Bryan W. Husted

Tecnológico de Monterrey | ITESM · EGADE Business School

Purpose The logic models at the center of leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting programs, such as the global reporting initiative, impose a dualistic relationship between organizations and social-ecological systems. Coupled with the lack of a real-world alternative, their dualistic approach results in widespread systems think...

Despite the growing interest in societal impact in the business and society literature, there remains a notable gap in research on the impact of health interventions on physical and mental health and social welfare. To address this gap, we shift the unit of analysis to the intervention, akin to the level of analysis used in health research. Drawing...

One of the most investigated research topics in the corporate sustainability literature is "the" business case. Long lionized for linking the profit motive to corporate environmental initiatives, the business case for sustainability is now vehemently criticized. These critics generally argue for a return to the state and stronger regulatory framewo...

Deforestation is a complex environmental problem that has eluded a series of public policies and private sector interventions. The need to develop effective solutions to this problem is urgent because unabated deforestation exacerbates climate change, biodiversity loss, human rights violations, displacement of Indigenous communities, and breakouts...

We first summarize the key points of our recent article titled "Tracing the connections between international business and communicable diseases," published in the Journal of International Business Studies in 2022. Then, building on these points, we provide four recommendations for managers to help prevent future pandemics: (i) use the company's co...

Using a large panel of elections in 44 countries, we show that national elections affect CSR in contrasting ways. We posit and find that in strong institutional environments CSR engagement responds negatively to uncertainty and decreases during election periods relative to non-election periods. However, in the context of institutional weakness, cha...

With the growing call for private sector actors to address global challenges, it is necessary to first assess whether regions with the greatest needs are accessing corporate philanthropy. In this paper, we ask whether corporate philanthropy is reaching those with the greatest health-care needs. Drawing on economic geography and corporate homophily,...

This study examines the homophily of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices among listed firms in the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (Mexican Stock Exchange) (MSE). We draw upon concepts from institutional and social network theories to demonstrate how board interlocks among firms in the MSE can influence CSR practice adoption. Using a Mexican...

¿Te imaginas lo que sería destinar $194 mil millones de pesos en compras de productos sustentables cada año? Sería un gran impulso hacia una economía orientada a generar impactos positivos en el ambiente y la sociedad. Hicimos una investigación para explorar qué factores podrían favorecer este objetivo, encontrando que los programas ambientales y l...

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the world aware that improving public health is one of the grand challenges to be tackled urgently in order to guarantee the long-term sustainability of the planet and the well-being of millions of people around the world. In this respect, business and public health are intrinsically connected. From occupational healt...

We posit that international business and the emergence and spread of communicable diseases are intrinsically connected. To support our arguments, we first start with a historical timeline that traces the connections between international business and communicable diseases back to the sixth century. Second, following the epidemiology of communicable...

Considering the urgency of addressing grand challenges that affect human health and achieving the ambitious health targets set by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the role of business in improving health has become critical. Yet our systematic review of the business-health literature reveals that business research focuses p...

Despite some work dealing with occupational health and marketing unhealthy products, the business and society largely ignores the impacts of business on health. Focusing on employees and consumers, the literature does not take into account the impacts of business on the health of community members in general. Given work in such fields as public hea...

We investigate the effect of corruption on product, process, marketing, and organizational innovation in new ventures. Based on differences in the ability of firms to appropriate economic returns from these types of innovation, we argue that corruption undermines the formal property protection associated with product innovation, privileging the oth...

Although explanations of environmental performance in management include a geographical dimension (Buysse & Verbeke, 2003; Hart, 1995; Joy & Bansal, 2003; Sharma & Henriques, 2005; Shrivastava, 1995), this dimension has been underdeveloped in management research. In this paper, we use the theoretical lens of agglomeration economies to explain how a...

The planet and our society are on unsustainable footing. Many firms do more harm than good in helping to bring about environmental, social, and economic sustainability. This chapter offers guidance on how firms can make the urgently needed strategic shift to sustainability. The chapter begins by defining sustainability strategy and reviewing the li...

Business and human health are intrinsically connected. From occupational health and healthcare policy to the health of consumers and the surrounding communities, business can only thrive if their stakeholders enjoy good health and well-being. Yet our literature review of the business-health crossroads reveals that scholars have mainly paid attentio...

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the unsustainable relations between business, society, and the natural environment in Mexico and around the world. Given these unsustainable relations, this essay asks the question: How can Mexican and multinational corporations enable human flourishing both at work and in the communities where they operate? It ans...

Building on the concept of externalities, we propose an explanation of how multinationals can contribute to the enactment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as part of their ordinary investments. First, we suggest grouping the 17 Sustainable Development Goals into six categories based on whether they increase positive externalitie...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine and interpret the characteristics of social responsibility in general, and business responsibility in particular, that were evident during a period in European history that was plagued by widespread social problems and change. Based on that interpretation, the authors explore the lessons those charact...

In this paper, we seek to determine what factors drive the adoption of green purchasing among municipalities in Mexico and the success of their implementation. Given the lack of research and theory in the area, this study is exploratory in nature. We applied the green purchasing survey developed by Arizona State University to all municipalities in...

In this paper, we argue that antecedents of modern corporate social responsibility (CSR) prior to the Industrial Revolution can be referred to as “proto-CSR” to describe a practice that influenced modern CSR, but which is different from its modern counterparts in form and structure. We develop our argument with the history of miners’ guilds in medi...

Overall government procurement in Mexico is about $63.5 billion, making it a substantial source of the country’s total expenditures. For comparison, the total gross domestic product in Mexico is $1,220.7 billion. Increasing green purchasing in the public sector is a significant way to improve sustainable practices within Mexico. Mexico has several...

Overall government procurement in Mexico is about $63.5 billion, making it a substantial source of the country’s total expenditures. For comparison, the total gross domestic product in Mexico is $1,220.7 billion. Increasing green purchasing in the public sector is a significant way to improve sustainable practices within Mexico. Mexico has several...

Are corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives providing the societal good that they promise? After decades of CSR studies, we do not have an answer. In this review, we analyze progression of the CSR literature toward assessing the performance of CSR initiatives, identify factors that have limited the literature’s progress, and suggest a new...

Corporate wage inequality has a number of effects for the firm, society and the worker, meanwhile, their study is still in its infancy and raises complexities that demand greater attention. The discussion of the phenomenon is presented and proposed a way to measure it in its main items, doing the exercise for a group of companies located in the cit...

The overall government procurement in Mexico is about $63.5 billion1, making it substantial source of the country’s total expenditures. For comparison, the total gross domestic product in Mexico is $1,220.7 billion2. Increasing green purchasing in the public sector is a significant way to improve sustainable practices within Mexico. Mexico has seve...

In this chapter, we explore the rise and proliferation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in emerging markets. We trace the history of CSR in emerging markets, a process that grew, in part, from criticisms of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the global economy. We then turn our attention to the principal macro- and meso-level conceptual an...

The objective of this study is to propose the development of a market for income inequality by specifying a firm’s contribution to income inequality and outlining a simple model to find the equilibrium price for a given target of income inequality reduction. The paper reviews the concepts of firm heterogeneity and externalities in relation to incom...

We examine the effect of board structure on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure in Latin America. Previous studies have presented diverse results, but Latin American companies are rarely studied. We argue that the institutional context of Latin America should change some of the relationships between board structure and ESG disclos...

This study examines the similarity of adoption of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices among listed firms in the Mexican Stock Exchange (MSE). We draw concepts from institutional and social network theories to demonstrate how board interlocks among firms in the MSE can influence CSR practice adoption. Using a social and environmental cer...

Are CSR initiatives providing the societal good that they promise? After decades of CSR studies, we do not have an answer. In this review, we analyze progression of the CSR literature toward assessing the performance of CSR initiatives, identify factors that have limited the literature’s progress, and suggest a new approach to the study of CSR that...

La desigualdad salarial empresarial conlleva una serie de efectos para la empresa, la sociedad y el trabajador, por su parte, su estudio es aún incipiente y plantea complejidades que demandan mayor atención. Se presenta la discusión del fenómeno y se propone una forma de medirlo en sus principales rubros, haciendo el ejercicio para un grupo de empr...

The institutional environment of developing countries may lead firms to engage in unlawful firm conduct, which is a pervasive problem in this context. Our paper examines the effectiveness of organizational practices for ensuring that firms adhere to the law in the light of pressures from the institutional environment to be unlawful. Using the lens...

Management research has benefited from the incorporation of social network theory, which helps explain the intrinsic social complexity in diffusion processes. However, this complexity requires statistical methods that better capture the relational nature of the data and changes occurring over time. Failure to do so could lead to erroneous conclusio...

A History of Socially Responsible Business, c. 1600–1950. Edited byWilliam A. Pettigrew andDavid Chan Smith. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. xv + 313 pp. Figures, tables, references, notes, index. Cloth, $169.00. ISBN: 978-3-319-60145-8. - Volume 92 Issue 3 - Bryan W. Husted

Purpose This paper aims to examine the sixteenth-century Nahua society of central Mexico to answer the question, what commercial ethical norms operated in the sixteenth-century Nahua society? After decades of trying, Western business models and managerial theories have not met expectations in terms of fostering a socially and environmentally sustai...

In this chapter, we explain why firms selectively responding to the most powerful, legitimate, and urgent demands of their stakeholders will not bring about sustainability and offer suggestions on what we should do in light of this shortcoming. Sustainability issues tend to be wicked problems that require cooperation across parties and over time to...

Governing the void between stakeholder management and sustainability ABSTRACT In this paper, we explain why firms selectively responding to the most powerful, legitimate, and urgent demands of their stakeholders will not bring about sustainability and offer suggestions on what we should do in light of this shortcoming. Sustainability issues tend t...

Have stakeholders increased their influence over firm behavior in the digital age? We draw from cognitive theory to argue that although social media have made it easier for stakeholders to broadcast their demands, the methods used to cope with the drastic change in quantities and qualities of information in the digital age have limited stakeholder...

One of the greatest challenges for sustainable business models is achieving a scale of operations that is adequate to meet the quantity and depth of needs in their markets. In this paper, we examine scaling of sustainable business models at the base of the pyramid (BOP). Using within- and cross-case analyses, we study the sustainable business model...

Firms are central to wealth creation and distribution, but their role in economic inequality in a society remains poorly studied. In this essay, we define and distinguish value distribution from value creation and appropriation. We identify four value distribution mechanisms that firms engage in and argue that shareholder wealth maximization skews...

Business and society research has increasingly moved from the margins to the mainstream. Although this progression has benefited from advances in empirical research, the field continues to suffer from considerable methodological challenges that hamper its development. In this introductory article to the special issue, we review how far our field ha...

An issue of Business & Society does not pass where there is not at least one, if not more, papers on corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate social performance (CSP). In fact, the field is obsessed with issues of performance and impact. Does CSR have an impact on financial performance? Or, perhaps more importantly, does CSR have an impac...

Building on the literature on opportunity identification among commercial entrepreneurs, we propose a conceptual framework for the opportunity identification process in social entrepreneurship that includes both opportunity discovery and opportunity creation. We develop scales to measure these constructs and examine their validity and reliability....

In this article we provide an overview of the literature on ethics and social responsibility of developing country multinationals (DMNEs) and an introduction to the contributions of the articles in this special section. With the rising influence of DMNEs in the global economy, there is increasing interest in applying descriptive, explanatory, and n...

We explore the impact of local legitimacy on the imitation of certification by subsidiaries of foreign multinational enterprises and domestic firms. We propose that MNE subsidiaries and domestic firms differ in their propensity to imitate geographically-proximate firms when deciding whether to adopt national versus global CSR certifications for two...

Special Issue on: Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Developing Country Multinationals - Volume 24 Issue 1 - Jonathan Doh, Bryan Husted, Xiaohua Yang

Research summary : Building on economic geography and institutional theory, we develop and test theory relating geographic variables to the strength of corporate social responsibility ( CSR ) engagement and the cost of equity capital. For a large sample of U.S. firms over the period 1998–2009, we find strong and robust evidence that firms located i...

Defining the Scope of Business & Society

Microfinance is a vital source of funding for micro-entrepreneurs in emerging markets and underdeveloped nations. The emphasis in the literature on social sanctions as a mechanism for ensuring high repayment rates may be misplaced. We propose that the construct of harmonious social relations needs to be added in order to explain repayment rates and...

This study concentrates on the diffusion of managerial practices in an interlock network of listed firms in Mexico. Management literature traditionally aim to understand on the one hand, the factors that impede diffusion such as knowledge barriers and on the other, factors that ease diffusion such as institutional mechanisms. However, many of these...

Abstract: This paper identifies the connections between the diffusion of innovations, social network, and institutional literatures to the study of the diffusion of managerial practices in general and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in particular. We demonstrate that each literature has contributed to explaining the diffusion and adoption of...

As part of a cooperative effort between the Journal of Business Research (JBR) and the Business Association of Latin American Studies (BALAS), this special issue brings updated research on the Latin American business environment. Out of 107 papers submitted to the BALAS 2013 Conference, which was hosted by ESAN Graduate School of Business, in Lima,...

It is quite a privilege to assume the editorship of a scholarly journal when much of the hard work has already been done. As the new editorial team responsible for editing Business & Society, we are inheriting a thriving enterprise that has convened a strong community of committed readers, authors, editors, and reviewers, which has a growing reputa...

The history of the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has largely been limited to the twentieth century, with a focus on the United States. This paper provides a brief introduction to CSR practice from the nineteenth century through World War I in the United Kingdom, United States, Japan, India, and Germany. The relevance of nineteen...

We propose that domestic firms imitate adoption of global management practices by geographically proximate firms because global practice adoption indicates that domestic firms meet global benchmarks and because their knowledge of global practices is limited. In contrast, MNE subsidiaries imitate adoption of national management practices by geograph...

Management research has benefited from the incorporation of social network theory, which helps explain the intrinsic social complexity in diffusion processes. However, this complexity requires statistical methods that better capture the relational nature of the data and changes occurring over time. Failure to do so could lead to erroneous conclusio...

This paper identifies the connections between the diffusion of innovations, social network, and institutional literatures to the study of the diffusion of managerial practices in general and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in particular. We demonstrate that each literature has contributed to explaining the diffusion and adoption of CSR practi...

Economic inequality in society has been a critical public issue for years, but received a new boost in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Yet, barring a few exceptions, management theory has lagged popular perceptions in tying business to economic inequality. To address this gap, this symposium brings into focus potential theories to exp...

El desempeño social empresarial (CSP, por sus siglas en inglés) ha sido un tema ampliamente estudiado en el campo de la administración. Sin embargo, su método de medición continúa siendo ambiguo, genera controversia y, al mismo tiempo, es complejo para la investigación. Este trabajo propone la medición del CSP, definido como la satisfacción de los...

Mediante la comparación estadística de características de bienestar para dos grupos de hogares del municipio de Zinacantepec, Estado de México, en este trabajo se estima el alcance de los objetivos sociales de un programa de responsabilidad social administrado por la empresa Cementos Mexicanos (Cemex). Los resultados establecen que, por una parte,...

Growing income inequality has become a major social welfare problem across the globe. To date, scant attention has focused on the role of the firm in theories of income inequality, and management and organization theory has largely been silent on the issue. In this paper, we propose a redefinition of income inequality relevant for the firm. We also...

Corporate social performance (CSP) has been studied extensively by management scholars, yet most approaches to its measurement continue to be ambiguous, controversial and difficult to research. In this paper, we propose measuring CSP via the construct of stakeholder satisfaction through social media. Using organizational justice theory, we argue th...