Business Commons^™

Corporate Racial Responsibility, Gina-Gail S. Fletcher, H. Timothy Lovelace Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

The 2020 mass protests in response to the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor had a significant impact on American corporations. Several large public companies pledged an estimated $50 billion to advancing racial equity and committed to various initiatives to internally improve diversity, equity, and inclusion. While many applauded corporations’ willingness to engage with racial issues, some considered it further evidence of corporate capitulation to extreme progressivism at shareholders’ expense. Others, while thinking corporate engagement was long overdue, critiqued corporate commitment as insincere.

Drawing on historical evidence surrounding the passage of Title II of the Civil Rights Act of …

Alaska Native Corporations: Participation, Purpose, And Performance In For-Profit Indigenous Businesses, Kimberly E. Mcginnis

Theses and Dissertations

Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) were established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971 to extinguish Indigenous land claims in the state of Alaska, as well as to provide for the economic and social wellbeing of Alaska Natives. However, ANCs’ governance practices and performance record offer a mixed record of their ability to incorporate the voice of their Indigenous shareholders and to fulfill a broad mandate for economic and social wellbeing among Alaska Natives. This exploratory, sequential, mixed methods study examines the relationship between shareholder participation, purpose, and performance in ANCs. Synthesizing theories from multiple domains, this study clarifies …

Feeling The Heat: Climate Change Is Becoming A Big Factor In Business Decision-Making, Risk Assessment, Candace Beeke, Sahan Dissanayake, Jennifer Price, Moss Adams

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland Business Journal Publisher and President Candace Beeke spoke recently with PSU’s Sahan Dissanayake and Jennifer Price, with Moss Adams, about the direct and indirect effects of climate change on business, along with the physical impacts and economic hazards. Here are their insights.

Enabling Esg Accountability: Focusing On The Corporate Enterprise, Rachel Brewster

Faculty Scholarship

Environmental, social, and governance accountability for companies has become an important topic in popular and academic debate in modern society. The idea that corporations should have ESG goals has been embraced by major investment companies, employees, and many corporations themselves. Yet, less attention has been focused on how corporate enterprise law—which governs how corporations structure their relationships between parent corporations and their subsidiaries—creates or contributes to the ESG concerns that the public has with corporations in the first place. Modern enterprise law allows corporations, particularly those operating across national borders, to use their subsidiaries to avoid responsibility for their public …

Consistencies And Inconsistencies In The Application And Mechanisms Of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study Approach To Seeking Clarification, Melissa Cook

Theses and Dissertations

While the idea of corporate responsibility emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, awareness of the ideas that comprise Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has increased over the last few years. Although there are numerous CSR reviews published, and despite increasing public awareness regarding CSR, a unified definition and framework remain elusive. The problem is that many leaders do not understand CSR and are simply not integrating it into their strategic management process. The purpose of this qualitative research case study was to explore and examine consistencies and inconsistencies in the application and mechanisms of CSR by examining the extent that CSR …

Impact Of Internal Corporate Social Responsibility Factors On The Employee’S Innovation Climate In The Medical Diagnostics Industry, Sofia M. Beglari

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between employee-driven corporate social responsibility (CSR) factors and employee innovation in U.S. medical diagnostic companies during the respiratory syndrome coronavirus (COVID) pandemic. This study examined what employee-driven CSR factors affect such motivation of employees toward innovation. The research population was employees who have worked in operation, quality control, research, technical, and management departments of medical diagnostics companies in the United States of America. The investigator used a survey questionnaire for this correlation design study. Employees’ responses were analyzed based on education level, gender, and job function using descriptive analysis, t-test, and ANOVA-test. The theoretical framework …

Beyond Profit, Emilie Aguirre

Faculty Scholarship

Etsy was a crown jewel of socially responsible businesses. It prioritized female entrepreneurship, its employees, and environmental stewardship. It was widely admired as a company pursuing social goals alongside profit goals. But after scaling up through an IPO, Etsy fell apart both socially and financially. Similar stories proliferate in the world of socially conscious business. What happened? Standard accounts point to greedy investors, capitalism, and short-termism as the culprits.

But this Paper identifies a more fundamental problem: business law is not designed to facilitate scale-ups for companies that articulate objectives beyond profit. It lacks a durable commitment mechanism for these …

Equality Metrics, Veronica Root Martinez, Gina-Gail S. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

This time is different. This time the death of another Black man at the hands of white police officers prompted calls for change not only within police departments, but across all aspects of American life. Those calls for change resulted in significant displays of support for the Black Lives Matter movement and interest in how to eliminate systemic racism and promote racial diversity and justice within one’s daily life and workplace. For the most part, corporations were quick to publicly align themselves with the movement. When carefully examined, however, many of the statements issued by corporations in support of the …

A Cultural Political Economy Of Corporate Social Responsibility : The Case Of C.I. Uniban S.A. And The Colombian Banana Industry, 1987-2017, David H. Uzzell Jr

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation concentrates on the banana sector in Urabá, Colombia from 1987 to 2017, paying particular attention to C.I. Uniban S.A., the largest and oldest banana marketing and export company in the country, its social foundation, Fundauniban, its marketing subsidiary Turbana Corporation, Agricola Sara Palma S.A. banana producers, and local communities in the region. Through an in-depth, qualitative case-study supported with insights from cultural political economy (CPE), it documents the local and global pressures that forced these actors to adopt and deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) to upgrade to compete in the global banana market. It makes the case that …

A Solution For Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Compostable Consumption Across Industries, Prithvi Chauhan

University Honors Theses

This thesis paper addresses the potentials of a business model for promoting compostable alternatives to single-use plastic products. This thesis paper also proposes a survey to collect data from businesses in Portland, OR to forecast the potential impacts of integrating such a business model. Impacts of this business model for compostable products are hypothesized as best-case, mid-case, and worst-case scenarios of integration within Portland’s total market potential. Impacts will also be assessed along the triple bottom line. The triple bottom line is an accounting framework used in sustainable entrepreneurship to measure impact along environmental, social, and economic standards. First, in …

Designing Business Forms To Pursue Social Goals, Ofer Eldar

Faculty Scholarship

The long-standing debate about the purpose and role of business firms has recently regained momentum. Business firms face growing pressure to pursue social goals and benefit corporation statutes proliferate across many U.S. states. This trend is largely based on the idea that firms increase long-term shareholder value when they contribute (or appear to contribute) to society. Contrary to this trend, this Article argues that the pressing issue is whether policies to create social impact actually generate value for third-party beneficiaries—rather than for shareholders. Because it is difficult to measure social impact with precision, the design of legal forms for firms …

Emerging Discourse Incubator: The Roles Of Institutional Complexity And Hybridity In Social Impact Supply Chain Management, Madeleine E. Pullman, Annachiara Longoni, Davide Luzzini

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Supply chain research and practice has moved beyond green or environmental issues to include social issues. But much of the focus still remains on attempts of large companies to reduce social harm along their supply chains rather than creating social good. At the same time, research investigating the role of NGOs in supply chains or humanitarian logistics often emphasizes temporary initiatives and overlooks long term viability. This conceptual paper seeks to expand the playing field by looking at how social enterprises manage their supply chains to generate social benefit while maintaining or improving their financial viability in the long term. …

The Entrepreneurial Philanthropist: Can It B?, Abby M. Kinnard

Honors Theses

The corporate culture is constantly shifting and with change comes the need to reexamine the priorities of a company. Social responsibility is no optional for companies and with the help of Benefit Corporations and B Corps the Entrepreneurial Philanthropist can be.

The Responsibility Gap In Corporate Crime, Samuel W. Buell

Faculty Scholarship

In many cases of criminality within large corporations, senior management does not commit the operative offense — or conspire or assist in it — but nonetheless bears serious responsibility for the crime. That responsibility can derive from, among other things, management’s role in cultivating corporate culture, in failing to police effectively within the firm, and in accepting lavish compensation for taking the firm’s reins. Criminal law does not include any doctrinal means for transposing that form of responsibility into punishment. Arguments for expanding doctrine — including broadening of the presently narrow “responsible corporate officer” doctrine — so as to authorize …

Green Index: Integration Of Environmental Performance, Green Innovativeness And Financial Performance, Ilknur Mary Joy Nirmala Tekin

Dissertations and Theses

The integration of sustainability performance of companies is becoming increasingly important. The recent global requirements (i.e. the Kyoto Protocol) for significant reduction of the negative impact of companies on the environment over the next 6 years have been putting pressure on the companies, requiring them to lower the negative environmental impact of market performance. This requirement challenges the profitable growth of the companies' business functions, given the change needed for business operations to improve on their environmental impact.

In this dissertation a new corporate sustainability performance index, called: The Green Index, for measuring and assessing the integrated sustainability performance of …

Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, And Sustainability Education In Aacsb Undergraduate And Graduate Marketing Curricula: A Benchmark Study, Jeananne Nicholls, Joseph F. Hair, Charles B. Ragland, Kurt E. Schimmel

Faculty and Research Publications

AACSB International advocates integration of ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability in all business school disciplines. This study provides an overview of the implementation of these three topics in teaching initiatives and assessment in business schools accredited by AACSB International. Since no comprehensive studies have been conducted for the marketing area, the results provide benchmarks as well as thought-provoking material to initiate business school and marketing faculty discussions on integrating the three topics into their curricula.

The Effects Of The Economy, Perception Of Business Law, External Anchors, And Ethical Behavior On Corporate Social Responsibility In Developing Countries, Ihab Nasser

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that has attracted worldwide attention and gained a new resonance in the global economy. According to Werther and Chandler (2006), the meaning of CSR can be discerned from the three words in the phrase: corporate, social, and responsibility. Corporate social responsibility covers the relationship between the corporation and the societies with which it interacts (Werther & Chandler, 2006).

While CSR has received increasing attention in recent years, as a postulate for ethical and responsible behavior in business, Belal (2001) noted that most CSR studies have been conducted in developed countries, such as most …

Gen Y-Ers As Consumers Of Good Causes: Examing Student Attitudes, Beliefs, And Behaviors On Cause Marketing, Annie Paul

American Association for the Advancement of Science Pacific Conference

1. CSR is how companies self-regulate and take accountability for their social and environmental impacts on their communities.
2. CM is how companies promote their socially responsible acts.
3. IF CM's objectives are good, does it mean Gen Y-ers view it positively?

Ethics-In-Action: An Application Of Structuration Theory In Professional Service Firms, Jesse F. Dillard, Kristi Jane Yuthas

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

A theoretical base for studying ethics in action is developed. In previous work, we propose a responsibility ethic, normative stakeholder theory, and discourse ethics as components of ethical decision making within organizational contexts. Here, we argue that structuration theory provides theoretical depth and conceptual integration to the ideas presented in our earlier work. The previous work is briefly discussed and structuration theory is reviewed. Ethically informed action is formulated within the context of structuration theory as a consideration and instantiation of structural features. Ethical action is predicated on the agent’s accountability within the context of an ongoing community. Accountability requires …

The Influence Of Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility On Job Satisfaction: The Moderating Role Of Organizational Commitment, Xi Cheng

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of perceived CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) on job satisfaction, and to test the moderating role of organizational commitment within the relationship between perceived CSR and job satisfaction.

Determinants Of Corporate Environmental And Social Disclosure In Chinese Listed Mining, Electricity Supply And Chemical Companies Annual Reports, Junru Zhang

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

As the environmental and social disclosing systems have been developed over decades, the climate of corporate environmental and social responsibility is becoming mature nowadays globally. What and how environment-sensitive companies (i.e. companies that are more likely to do environmental damages) disclose such information voluntarily are extensively concerned by the public, especially in China, where strong debatable issues constantly raise as a result of the rapid economic growth. Corporate environmental and social responsibility is no longer an international obligation but a domestic demand for China. This study will enhance our understanding of a very important issue in arguably the world's most …

An Exploratory Examination Of The Factors Influencing Indonesian Sme's Sustainability Practices In The Textile And Chemical Industries, Bulan Prabawani

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

All firms have an impact on the environment in which they operate, for example in the exploration and processing of environmental resources to make a profit. Manufacturing firms, in particular have the potential to pollute the environment with dangerous liquid and solid wastes. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) make a significant contribution to the global economy in both developing and developed countries. Individually, SMEs appear to have little environmental impact, but accumulatively, they have a considerable impact, not only economically but also environmentally. However, managing environment impact is not usually core business for SMEs.

SMEs often suffer from a …

Differentiation Of Social And Cause-Related Marketing In Professional Sport, Jennifer Renee Pharr, Nancy L. Lough

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Several studies have focused on cause-related sport marketing (CRM), yet few have examined social marketing in sport. The purpose of this study was to show how both are unique strategies employed in sport to achieve corporate social responsibility. A qualitative content analysis was utilized to analyze the outreach programs of the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB as described on each website. A directed content analysis was used to categorize outreach programs as CRM, social marketing or other community outreach based on five variables that differentiate each strategy. Forty three programs were evaluated. Twenty two (51.2%) were categorized as social marketing, …

Governance, Media And The Quality Of Environmental Disclosure, Kathleen Rupley, Darrell Brown, Scott Marshall

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Given the rising emphasis on environmental disclosures and the expressed importance of 'good' governance in determining the extent of information disclosure in general, we examine the relation between specific aspects of governance and media coverage and the quality of voluntary environmental disclosure (VED). Using a sample of 127 firms over a six-year period (2000 to 2005), we empirically test characteristics of governance and media in relation to VED. Our results suggest that VED quality is positively associated with environmental media coverage, negative environmental media and board attributes of independence, diversity, and expertise. Results from supplemental analysis suggest that institutional investors …

Green Brewing: Part One, Madeleine E. Pullman

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Similar to their fellow Northwest residents, most brewers would consider environmental sustainability a personal value. From purchasing ingredients to packaging and storing the finished product, brewers and brewery owners are faced with numerous decisions that significantly affect the environment. The vast majority of breweries reduce their environmental impact by doing things like recycling their spent grains to local farmers for animal feed rather than dumping them in a land fill, or by utilizing solar panels to help generate electricity. Brewery owners and operators are continuously scrutinizing their operations to see what additional steps can be taken to lessen their environmental …

Corporate Social Disclosures By Indonesian Listed Companies, Juniati Gunawan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The issue of corporate social disclosure (CSD) has been of growing concern among businesses and communities globally, including those in Indonesia. As one of the big developing countries which offers a large domestic market and workforce. lndonesia is exposed to this issue. This study examines the extent of CSD in Indonesian listed companies by applying the content analysis method to company annual reports for the years 2003 to 2006. Prior studies have focused on exploring the theoretical framework, seeking the motivation for disclosures and obtaining certain stakeholder's opinions regarding CSD. However, those studies were limited to developed countries and to …

'Negotiated' Transparency? Corporate Citizenship Engagement And Environmental Disclosure, Scott Marshall, Darrell Brown, Marlene Plumlee

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Corporate stakeholder relations are historically typified by power imbalances and mistrust, but in recent times, they are increasingly characterized by 'dialogue' based on mutual understanding and creative action. In this paper we consider corporate engagements with two external stakeholder groups, citizenship-focused non-governmental organizations (NGO) and institutional investors, and examine the potential association between these engagements and corporate disclosure of environmental information. Based on a sample of 183 firms over a three-year time period, we analyze the relationships between NGO engagement, investor activism and the quality of corporate voluntary environmental disclosure. Our findings suggest that engagement with skills-focused NGOs and the …

Triple Bottom Line: A Business Metaphor For A Social Construct, Darrell Brown, Jesse F. Dillard, Scott Marshall

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

The triple bottom line is emerging as a popular conceptualization and reporting vehicle for articulating corporate social, environmental, and economic performance and is receiving significant attention in connection with its efficacy and sufficiency as a means for reporting the extent to which an organization meets its societal responsibilities. By preparing and disseminating triple bottom line statements, an organization conveys an image of concern and sensitivity to the three dimensions of societal responsibility: economic, environmental, and social. However, as currently conceived and operationalized, we question whether the triple bottom line reports actually provide information relevant to accessing corporate responsibility and enforcing …

The Relationship Between Corporate Social Performance And Financial Asset Characteristics, Ingebjørg Kristoffersen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores the theoretical and empirical evidence for a relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and financial characteristics. An empirical analysis is performed to examine the Australian evidence for such a relationship, from a financial asset perspective. CSP data provided by Corporate Monitor Pty. Ltd. are used in the analysis. Specifically, available measures of environmental, social and governance performance of 237 Australian companies are compared with selected financial asset characteristics, including firm size, book-to-market value, financial performance and risk, covering the period between July 1997 and August 2003. Evidence of relationships is sought using bivariate correlations, group comparisons and …

An Environmentally Enlightened Accounting, Jesse Dillard, Darrell Brown, Scott Marshall

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Environmental stewardship must become a primary concern if management is to adequately fulfill its societal responsibilities. Management and accounting information systems must aggressively respond to these emerging requirements in order to support adequately the associated information needs as well as to design organizational systems that motivate and facilitate desired behavior. Our purpose here is to consider a framework useful for developing environmentally enlightening management and accounting information systems that take into account alternative environmental perspectives. The framework can be used to develop prototypes representing different levels of environmental enlightenment and, as such, can provide general guidance for moving collectives and …