredited, and/or physically repressed for the mine to see the light of day. We contend, in Polanyian terms, that fictitious commodification leads to the destruction of people and nature—and not simply inequality—in the deployment of GWCs/GVCs where CSR-ization is closely intertwined with contestation and repression.

Impact of Implementing ISO 26000 on the Service Quality: The Mediating Role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

The purpose of the study is to test the impact of implementing ISO 26000 on service quality and examine of the mediating role of information and communication technology (ICT) of the humanitarian organization; the International Rescue Committee (IRC). This study has two types of objectives; theoretical and practical objectives that aim to clarify and explain: the principles of ISO 26000, the service quality dimensions, and the ICT role as a mediating factor between ISO 26000 and service quality. This study also aims to identify the clauses and standards that the IRC is committed to and to what extent this commitment impacts the service quality in the presence of ICT. Lack of clarity at the level of compliance with the social responsibility standards (ISO 26000) of the provision of services by the IRC, and lack of clarity of the framework used by the IRC in the governance and management of ICT to provide these services were the main reasons to conduct this study. Two questionnaires have been used to collect the data. The first one was filled by the beneficiaries of IRC and the second one was filled by the IRC seniors. The findings show a statistically significant impact of implementing ISO 26000 on service quality. There is also a significant positive relationship between ISO 26000 and ICT. Finally, findings revealed a significant indirect impact for ISO 26000 of which ICT played a mediating role on the service quality. This study strongly recommends decision makers at IRC to pay more attention to implementing ISO 26000, and to examine the role of ICT which improves the service quality.

Assessing CSR Reports of Top UK Construction Companies: The Case of Occupational Health and Safety Disclosures

As health and safety in construction is a major concern worldwide, this paper examines the occupational health and safety (OHS) disclosures of leading companies. A composite disclosure index was devised, based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reporting, and focuses on the information found in such reports of corporations pertaining to the United Kingdom (UK) construction industry, in an attempt to identify trends in OHS reporting from a sample of fifteen corporations. The results disclose that construction companies fall short in reporting OHS objectives. The prevention and mitigation measures of OHS impacts and occupational health services are the only indicators in which companies reach medium to good performance. In contrast, issues of young workers exposed to hazards pertaining to suppliers are not reported by the sample. Five sample firms were identified as not revealing any information on OHS, while there was no disclosure by at least nine companies.

Сутність, елементи та складові соціальної відповідальності підприємств

The aim of the article is to study and generalize the theoretical provisions on the social responsibility of enterprises in the context of dynamism and uncertainty of the environment. When analyzing and summarizing the scientific works of many scholars, it was determined that the social responsibility of the enterprise is aimed at creating a positive impact on the socioeconomic environment of the enterprise and can lead to various positive results, including financial success, improving reputation and creating a favorable image in the market. As a result of the study, approaches to the formation of the concept of corporate social responsibility, which can coexist and complement each other, are analyzed. The main characteristics of social responsibility are defined, including: the social nature of responsibility; dependence on the social qualities of the individual and social norms and values, their integration into the social system. The features of legal and non-legal social responsibility of enterprises are characterized and their components are defined. The main types of companies that determine trends in the sphere of social influence have been allocated, and it has been substantiated that «social innovators» can act as catalysts for further development of the sphere of social responsibility, since such enterprises set themselves the task not only to comply with the standards of social responsibility, but also to be active leaders in the development of innovative approaches and solutions to solve social problems. The article also analyzes the features of the world’s largest initiative in the field of corporate social responsibility – the UN Global Compact, which is designed to promote the creation of more sustainable and ethical corporations that not only generate profit, but also benefit society and the environment. It is substantiated that social responsibility can be a competitive advantage, strengthening the reputation of enterprise and stimulating innovative solutions. Prospects for further research lie in the field of studying the features of introduction and implementation of the strategy of corporate social responsibility of enterprise.

РОЛЬ ЕКОЛОГІЧНИХ СТАНДАРТІВ У ФОРМУВАННІ КОРПОРАТИВНОЇ ВІДПВІДАЛЬНОСТІ ГЛОБАЛЬНОГО БІЗНЕСУ

The article emphasizes that one of the trends in the development of modern global business is compliance with environmental requirements. At the same time, it has been noted that the complex process of "environmentalization" of corporate responsibility draws the attention of scientists and politicians to the problem of determining directions and models of successful implementation of its role in creating conditions for sustainable development. It has been also emphasized on the existing risks of global business activity, which is demonstrated by the accumulated experience of unfair competition of transnationalized business. The author notes that it is the business giants of the global industry all over the world in the implementation of their production and commercial activities that consume the largest volumes of natural, raw and fuel-energy resources, and also pollute the largest water areas. Emphasis is also placed on the gradual destruction of national ecological systems based on close interaction and mutual influence of all parameters of ecological activity of specific states on their territory. In addition, one of the main components of the policy of the welfare state has been violated: guaranteeing the protection of environmental rights and human freedoms. The author believes that the significant expansion of the environmental platform of corporate social responsibility, which makes it possible to organically combine both the goals of maximizing the profitability of business activities and the goals of social utility, plays the key role to ensuring a deep convergence of public and corporate economic interests and leveling environmental threats in society. The article presents empirical data that confirm the special role of the institute of corporate environmental responsibility in the development of a global green economy. It has been noted that one of the components of the implementation of corporate environmental responsibility mechanisms by business structures is their compliance with environmental standards. At the same time, it has been emphasized in the article that environmental standards, on the one hand, are developed by states and international organizations, and on the other hand, they are commonly initiated by the companies themselves as part of the implementation of corporate environmental management strategies. The most common environmental standards of corporate social responsibility have been demonstrated and characterized. A list of methodological foundations that unite environmental standards of global business has been proposed by the author.

Requisite trust requirements for digital society development

PurposeThis study aims to demonstrate the importance of the requisite trust for the processes of digitalization of business, the state and society in general.Design/methodology/approachThe work is built “from particular to general”. The analysis of many cases of digitalization projects leads to some higher-level principles useful for description most of them – trust, umwelt and complexity.FindingsBased on the analysis of empirical material, the principle of requisite trust is introduced based on the definition of trust through a “relevant umwelt”. In addition, the article examines many aspects of society digitalization processes using cybernetic concepts. It is shown that (1) in the core of digitalization process is the export of the umwelt from human head to a computer (digital umwelt), (2) models used in the digital platforms are not only a reflection of social processes, but have a significant impact on them, like the observers of cybernetics of the second order and (3) umwelt concept is closely related to a social reality concept, meanings are relative and are carried by the communication systems.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper summarized practical and theoretical experience in the field of digital projects and introduced The Law of Requisite Trust. In the future, this principle should be studied more formally in quantitative terms.Originality/valueThe principle of requisite trust, as well as the definition of trust through the relevant umwelt is original. The promotion of trust in organizations and also digital organizations using such instruments as standard of social responsibility (ISO 26000) has high practical value.

Corrected Game Model in CSR: MNC Strategies and Chinese Practice

Abstract Multinational Corporation (MNC) behaviors (Hoffman et al, 2017) have come under growing scrutiny, and many MNCs have been found to be following lax corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards. MNCs are being held to a standard of new sustainability paradigm, which is challenging them to develop new models of CSR decision making. We represent the CSR decision making challenges of MNCs with the help of a game theoretical model. The model specifies alternative strategies and payoffs for the MNCs and the stakeholders and examines the dominant strategies in the Nash equilibrium. To identify solutions for the future, we propose a corrected game model, where the incentive structure is revised so that the stakeholders are able to signal rewards and penalties for CSR behavior. In this corrected game model, the dominant strategy for the MNCs is to step up their CSR compliance, and for the stakeholders is to offer rewards for the CSR behavior.

Modelling the importance of social responsibility standards (ISO 26000:2010) practices adoption in freight transport industry

The United Nations agenda for sustainable development attracts governments, supply chain actors, researchers, and societies to promote sustainability practices in their businesses. Most of the scholarly work focusing on the economic and environmental sustainability of supply chain and logistics processes. Most developed countries have incorporated the social responsibility of their businesses to improve the nation's social wellbeing. There is less exploration of the social responsibility of logistics operations in developing nations. In the above connection, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) proposes a global standard, i.e., ISO26000, in 2010 (ISO26000:2010). Even minimal freight logistics firms are adopting the ISO26000 standard for improving sustainable performance. To bridge the above research gap, this research analyses the importance of ISO 26000 practices in the freight transport industry. The significance of the practices is assessed with a multi-criteria decision-making method under a fuzzy environment, i.e., the fuzzy best-worst method (FBWM). The advantage of using fuzzy set theory is to include the uncertainty and ambiguity of the decision-makers. The ISO26000 practices are ranked to make appropriate managerial decisions for improving the social responsibility of the Indian freight transport industry. Fair operating practices are obtained top rank, followed by labour and workforce practices. The overall analysis shows that health and safety at the workplace is a top practice to improve sustainability performance. The rank variation of the ISO26000 practices are tested with sensitivity analysis. The obtained results are less sensitive to weight variations, which is claimed as the model robustness.

QOL-33. Adaptive behaviour of patients treated for malignant brain tumor in the first three years of life

BACKGROUND: Adaptive behavior is defined as the effectiveness and degree to which an individual meets social/cultural standards of personal independence and social responsibility. Patients treated for brain tumor are at risk of alteration of adaptive behaviour that, with a reduced intellectual function, makes diagnosis of mental retard. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the adaptive behaviour of patients treated for malignant brain tumor in the first three years of life and the variables that may correlate with its alteration. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twelve survivors of brain tumor diagnosed in the first three years of life followed in the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Department of Padua between January 2000 and December 2020 were enrolled in this study. We defined the level of the adaptive behaviour by evaluation adaptive behavior questionnaire (ABAS II) completed by the parents. RESULTS: None of the patients shows a high level of adaptive behavior. Preliminary evidences suggest that, the level of adaptive behavior may be influenced by the sex, irradiation and time from the end of treatment. In details, females show a higher level of performance than males, patients not treated with radiotherapy performed better than patients irradiated and longer-term survivors have a better level of adaptive behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that patients treated for brain tumor show a lower level of adaptive behaviour than peers. The future objective is to assess adaptive behaviour at many times to recognize the problem early.

Non-financial information and company market value

Directive 2014/95/EU and the recent importance of the social and environmental sustainability topic have increased the interest of scholars, practitioners, investors, and other stakeholders in nonfinancial information aspects. This article examines the impact that the level of disclosure of nonfinancial information, as dictated by the European Union (EU) directive, has on market value. It measures the effect of some variables of nonfinancial information (proxied by the adoption of the Glob-al Reporting Initiative [GRI] "core" or "comprehensive" option or the GRI "refer-enced-claim" option, the number of pages of the nonfinancial statement, the presentation of the statement separate from or aggregated with the annual report, and the use of the same or a different auditor for the statement and annual report) on the level of market value measured by market-based performance (Tobin's Q). The analysis was tested on Italian listed companies that presented nonfinancial statements during the 2017-2019 period. The research, conducted on the 2019 nonfinancial statements, shows that all investigated companies apply GRI stand-ards. The empirical results furthermore show that the examined variables are not related to market performance and are not significant. These results lead to poten-tially contradictory findings. Whereas the adoption of generally recognized Corpo-rate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards - being voluntarily adopted by all the investigated companies - is deemed crucial by stakeholders, the details of CSR information, by contrast, do not seem to have an impact on market value.

The Role of Human Rights in International Investment Arbitration: Arguments Raised by the Parties and Procedural Implications

Abstract This article focuses on human rights arguments raised in investment arbitration, and examines their role in the adjudication of investment disputes. It is indicated that the rejection of human rights arguments is not necessarily based on the inapplicability of human rights claims to the investment arbitration process. As shown in several cases, arbitral tribunals refused to accept human rights arguments, mainly because the parties to the dispute failed to demonstrate any relevance or impact of their claim on the investment at stake. Still, no solid legal reasoning can be noticed when tribunals rejected the relevance of human rights. Nevertheless, even if the current legal framework does not favour further involvement of human rights-based claims, we observe several developments in the treaty making practices. Such practices seek to “harmonize” human rights concerns with the international investment regime by introducing corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards or by including specific provisions relating to human rights.

CSR Trend Analysis by Industry using the Sustainability Report

ESG management has recently become an issue and is receiving a lot of attention as awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has increased worldwide. As a result, more countries and companies have started to require to submit the CSR report. Standards for corporate social responsibility have also strengthened to improve brand value and risk management. In the current study, the sustainability report was used to analyze a company

Corporate Social Responsibility Standards: Is it Possible to Meet Diverse Customer Requirements?

Abstract The purpose of the study is to review the internationally recognised CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) standards, codes of conduct (cross-industry and industry-specific used in electronics, automotive and steel industry) and selected codes and supplier evaluation approaches applied by individual customer organisations. It also aims to identify problems related to CSR compliance demonstration from the view of supplier organization supplying its products for more industry sectors. Literature review, interview with the selected large manufacturing organisation and synthesis of information were conducted to achieve the purpose of the study. The difficulties for supplier organisations during CSR verifications and audits conducted by customers or third parties according to a variety of standards are discussed in the paper. It often results from different structure, terminology and content of the CSR standards and codes. One of the possible solutions is to create and maintain the intelligent database of CSR requirements of customer organisations. There is a lack of studies dealing with the existence of various CSR standards and codes and its impact on suppliers supplying their products to more industry sectors. The paper contributes to fill the knowledge gap and extend the existing literature.

Impacting Corporate Social Responsibility on Business Benefits: A Case Study of Small and Medium Enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City

Nowadays, any world economic organization or product exporter must comply with social responsibility policies: Protect the environment, products are safe for consumers, have policies that respect and ensure benefits for employees, etc. The better the enterprise demonstrates its social responsibility, the higher its competitive advantage. In addition, social responsibility also helps increase long-term profits for businesses: In the short term, in the early stages, companies will face the cost problem when implementing social responsibility: waste treatment systems to protect the environment, modern machines to increase productivity and quality, standard protective clothing to protect workers, etc. However, in the long term, the investment activities of enterprises will bring about significant increases in profits by building brands, trust, and loyalty with consumers. In addition, businesses can quickly bring their products to international markets because they comply with social responsibility standards. Social responsibility, in general, will help enterprises to increase competitive advantages and develop sustainably. Thus, the author surveyed 550 managers working for the corporate social responsibility of 275 small and medium enterprises in HCMC. The author analyzed the key factors impacting corporate social responsibility (CSR) and CSR affecting business benefits. The author applied structural equation modeling (SEM). Finally, the scientific novelty showed five factors affecting corporate social responsibility for business benefits of SMEs in HCMC with a significance of 1.0 percent. Five elements included (1) Environment, (2) Employees, (3) Customers, (4) Suppliers, and (5) Community. It is critical to spread and educate about social responsibility and perfect the legal framework for its execution to fulfill corporate social responsibility in Vietnam.