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Business & Society Online Table of Contents Alert

A new issue of Business & Society is available online for subscribers:

June 2013; Vol. 52, No. 2

The Table of Contents is available online at: http://bas.sagepub.com/content/vol52/issue2/?etoc

Articles

Commitment to an Emerging Organizational Field: An Enactment Theory

Alfred A. Marcus and Marc H. Anderson

Business Society 2013; 52: 181-212
http://bas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/52/2/181

This article builds an enactment theory to explain the continuing commitment of entrepreneurs to an emerging organizational field like energy efficiency and renewable energy, which is widely seen as being in the interests of society. The authors propose that when such a field is constrained by such factors as low energy prices and a lack of government support, the actions that entrepreneurs take to educate stakeholders drives the entrepreneurs' continuing commitment to the field. These actions are supported by the entrepreneurs' perceptions of the field's attractiveness, their beliefs that they produce superior products and services, and their beliefs regarding the likelihood of disruptive exogeneous change.

One Voice, But Whose Voice? Exploring What Drives Trade Association Activity

Michael L. Barnett

Business Society 2013; 52: 213-244
http://bas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/52/2/213

Trade associations operate under the premise of advancing the shared interests of their member firms. How well do they fulfill this role? This article measures the activity of 148 major industry trade associations over time and relates this activity to the performance of the relevant industries and dominant firms within them. Findings suggest that trade association spending increases when the profitability of the four largest firms in an industry decreases, but spending is unrelated to the profitability of the industry overall. This implies that large firms exert control over trade association agendas and may use these communal organizations to advance their own interests rather than the shared interests of the entire industry. Moreover, it points to the need for further development of the currently anemic management literature on the activities of trade associations.

An Exploratory Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility and Disclosure

Cedric E. Dawkins and John W. Fraas

Business Society 2013; 52: 245-281
http://bas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/52/2/245

Previous studies indicate two possibly asymmetric findings about the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and annual report disclosure practices: (a) disclosure practices of companies with favorable CSP emanate from a sense of ethical duty, and (b) there are strategic reasons to link CSP with disclosure practices. To test the relationship between CSP and annual report disclosure, this study divided S&P 500 companies into two groups, defined for low CSP (resulting n = 148) and high CSP (resulting n = 69). For the low CSP group of companies, disclosure was positively related to CSP strengths. For the high CSP group of companies, disclosure was positively related to CSP weaknesses. The authors conclude that low CSP disclosure practices are related to CSP strengths to build or repair reputation, whereas high CSP disclosure practices are associated with CSP weaknesses to protect favorable CSP brand.

The Role of Governance in Corporate Social Responsibility: Lessons From Dutch Finance

Frank Jan de Graaf and J. W. Stoelhorst

Business Society 2013; 52: 282-317
http://bas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/52/2/282

This article extends the corporate social performance (CSP) model by studying the role of governance structures and governance systems in shaping corporate social responsibility. The authors argue that a governance perspective offers a fruitful research strategy both to study empirically how firms balance the competing moral frameworks and political philosophies that are part and parcel of defining their role in society and to further the theoretical integration of the descriptive and normative perspectives in the business and society field. They illustrate the potential of this research strategy with a comparative case study of processes of responsiveness at four Dutch banks with markedly different governance structures. This study shows how governance systems and structures both enable and constrain corporate responsibility and responsiveness. The authors conclude with a proposal to reorient the CSP model to harness the integrative potential of studying corporate social responsibility through a governance lens.

Who Boycotts Whom? Marginalization, Company Knowledge, and Strategic Issues

Naomi A. Gardberg and William Newburry

Business Society 2013; 52: 318-357
http://bas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/52/2/318

The authors apply marginalization theory to develop a model of boycotts that incorporates both individual motives and corporate strategic issues. Overall, their analysis of more than 25,000 individual evaluations of 59 companies suggests that members of marginalized groups are more likely to boycott. Individuals are less likely to boycott companies about which they are knowledgeable and more likely to boycott companies that are organized boycott targets. In addition, the authors find systematic differences in the types of boycotts associated with strategic issues that are supported by members of marginalized groups. Overall, boycott supporters tend to be upwardly mobile members of marginalized groups.

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Duane Windsor, BAS Editor, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Rice</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place>

odw@rice.edu