Business Ethics, The Environment & Responsibility (formerly Business Ethics: A European Review)

Publisher:
Wiley
Publication date:
2021-02-01
ISBN:
0962-8770

Issue Number

Latest documents

  • A meta‐analysis exploring the relationship between perceived brand ethicality and consumer response

    Recent research highlights the relationship between perceived brand ethicality (PBE), consumer purchase intention, and the consumer–brand relationship. Existing empirical studies offer mixed findings on whether these three relate positively, negatively, or not at all. Moreover, their relationships have not been the primary focus of existing meta‐analytic reviews. Therefore, we conducted a meta‐analysis to provide an empirical consensus to this debate by studying the magnitude of the association between PBE and consumer responses (purchase intention, brand trust, and brand loyalty). Moreover, we examined the moderating effects of self‐accountability and brand experience to expand our understanding of this relationship. After a thorough literature review from major databases and cross‐referencing of the relevant articles, we selected 31 peer‐reviewed articles for this meta‐analysis. The results reveal that consumer response to PBE positively influences attitude formation towards the brand and purchase intentions. Additionally, moderation analyses reveal the crucial roles of self‐accountability and brand experience in influencing the effects of PBE on consumer–brand relationships and purchase intention. Crucial theoretical and practical implications are discussed regarding these relationships, followed by limitations and future research directions.

  • Issue Information
  • A thematic analysis of code of ethics disclosures in SEC 8‐K Item 5.05

    The Securities and Exchange Commission requires the disclosure of changes to or waivers of corporate codes of ethics. Because the nature of amendments or waivers can vary, we expect the text of Item 5.05 to include different topics within different filings. We examine the population of these disclosures in Item 5.05 8‐K filings from 2004 to 2020. While previous studies utilized small samples (fewer than 50 observations) to examine limited aspects of these filings, we use the population of these filings from 2004 to 2020 (2121 8‐K filings) to elucidate the nature and details of the disclosures. We assess whether Latent Dirichlet Allocation—a computational linguistics technique—can help discern the underlying topics represented in filings. While the Securities and Exchange Commission identifies two topics—amendments and waivers—the Latent Dirichlet Allocation analysis reveals four topics (three related to amendments): (1) code updates and clarifications; (2) combining codes of conduct for all officers and employees, or splitting codes to include a code directly applicable to senior financial officers; (3) codes of ethics waivers; and (4) substantive code changes. The overall trend is for fewer 8‐Ks to be filed in recent years, with updates and clarifications becoming the predominant filing type. Our results further indicate that Item 5.05s related to updates and clarifications, and those related to combined or split codes, use fewer words and are more easily readable than those disclosing waivers or material code changes. Although we find no significant price reaction to Item 5.05 8‐K filings, we find significant trading volume and volatility reactions, suggesting that these disclosures could give rise to differences in opinion among investors, which is consistent with the US Senate's assertion that these disclosures are of interest to investors.

  • What you see is what you get? Building confidence in ESG disclosures for sustainable finance through external assurance

    The main objective of this study is to understand the value of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure assurance in the context of the development of sustainable finance standards and laws. This study is based on an analysis of 188 comment letters submitted by such actors in the context of public consultations on the development of three new sustainable finance initiatives (the CFA Institute, the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, and the New Zealand parliament). The study shows these actors' nuanced and often quite critical perceptions of the effectiveness of external assurance in preventing greenwashing and their reservations about its mandatory nature. These actors have raised various criticisms, including concerns about the vagueness surrounding verification practices; the lack of expertise available to conduct assurance in a new, specialized, and complex field; the costs of the assurance process, particularly for small players; and the lack of control over the reliability of the ESG data used. This article contributes to several emerging trends in the literature—in particular, research on governance practices to prevent greenwashing, on the institutionalization of sustainable finance standards and laws, and on the role of rational myths in the assurance process for ESG disclosures.

  • Destructive managerial anger stemming from self‐immanent pride: Is humility a solution?

    The article proposes that managers can counteract and/or prevent the detrimental effects of destructive anger by cultivating the virtue of humility. Traditional psychological conceptualisations of anger are examined, a need for a novel approach to understanding the origins of this emotion is highlighted, and the recently introduced concept of self‐immanent pride is reviewed. The first contribution of the article delves into how destructive managerial anger stems from self‐immanent pride leading to negative workplace outcomes. The second contribution proposes a shift from reacting to anger to adopting a proactive approach that emphasises nurturing managerial humility. The third contribution offers practical suggestions, highlighting the importance of self‐reflection for understanding how self‐immanent pride leads to anger. The article considers boundary conditions and recommends future avenues for research into anger, pride and humility from an ethical perspective.

  • Going green? On the drivers of individuals' green bank adoption

    In a context where individuals are increasingly more sensitive to corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and where mobilization of savings for the energy transition is essential, our article is the first to study the drivers of online green bank adoption. By analyzing 1075 questionnaires from a panel of French individuals in charge of financial decisions in their households, we show that altruism and green consumption values are significant drivers of individuals' green banking adoption and reveal that willingness to adopt a green bank is mediated by the preference for green savings. These results extend the nascent literature dealing with the link between responsible consumption and saving behaviors. Briefly speaking, green banks (and associated savings products) have the potential to enable households to express their consumption values through their investments. That said, our results suggest that households' financial well‐being and financial literacy can be barriers to the mobilization of green savings. Our results also demonstrate the significant influence of information system variables, such as personal innovativeness and trust, on willingness to adopt green banking. By shedding light on the drivers of individuals' green bank adoption, our results provide valuable insights for the banking industry.

  • Measuring greenwashing: A systematic methodological literature review

    Greenwashing (GW) is a complex, dynamic, interdisciplinary, multidimensional, and multifaceted phenomenon. There are more theoretical than empirical studies on GW because of several difficulties in collecting accurate data and obtaining objective GW measures. After disentangling the multifaceted GW phenomenon by describing its main dimensions, this study provides a systematic methodological literature review on empirical research papers published from 1990 to 2022 in journals of Business, Management, and Accounting to understand how empirical researchers are operationalizing GW and how our methodological choices affect our understanding of this phenomenon. Our results show that the actual GW operationalization is challenging and that scholars are highly uncertain about how such operationalization should be designed and implemented to provide an effective GW measurement instrument. Further, a growing number of studies investigate hypothetical GW cases adopting perception‐based measures, while limited research explores real GW cases.

  • Unlocking sustainable governance: The role of women at the corporate apex

    This study explores the intra‐organizational antecedents of sustainable governance by examining the impact of female presence at the corporate apex. Drawing upon the upper echelon theory, we investigate whether women in top positions influence sustainable governance practices. Our research focuses on a sample of companies operating within two distinct market economies: liberal market economies (LMEs) and coordinated market economies (CMEs). The United States, represented by the S&P100, and the United Kingdom, represented by the FTSE100, serve as examples of LMEs. Conversely, Germany (DAX30), France (CAC40), Spain (IBEX35), and Switzerland (SMI) are illustrative of CMEs. Analyzing archival data spanning from 2010 to 2019, we confirm that the presence of a critical mass of women on the board of directors significantly increases the likelihood of establishing a sustainability committee within organizations. This relationship holds true across both LMEs and CMEs, highlighting the universal importance of gender diversity in driving sustainable governance initiatives. Interestingly, we observe that the impact of women with structural power on sustainability committee formation is specific to LMEs, suggesting the context‐dependent nature of female leadership in sustainable governance.

  • Does second‐generation involvement promote family firm environmental investment? The China experience

    Family firms not only play an important role in economic growth but should also be held partly responsible for environmental degradation. Employing normative stakeholder theory and analyzing unique Chinese survey data via stepwise regression models, our findings indicate that second‐generation successors did not significantly impact family firms' environmental investment. However, among second‐generation successors, we find that successors with international experience positively impacted environmental investment. The propensity score matching (PSM) and two‐stage least squares estimation (2SLS) approaches confirm our results. As an interdisciplinary study, our research is of great value to the environmental responsibility and family business literature.

  • Emotions, norms, and consequences as the forces of good and evil: An investigation on sales professionals

    Traditionally, the consequences of employees' behavior (teleology) and the norms attributed to the behavior (deontology) have been two familiar determinants of ethical decision making (EDM). More recently, emotions have also gained considerable attention for their ability to affect EDM. Marketing ethics literature overlooks how emotions are related with norms and consequences. Hence, this study investigates how normative, consequentialist, and emotional factors interactively influence EDM in a sales ethics context. Using scenarios with a 2 × 2 between‐groups factorial design, we collected data online from 303 sales professionals. Then we used independent samples t tests and hierarchical regression models to analyze the hypothesized relationships. Results indicate that violation of and obedience to deontological norms stimulate negative and positive anticipated emotions, respectively, leading to stronger EDM. However, to a lesser extent, when violation of and obedience to deontological norms do not stimulate anticipated emotions, those emotions lead to weaker EDM. Moreover, consequences do not stimulate any anticipated emotions. Instead, consequences moderate the relationship between anticipated emotions and EDM. In addition, deontological and teleological evaluations mediate the relationship between anticipated emotions and EDM. These findings highlight the importance of considering the interplay between normative, consequentialist, and emotional factors in the formation of ethical judgments and intentions. The article discusses the implications of these results for sales professionals and organizations and suggests future research directions.

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