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The Symbiotic Sustainability Model: Conceptualizing NGO–Corporate Alliance Communication
Abstract
We introduce the Symbiotic Sustainability Model (SSM) as a macrolevel explanation of nongovernmental organization (NGO)-corporate alliances. The SSM presents NGO-corporate alliances as distinct interorganizational communication relationships, symbolized to stakeholders to influence the mobilization of capital. We contend that alliance partners communicatively co-construct the alliance with stakeholders in order to mobilize economic, social, cultural, and political capital. By focusing on the communication of alliances' existence and character, new propositions emerge concerning the role of communication, capital mobilization resulting from NGO-corporate alliances, NGOs and corporations' choice(s) of alliance partner(s), the number of partners with whom organizations are likely to communicate, and potential risks and rewards. The model is illustrated using the Rainforest Alliance and Chiquita Better Banana program as an abbreviated case study.
... As many individual organizations form dyadic relationships with each other, complex and large-scale interorganizational networks could gradually take shape (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). These networks provide the social structures that further facilitate or constrain crosssector collaboration. ...
... Competing priorities between profit-driven private sector entities and public or nonprofit organizations can result in initiatives that prioritize organizational benefits over societal needs. Even in the digital realm, research suggests that network ties in cross-sector collaborations are often fractured along geographic and sectoral lines (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). ...
... In addition, it is necessary to recognize that cross-sector communication on social media is often representational in the sense that such communication not only exchanges information between connecting organizations, but also conveys symbolic signals to the public and other stakeholders (Maktoufi et al., 2020;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). Such publicly visible symbolic signals project a sense of unity and solidarity. ...
Multi-organizational cross-sector partnerships on social media involving nonprofits, governments, and corporations are increasingly important for addressing complex social issues. Such large-scale cross-sector networks would not be possible without brokers who connect otherwise disconnected clusters. Nevertheless, cross-sector brokers are not always positively received by the public. Drawing from the brokerage typology literature, we classify five distinctive types of brokers (i.e., representative, gatekeeper, liaison, itinerant, and coordinator) and explore public responses associated with them, and how such effects spill over to connected same-sector organizations. Our findings show that different types of brokers receive different public responses, which are moderated by organizations’ sectors. In particular, nonprofits playing brokerage roles are more likely to be positively received by the public compared to government agencies.
... To do this, we apply the Symbiotic Sustainability Model (SSM) to argue that NFL-nonprofit partnerships are communicatively co-constructed by the NFL, nonprofit partners, and stakeholders (e.g., audiences, fans, activists, etc.). Furthermore, we argue that the communication and co-construction of these partnerships help mobilize and/or restrict various forms of capital for the NFL (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). With experimental data, our findings offer implications as to what factors influence individuals' evaluation of sports organizations' CSR campaigns to support the LGBTQ+ community. ...
... Applying the symbiotic sustainability model (SSM) to NFL-nonprofit partnerships SSM is a macro-level theoretical model that focuses on institutional positioning and communication of cross-sector partnerships (Shumate et al., 2018;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). It views corporate-nonprofit partnerships as existing in a dynamic, complex environment where both partners and stakeholders communicatively co-construct the existence, character, and value of the partnership to mobilize or restrict various forms of capital (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). ...
... Applying the symbiotic sustainability model (SSM) to NFL-nonprofit partnerships SSM is a macro-level theoretical model that focuses on institutional positioning and communication of cross-sector partnerships (Shumate et al., 2018;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). It views corporate-nonprofit partnerships as existing in a dynamic, complex environment where both partners and stakeholders communicatively co-construct the existence, character, and value of the partnership to mobilize or restrict various forms of capital (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). The SSM contends that normative expectations stakeholders hold for one, or both, partners are echoed in their evaluations of the combined identity created by the partnership (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). ...
Guided by the Symbiotic Sustainability Model, this study examines how partnership characteristics influence people’s evaluation of corporate-nonprofit alliances and how attitude toward partner organizations and partnerships influence intention to support the corporation. Using the NFL’s partnership with a LGBTQ+ sports organization as a context, this study analyzed data from 459 participants. Findings show that using the nonprofit partner as the communication source enhances the NFL’s reputation, but, this effect disappears after controlling for other factors. Partnership type indirectly impacts the NFL support intention, mediated by foundation attitude. Attitudes toward the NFL, the nonprofit, and the partnership, are all related to the willingness to support the NFL. This study offers implications for strategic communication to enhance reputation and public support.
... While this definition sounds like corporate social responsibility (CSR), USR demonstrates that organizations other than corporations also have social responsibility imperatives. Recent research in public relations has echoed this expanded CSR call to include nonprofit organizations, emphasizing the fact that these institutions are equal players in the CSR dynamic (Dong and Zhang, 2019;Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). Specifically, CSR is co-created through communication of a corporate entity and other organizations with which they may partner (Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). ...
... Recent research in public relations has echoed this expanded CSR call to include nonprofit organizations, emphasizing the fact that these institutions are equal players in the CSR dynamic (Dong and Zhang, 2019;Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). Specifically, CSR is co-created through communication of a corporate entity and other organizations with which they may partner (Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). When nonprofits communicate their social responsibility efforts, they may take different strategic approaches than corporations (Dong and Zhang, 2019). ...
... When nonprofits communicate their social responsibility efforts, they may take different strategic approaches than corporations (Dong and Zhang, 2019). For example, nonprofits must communicate CSR to emphasize the nonprofit's mission fulfillment and ways the organization is contributing to bettering society through the corporate partnership (Dong and Zhang, 2019;Harrison et al., 2022;Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). CSR communication from a nonprofit may be perceived as society-serving simply because nonprofits have an inherent duty to serve the greater good (Cho et al., 2021). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to expand corporate social responsibility research in communication management by understanding the dynamics of university social responsibility (USR). The COVID-19 pandemic and social justice protests of 2020 provide a context to study communication about universities’ dual roles as economic engines and social activists. Messaging from a university about its social responsibility goals can impact student perceptions.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted of 493 students enrolled at a major university in 2020. Students were asked about two real campaigns at their university, one about healthy behavior and one about racial justice on campus.
Findings
Altruism positively predicted reputation, trust and donation intent, while distrust was inversely predicted. Message credibility and believability were mediators of these relationships, but only source credibility mediated altruism for the social justice campaign. For universities, this study demonstrates the importance of communicating social responsibility messages with students. As an important and overlooked stakeholder group in USR, students may respond positively to these messages, which have implications for their potential willingness to donate after graduation.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by merging variables from public relations and marketing with theory development in higher education management to provide a new perspective on ethical organizational communication.
... Other scholars maintain that the size, number, and diversity of relationships makes NGOs formidable partners in issue networks as their power and the urgency of their claims give them saliency to managers (Guay et al., 2004). NGOs may be particularly important to MNCs because of the exchange of legitimacy and social capital between them (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). ...
... One way that corporations respond to stakeholder pressure on behalf of emergent stakeholders is through corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs (Hyatt & Berente, 2017). CSR programs are a distinctive type of partnership that is communicatively co-constructed between partners (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). They both provide a context for interaction (Taylor & Kent, 2014) and communicate corporate legitimacy to stakeholders (Devin & Lane, 2014;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). ...
... CSR programs are a distinctive type of partnership that is communicatively co-constructed between partners (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). They both provide a context for interaction (Taylor & Kent, 2014) and communicate corporate legitimacy to stakeholders (Devin & Lane, 2014;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). CSR programs often begin as cross-sector partnerships between MNCs and emergent stakeholder networks. ...
... Through NGO-corporate alliances, the economic, social, cultural, and political values of capital are framed, interpreted, made meaningful, mobilised, and/or restricted by alliance partners and stakeholders. Accordingly, Shumate and O'Connor (2010) developed the symbiotic sustainability model as a macro-level communication-based explanation of NGO-corporate alliances. Jones et al. (2004) supported that while a move from micro-to macro-level theorising is one of the challenges facing organisational communication scholars, this is needed for three reasons. ...
... Many researchers have tackled the subject of how fair trade may change the mainstream market relations, but there is an absence of future recommendations for policy and practice as to how the concept of fair trade can be transformed into policy on building collaborative partnerships and new sustainability business models (Bougherara et al., 2018;Lawrence et al., 2019;Murphy and Murphy, 2018;O'Higgins and Zsolnai, 2018a;Poret, 2019). While there are no actual statistics available, there is evidence indicating that in the last 15 years there has been an increase in the number of relationships being established by multinational corporations and non-profit NGOs (Austin, 2000;Bendell, 2000;Elkington, 1998;Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). Such alliances across sectors signify joint efforts being undertaken by two kinds of organisations in which the public has different levels of trust regarding matters relating to the environment, human rights, and health (Wootliff and Deri, 2001). ...
... Extending the above two models, the symbiotic sustainability business model is a macro-level model that can be used to explain NGO-corporate alliances (Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). This model reveals the network of relationships that exist among non-profits and businesses, making it possible to explore and analyse these at both organisational and industry levels (McPhee and Zaug, 2000;Shumate et al., 2018). ...
... Specifically, scholars suggest further conceptual studies on the symbiotic sustainability model (SSM; Shumate and O'Connor, 2010) can be leveraged to gain a deeper understanding of the workings of NGO-corporate alliances. The symbiotic sustainability business model is a macro-level model that can be used to explain NGOcorporate alliances (Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). ...
... Specifically, scholars suggest further conceptual studies on the symbiotic sustainability model (SSM; Shumate and O'Connor, 2010) can be leveraged to gain a deeper understanding of the workings of NGO-corporate alliances. The symbiotic sustainability business model is a macro-level model that can be used to explain NGOcorporate alliances (Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). Its focus is on the positions of organisations in B2N partnerships when communicating (McPhee and Zaug, 2000) and communicates the character and outcomes of these relationships to stakeholders (Shumate, 2016). ...
... The economic, social, cultural, and political values of capital are framed, interpreted, made meaningful, mobilised, and/or restricted by alliance partners and stakeholders through NGO-corporate alliances. Accordingly, Shumate and O'Connor (2010) developed the SSM as a macro-level communication-based explanation of NGO-corporate alliances. Jones et al. (2004) supported that while a move from micro-to macro-level theorising is one of the challenges facing organisational communication scholars, this is needed for three reasons. ...
... In doing so, they can position themselves strategically in their external environment by signaling their relationships with other actors to gain institutional capital (O'Connor & Gronewold, 2012). Especially when existing norms or standards are unclear, organizations tend to imitate other actors to reduce uncertainty about acceptable practices (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010b). In this way, isomorphism manifests at the interorganizational level and contributes to defining what is normal (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010a;Sommerfeldt & Xu, 2017). ...
... Given the constant scrutiny MNCs face, following international standards can allow them to reconcile different expectations across market economies and gain positive evaluations from a wide range of stakeholders (Kang & Moon, 2012 A key limitation of NGO alliance network found in public reports is related to the fact that companies selectively report their relationships with NGOs. As Shumate and O'Connor (2010b) suggest, companies may highlight some alliances in their CSR reports but not others, if they perceive risks associated with communicating about certain affiliations (e.g., when their NGO partners also share relationships with competitors). Compared to such uncertainties and risks associated with reporting NGO alliances, regulatory agencies and standards-setting organizations provide companies with rules and norms that are clearly spelled out, reducing uncertainty about how to respond to various demands and expectations in the institutionalized environment. ...
... These findings indicate that MNC's attention to environmental issues has become no longer an option but a necessity for their survival and growth. Accordingly, we may expect MNCs' interorganizational positioning in CSR reporting to highlight their alliances with NGOs focusing on environmental protection in order to create discursive values(Shumate & O'Connor, 2010b). Hence, we hypothesize that MNCs' CSR reporting will communicate about their relationships with environmental NGOs more frequently than other types of NGOs.H3: Environment NGOs are more popular in MNCs' CSR reports, compared to NGOs in other global issue domains. ...
Drawing on institutional theory, we position CSR reports as a crucial communication practice that provides evidence of shared norms, values, and relationships among organizations operating within the institutionalized environment. Through Fortune Global 500 companies’ CSR reports published in 2018 and using named entity recognition, we analyzed interorganizational networks to understand the driving forces behind CSR institutionalization. After fitting exponential random graph models (ERGMs) to the network, we found that standards-setting organizations played the most prominent role. In addition, we identified distinct sectoral preferences in companies’ interorganizational positioning in relation to legitimacy-granting organizations such as (inter)governmental agencies and financial organizations. We discuss the implications of the emphasis on standardization, sectoral differences, and network dynamics among various legitimacy-granting organizations on CSR institutionalization and CSR reporting as communicative constitution of institutional legitimacy.
... The symbiotic sustainability model (SSM; Shumate & O'Connor, 2010b) provides the buffering proposition tested in this study. The SSM focuses on the communication about corporate-nonprofit partnerships and argues when stakeholders learn about a partnership via communication their existing expectations of individual partner organizations will inform partnership evaluations. ...
... The SSM focuses on the communication about corporate-nonprofit partnerships and argues when stakeholders learn about a partnership via communication their existing expectations of individual partner organizations will inform partnership evaluations. In turn, positive attitudes towards the partnership may provide buffering because partnerships generate associational value (Austin & Seitandidi, 2012b; which can create a halo of goodwill (O'Connor, 2006;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010b). Relevant to the current study, proposition six states "NGO-corporate alliance partners will be more buffered from and less vulnerable to disturbances in their environments than corporations and NGOs not in enduring cross-sector alliances" (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010b, p. 592). ...
... In addition, CSR can positively influence purchase decisions (Du et al., 2010) and investor response (Aaron et al., 2012). The benefits suggest that CSR can buffer an organization from negative feedback and provide a halo of legitimacy when the organization experiences negative events (Mio & Fasan, 2012;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010b). Among the studies that provide support for the buffering 5 hypothesis is a longitudinal study (1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003) that found that corporations with higher levels of CSR experienced fewer negative actions than corporations with lower levels of CSR (Godfrey et al., 2009). ...
Purposes. This study investigates the complex relationship between corporate-nonprofit partnership characteristics (type, duration, and source of communication); attitude toward the corporation (pre-test and post-test); partnership evaluation; and stakeholders’ willingness to engage in anti-corporate behaviors when a corporation behaves irresponsibly and negatively impacts an individual’s community. The three partnership characteristics are evaluated, individually and collectively, to discern which, if any, characteristics protect or buffer a corporation from stakeholders’ engagement in negative communication behaviors when controlling for how stakeholders evaluate the partnership and the corporation.
Design/methodology/approach. The study used an online experiment with 970 participants who were randomly assigned to a 2 × 2 × 3 × 2 factorial design.
Findings. Contrary to some previous research findings, this study found that individuals who evaluate either the corporation or the partnership favorably are more likely to engage in anti-corporate behaviors. Neither the partnership type nor communication source provides a buffering effect. The only partnership characteristic to generate a buffering effect was duration and that only occurred if the partnership lasted 3 years. We conclude that when corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) co-occur, an amplification rather than mollifies stakeholders’ willingness to enact anti-corporate communication behaviors in instances of CSI.
Originality. This study advances scholarly understanding of CSR and CSI as in-tandem concepts and practices. The findings challenge previous claims that corporate-nonprofit partnerships can buffer corporations from negative events. In contrast, we find that partnerships are limited in their ability to reduce stakeholders’ willingness to engage in anti-corporate behaviors in instances of CSR. It also answers calls that CSR research should use non-fictitious companies to increase ecological validity of the study design.
... Most existing research tends to focus on the structural determinants of representational networks, such as organizational attributes and network structure, in the nonprofit context (e.g., Liu & Shin, 2019;Wang & Guan, 2020), without considering the messaging strategies involved in representational networks. As a result, when alliances are asserted through organizations' communication to the public, it is unclear what is communicated, how it is communicated, and the extent to which such communication is effective in mobilizing resources from partnering organizations and stakeholders (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010b). ...
... First, this study builds on the theoretical framework of the Symbiotic Sustainability Model (SSM; Shumate & O'Connor, 2010b), which asserts the importance of communication in shaping the existence and character of cross-sector alliances. Specifically, we supplement the SSM with the issues management literature to investigate the content of messages involved in public organizations' communication of alliances within and across sectors. ...
... As one of the seminal frameworks focusing on representational network tie building, the SSM (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010b) is based on the assumption that the existence, character, and valuation of alliances is communicatively co-constructed by partnering organizations and stakeholders, and that this helps to mobilize different types of capital (e. g., economic, social, cultural, and political). According to the SSM, organizations in different populations (e.g., nonprofit and for-profit sectors) occupy niche spaces-for example, providing distinct services or being governed by their own authority relations. ...
Organizations have adopted social media to communicate their alliances to the public, that is, engage in representational networks. Yet a comprehensive examination of what is communicated in representational networks and how public reactions are associated with these networks is relatively scarce. This study builds on the Symbiotic Sustainability Model (SSM) to examine the content of messages passed in representational networks on social media and their related public reactions. Based on a panel analysis of one year of Facebook data generated by 605 public organizations in Taiwan, this study reveals that referencing certain topics such as economic and technological development and employing linguistic features demonstrating efficacy, formality, and empathetic concern in Facebook messages was associated with an increased diversity of alliance ties reported by public organizations. Moreover, the relationship between communicating diverse alliance ties and positive public reactions in the form of likes went both ways. Integrating automated topic modeling, linguistic analysis, and panel analysis, this study provides a process-based and communication-centered view of the mechanisms and disparities underlying organizations' strategic network management on social media.
... in the last 15 years (Mutch and Aitken 2009;Shumate and O'Connor 2010;Maktoufi, O'Connor, and Shumate 2020). To inform CSR advertising practice, the growth and prevalence of such initiatives underscores the need for further research about perceptions of these partnerships. ...
... The SSM is a communication-based explanation of corporate-nonprofit partnerships, and to-date, it is the only communication-based theory that examines corporatenonprofit partnerships and offers testable propositions (Maktoufi, O'Connor, and Shumate 2020;Shumate and O'Connor 2010). Much of the advertising research assumes that brands and products have associations tied to them and those affect how messages from those brands/products are perceived. ...
... The SSM asserts that corporate-nonprofit partnerships are 'distinct interorganizational communication relationships that are symbolized to stakeholders' (Maktoufi, O'Connor, and Shumate 2020, 191). The theory holds that partners and their stakeholders communicate the character, existence, and value of the corporate-nonprofit partnerships with each other and external stakeholders (Shumate and O'Connor 2010). Stakeholders' evaluations of the communicative construction of the partnership have direct implications for its value such that their value depends as much on the success of the communication about the partnership as the concrete resources invested. ...
Effective corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertising depends on the nature of the partnership and how it is communicated in messages about CSR initiatives. Guided by the Symbolic Sustainability Model (SSM), this study investigates the effects of communication about CSR initiatives comparing differing CSR approaches through a 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial experiment. After viewing a hypothetical CSR-based advertisement, participants (N = 433) rated their perceptions of initiative effectiveness and attitudes toward the initiative. Compared to a donation-based initiative, a CSR partnership had an indirect, positive effect on audience evaluations, which was mediated by perceptions of the likelihood of the corporation’s sustained commitment to the partnership. The advertising that emphasized a partnership outperformed a donation-focused CSR initiative because participants perceived that the sponsoring corporation was invested in helping the cause for an extended period. The findings indicate that audiences are likely to perceive partnerships and donations positively; however, partnership initiatives may have stronger positive, indirect effects because they may be more likely to signal sustained commitment. The findings support the Symbiotic Sustainability Model (SSM) and demonstrate the efficacy of the SSM for CSR advertising. For practitioners, the findings point to strategies that may be helpful amidst the proliferation of CSR advertising.
... Moreover, as growing public relations scholarship in organization-public relationship employs an interorganizational focus (e.g., Dong et al., 2023;Ferguson, 2018;Li & Yang, 2022;Saffer et al., 2018), we consider the role of cross-sector partnerships in legitimacy building. Ties with governments or business organizations may signal NPOs' commitment to other stakeholders and thus influence their legitimacy and capital mobilization (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010;Yang & Ji, 2019). Collectively, these three factors represent NPOs' social accountability to diverse individual and organizational stakeholders the top management deem critical in organization-public relationship management. ...
... In summary, NPOs must be strategic in forming and communicating cross-sector partnerships, given the potential influence on their legitimacy. For example, drawing on the Symbiotic Sustainability Model (SSM), Shumate and O'Connor (2010) suggested the strategic communication of a fitting cross-sector partnership between the Rainforest Alliance and Chiquita's Better Banana program helped partnering organizations gain social, economic, and political capital and improve stakeholders' evaluation of organizational legitimacy. Likewise, Yang and Cheong (2019) showed how cross-sector partnerships helped Enpai (a Chinese nonprofit incubator) to serve as a legitimate relationship broker to strengthen the civil society and advance the nonprofit sector in China. ...
Given the critical role of legitimacy in attracting key resources for organizational survival and growth, organizational and strategic communication research has long sought to understand the mechanisms essential in improving organizational legitimacy. Guided by stakeholder research and configurational thinking, we examine three interconnected communication mechanisms for relationship management in organizational legitimation: (a) information visibility, (b) organizational listening, and (c) cross-sector partnerships. Based on survey and archival data from 44 U.S. nonprofit organizations, we employed a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify the pathways to high or low organizational legitimacy. Our results reveal the combinations of these factors can complement or substitute for one another to explain legitimacy. Specifically, high pragmatic legitimacy requires effective listening to stakeholders and collaborating with government agencies. By contrast, in low pragmatic legitimacy, organizations are often hindered by limited capacity for information visibility, ineffective listening to stakeholders, and no collaboration with corporate partners. These results suggest theoretical contributions to stakeholder research in public relations and organizational and strategic communication scholarship , as well as practical implications for improving organizational legitimacy for mission-driven organizations.
... Complex issues like the refugee crisis and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic pervade society and are often politically and culturally contested (Heath & Isbell, 2017). Interorganizational relationships (IORs) refer to cross-sector organizational networks with mission-driven efforts to advance humanitarian agendas (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010;Yang, 2020) and often mitigate complex problems involving vulnerable people, like refugees. Refugees, individuals displaced from their homelands following humanitarian crises (Castles, 2003), not only endure emotional distress but also face cultural and social vulnerabilities in their new communities (Alencar, 2017;Chouliaraki & Zaborowski, 2017). ...
... To fulfill their nonprofit mission, organizations like ROHOs are mostly issue centered, necessitating collaboration and resource-dependent relationships (Koschmann & Sanders, 2020;Provan & Milward, 2001). Cross-sector IORs enable mission-driven organizations to collectively address critical social issues, which support the integrity and enrichment of civil society (Googins & Rochlin, 2000;Guo & Acar, 2005;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010;Yang, 2020). For instance, the refugee crisis challenged the global communities, spanning from individuals to organizations to policy, and cannot be resolved by a single organization or country (Ferraro et al., 2015;Salignac et al., 2018). ...
This study extends the communication theory of resilience (CTR) by examining social networks that facilitate resilience for refugee-oriented humanitarian organizations (ROHOs). This study draws on a network survey and interviews from ROHOs in the United States and South Korea during the height of coronavirus disease 2019. Results illuminate how refugees, generally seen as the subject of concern, become engaged in networks with organizations to facilitate organizational resilience. A close inspection of the nature of interorganizational relationships revealed that resilience was a function of ties that involved engaged communication and not simply transactional relationships. This article shows how organizational resilience is facilitated when the people are engaged as part of organizational networks: networks cutting across systems to organizations to the vulnerable constituents, themselves. The study advances prior research on organizational resilience by specifying what it means to leverage social networks for organizational stability, which has direct implications for the policy and organizational systems.
... The term "Associative" implies flexible relationships between organizations and visibility agents, ranging from collaborations and partnerships to loose networks and ties. Some are merely superficial associations, while others are symbiotic partnerships (Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). Regardless of how extensive the relationship is, it is characterized by mutuality and reciprocity between the organization and visibility agent. ...
... These relationships may seem associative and symbiotic in nature but consistently prove advantageous for the organization. At the very least, they are commensalist (Shumate and O'Connor, 2010), with organizations gaining benefit and the visibility agent being neutral. Worse, the relationship becomes parasitic, and the visibility agent itself is dismantled in the long run. ...
Transparency is a complex and multifaceted communication phenomenon. In the current environment, demands for organizational transparency now come from a wide range of entities we term visibility agents, ranging from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and global networks, on one hand, to activist coalitions and automated surveillance agents, on the other. We develop a framework to conceive of such visibility agents and the range of transparency demands that they make in the context of environmental issues, positing that visibility agents significantly shape and diversify transparency practices. We identify four major relationships between visibility agents and organizations—inquisitorial, adversarial, associative, and advocative—which are associated with specific kinds of transparency demands, requests, and imperatives: accountability, monitoring, disclosure, and secrecy. We illustrate each set of relationships with examples of environmental reporting practices, one of the most prominent areas of transparency management. Implications for both theory and research on transparency are discussed.
... Complicating the picture, Maktoufi, O'Connor, and Shumate (2020) attempt to go beyond the question of whether fit matters in influencing stakeholder perceptions of corporate-nonprofit partnerships to examining what types of messages matter, under what conditions, and to whom. Grounded in their Symbiotic Sustainability Model (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010) and its premise that "the meaning and value of a corporate-nonprofit partnership is communicatively constructed between organizations and stakeholders" (p. 200), the authors find that created fit messaging-even when concise-generates favorable perceptions about the NGO-business partnership. ...
... The communication of CSR, more generally, follows a similar line of argumentation whereby communication serves the dual purpose of creating stakeholder awareness and mitigating skepticism toward CSR (Du, Bhattacharya, & Sen, 2010). Successful partnerships are contingent on communication processes (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). ...
... Their communication initiatives online further increase public awareness and engagement with the advocated issue. Shumate and O'Connor (2010) argued that social media-based cross-sectoral communication is more than an extension of traditional communication. In this perspective, communication is strategic and selective regarding whom they recognize and communicate with as their strategic partners (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). ...
... Shumate and O'Connor (2010) argued that social media-based cross-sectoral communication is more than an extension of traditional communication. In this perspective, communication is strategic and selective regarding whom they recognize and communicate with as their strategic partners (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). ...
... Collaboration is an integral part of NGOs' operations as there are consortiums that consolidate their work, such as the Human Rights Working Group, which consists of NGOs in Indonesia, or the Alliance for Refugees Network Asia Pacific. Collaborative work keeps NGOs sustainable as coworking organizations can share mutual values and strengthen their sustainability (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). In addition to coworking with other NGOs like the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and Suaka in Indonesia, NGOs work with international organizations or corporations. ...
As part of the essential fabric of Indonesian society, nongovernmental and community-based organizations, particularly those dealing with refugee-related issues, play a crucial role in assisting forcibly displaced people impacted by catastrophes. These organizations have distinct roles and characteristics, some focusing on capacity building while others on advocacy. However, the lack of comprehensive research on these organizations hinders our acknowledgment of their challenges and potential. This article underscores the urgent need for exhaustive research in this area and aims to fill this gap by reviewing several works of literature on refugee studies. It provides a platform for academic researchers, policymakers, and humanitarian organizations to deepen their understanding and contribute to the discourse of refugee-related organizations in Indonesia. The data was meticulously collected from journal articles and other scholarly sources relevant to the article and was reevaluated to demonstrate refugee studies within the Indonesian context and refugee organization studies in other countries’ contexts. The study suggests that refugee-related organizations in Indonesia navigate the ambivalent government regulation of refugees and their predicaments as humanitarian organizations, leading to several operational impediments. The article, with its potential to significantly improve an apprehension of the operations and sustainability of nongovernmental organizations, particularly those dealing with refugee issues, underscores the importance of this research.
... So geben Unternehmen zunehmend vor, nicht im partikularen Interesse, sondern im Sinne des Gemeinwohls zu handeln (Ihlen & Raknes, 2020). Um ihre öffentliche Reputation zu verbessern, gehen Unternehmen strategische Allianzen mit NGOs ein und vernetzen sich mit aktivistischen Gruppen (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). Die Kommunikation von Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Corporate Citizenship (CC) und Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation sind heute, wenn auch in unterschiedlichem Ausmaß, institutionalisierte Rollen der gesell-schaftsorientierten und politischen Unternehmenskommunikation (Lee, 2021). ...
... Social network theories show the ways NPOs and government agencies work collaboratively to support their vulnerable constituents (c.f., Milward et al. 2009;Shumate and O'Connor 2010). For organizations that serve surrounding communities, their work during crisis events mitigates disruptions for both themselves and their communities (Aldrich 2012). ...
Organizations in disaster-prone areas generally have formalized plans that will help them recover after environmental disasters. However, these formal mechanisms are usually adapted “on the fly” because disasters don't unfold according to plans. This paper examines how a cross-sector network of community organizations used both formal structures (planned/bureaucratic relationships within and among organizations) and informal structures (emergent/social networks) that interacted to support organized response work in response to both anticipated and chaotic events during and following Hurricane Harvey. Results showed that formal reporting relationships that included preestablished network relationships predicted organizing structures on the days when volatility was highest, while emergent networks were crucial in guiding recovery actions during periods of crisis. The findings extend phase models of crisis with a more granular and longitudinal analysis of these organizing processes, advancing organizational theory that often frames bureaucratic structures and social networks as dichotomous rather than as symbiotic.
... Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) commonly referred to voluntary organizational activities that are periodic, temporary and eccentric (Brie & Böhm 2013), it involves both organizational humanitarian services and actions aimed at resolving social problems surrounding their host communities. Shumate and O'Connor (2010) observed that corporations mostly focused on those social problems which are less tedious and much convenientthose that will not cost the corporation much resources and expenditure. The type of CSR activities engaged in, is dependent of the size of the company, the nature of their product and needs of their host community (Craig & Allen, 2016). ...
The goal of our research is to identify significant characteristics of green finance and research gaps based on a thorough review of the literature. The content analysis approach is used in this study, which evaluates and summarises key past studies in the topic of green finance. This study evaluates existing research on green finance in the banking industry, with an emphasis on green financing and sustainable development. The period of study the is from August 2022 - January 2023. The sample for study includes 125 respondents. The outcomes of this study shed light on critical aspects of green finance. Green securities, green investments, climate financing, green insurance, green credit, green bonds, and green infrastructure are the key green finance products.
... Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) commonly referred to voluntary organizational activities that are periodic, temporary and eccentric (Brie & Böhm 2013), it involves both organizational humanitarian services and actions aimed at resolving social problems surrounding their host communities. Shumate and O'Connor (2010) observed that corporations mostly focused on those social problems which are less tedious and much convenientthose that will not cost the corporation much resources and expenditure. The type of CSR activities engaged in, is dependent of the size of the company, the nature of their product and needs of their host community (Craig & Allen, 2016). ...
This study examined the influence of previous corporate social responsibility activities on attitude towards the company. The study adopted an experimental method, with a 3x2 factorial design, in which the first treatment condition was grouped into three, which include; control, diversity group and eco-friendly group. Participants in the first treatment condition were given positive information about the company CSR. Furthermore, the second treatment condition was divided into two; non-diversity and non-eco-friendly groups, participants were given negative information about the company’s CSR. The result gotten from the experimental study, shows that prior positive knowledge about company’s CSR has a significant effect on the attitude towards the company {F(2, 299) = 6.27, p = .002}, compared to prior negative knowledge about company’s CSR {F(2, 299) = 0.13, p = .878}, which is not significant. Individually, the result analysis reveals that both diversity group (M = 5.37, SD = 1.00) , 95% C.l. = [ .5.17, 5.56] and the eco-friendly group (M = 5.32, SD = 90) , 95% C.l. = [ .5.15, 5.50] that received positive information about the company’s CSR are significant on attitude towards the company compared to non-diversity (M = 5.18, SD = .98), 95% C.l. = [ 5.02, 5.33] and non-eco-friendly group (M = 5.24, SD = .97), 95% C.l. = [ 5.08, 5.39], which are insignificant in influencing attitude towards the company. Therefore, companies should endeavour to prioritize their CSR activities in order to get positive reviews and actions from customers and potential clients.
... Communication scholars argue that the existence, value, and meaning of firms' CSR rely on whether it is effectively communicated to satisfy stakeholders' needs and expectations for ethical businesses (Elving et al., 2015;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). While CSR researchers continually emphasize ethics as a prerequisite for CSR and a determinant of stakeholder inclusion (Oruc & Sarikaya, 2011;Sila, 2022), ethics has rarely been explicitly studied and conceptualized in CSR communication literature (Formentin & Bortree, 2019). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzes new opportunities for CSR development, and companies in both China and the US, the two largest economies severely impacted by the pandemic, are seeking innovative ways to engage with publics on social media through CSR communication. This study draws on the care ethics theory to examine different manifestations of care values in corporations’ CSR messages and their relationships with publics’ behavioral and emotional engagement on social media. A quantitative content analysis of Weibo and Twitter posts from Fortune 500 companies in China (n = 30) and the United States (n = 30), respectively, revealed that companies in both countries employ multifaceted care-based CSR messages, but in distinct ways and with varying types and levels of public engagement on social media. We interpreted the differences from institutional, cultural, and relational perspectives. The results of this research add to theorizing CSR communication from a feminist ethical viewpoint and with contextualized interpretations. Our findings also guide post-pandemic CSR communication development, particularly relevant to public relations practitioners in the Chinese and US markets.
... However, it is also vital to control for the type of tool utilized in research because interaction-based credibility is dependent on the communication tool utilized (Lock and Schulz-Knappe, 2019). In their proposed sustainability model, Shumate and O'Connor (2010) highlighted the role of communication in corporate responsibility reports. Also known as ESG or sustainability reports, these are annually published documents that outline company actions, goals, plans, and achievements in sustainability or environmental, social, and corporate governance. ...
The growth of corporate responsibility initiatives continues as firms are facing increasing pressure from stakeholders. This study aims to analyze what factors in corporate responsibility communication impact the value creation for a focal buying firm. Monthly corporate responsibility reports and corporate responsibility scores
were collected from twelve chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing firms active in sustainable procurement initiatives. Sentiment analysis was utilized via the Harvard General Inquirer lexicon that connects syntactic, practical, and semantic information to determine the sentiment polarity for the classification document. Topic classification through multiple supervised machine learning algorithms and comparisons was conducted for buyer and supplier dyads to determine topic classification alignment. Initial propositions are developed indicating the role of focal firm communication strategy as well as sentiment alignment between buyer and suppliers’ corporate responsibility communications on a focal buying firm’s corporate responsibility performance. We propose communication sentiment tends to follow the corporate responsibility score trends in firms. Additionally, buying firms with suppliers who also advocate positive sentiment toward corporate responsibility tend to have greater growth in corporate responsibility scores indicating the importance of positive consumer corporate responsibility communication. This study extends knowledge of corporate responsibility communication and proposes that alignment in sentiment between the buyer and supplier enhances corporate responsibility. We also propose alignment in corporate responsibility topics among buyer and supplier dyads do not necessarily influence performance in the same way as sentiment.
... If a business-CSO collaboration is formed owing to consumer or client pressure, the parties may form joint teams to address the underlying issue as well as to perform public communication activities. Such activities may include joint promotional events, marketing campaigns, publications, and media briefings (Shumate and O'Connor, 2010). We found evidence in our qualitative data to support these expected patterns in the South Korean context. ...
Our study seeks to achieve three objectives. First, we identify the main dimensions that shape the outcomes of business-CSO collaborations from the literature. Second, due to the scarcity of research on this topic in the context of South Korea, we examine to what extent the knowledge predominantly derived from other contexts is applicable in this research setting. Lastly, based on our findings, we theorize about the implications for MNEs seeking to enter South Korea. To do this, we followed a multi-stage pattern matching process comprising of qualitative flexible pattern matching and full pattern matching using SmartPLS.
... So geben Unternehmen zunehmend vor, nicht im partikularen Interesse, sondern im Sinne des Gemeinwohls zu handeln (Ihlen & Raknes, 2020). Um ihre öffentliche Reputation zu verbessern, gehen Unternehmen strategische Allianzen mit NGOs ein und vernetzen sich mit aktivistischen Gruppen (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). Die Kommunikation von Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Corporate Citizenship (CC) und Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation sind heute, wenn auch in unterschiedlichem Ausmaß, institutionalisierte Rollen der gesell-schaftsorientierten und politischen Unternehmenskommunikation (Lee, 2021). ...
... Several CEOs have admitted avoiding CSR and philanthropic funding, preferring to focus on governments' 'marketisation' of public services (Bertelsen & Rostgaard, 2013 in Denmark;Toothill, 2018 in UK;Cullen, 2019 in Ireland). Even international NPOs cannot match Corporations' resource bases, an imbalance that Simon (2017) argues needs resolving if effective partnerships are to flourish (see Shumate & et al (2010Shumate & et al ( , 2018 and Wang et al (2013Wang et al ( , 2020 on emerging symbiotic CSR). ...
Draft report on Irish NPO Attitudes to and Experiences of Corporate Social Responsibility
... Strong relationships between forprofits and nonprofits built on trust, commitment, and communication can be beneficial to both parties; not only through resource sharing but also through the sharing of knowledge and information (Sanzo et al., 2015). However, this means that there must be clear cooperation and communication from both sides in order for the alliance to have its intended outcomes (Morgan & Hunt, 1994;Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). For a business, purchase intention increases when there is a sponsor connection with a nonprofit (Cornwell & Coote, 2005;Park et al., 2004). ...
This study examines the donation intentions and purchase likelihood toward corporate-owned and corporate-sponsored foundations. A cross-sectional sample of Amazon’s MTurk respondents is obtained. Results of the experiment indicate that relative to foundations sponsored by a corporation, corporate foundations are perceived to be more trustworthy and have a greater perceived impact on a cause, which leads to higher purchase intentions. Additionally, donation intentions to foundations are higher among the corporate foundations because of perceived impact. Implications of these results are discussed from both practical and theoretical perspectives.
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Монографичният труд „Стратегически маркетинг в условията на дигитализация“ изследва влиянието на цифровите технологии върху маркетинговите стратегии и бизнес модели. Анализирани са ключовите промени в потребителското поведение, настъпили вследствие на дигитализацията, както и начините, по които компаниите могат да адаптират стратегическото си планиране. Разгледани са съвременните маркетингови тактики, включително брандинг в дигиталната среда, управление на социалните мрежи, автоматизация на маркетинга и ролята на инфлуенсърите. Представен е модел за стратегическо маркетинг планиране, който включва анализ на пазара, идентификация на целеви клиенти и създаване на стойност за бизнеса и потребителите. Изследвани са международни електронни търговски компании и са формулирани практически насоки за устойчив растеж в дигиталната икономика. В заключение, трудът очертава бъдещите тенденции в маркетинга, като интеграция на изкуствен интелект, автоматизирани решения и персонализирани дигитални комуникации.
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The monograph 'Strategic Marketing in the Context of Digitalization' examines the impact of digital technologies on marketing strategies and business models. The key changes in consumer behavior resulting from digitalization are analyzed, along with the ways companies can adapt their strategic planning. Contemporary marketing tactics are discussed, including branding in the digital environment, social media management, marketing automation, and the role of influencers. A model for strategic marketing planning is presented, which includes market analysis, target customer identification, and value creation for businesses and consumers. International e-commerce companies are studied, and practical guidelines for sustainable growth in the digital economy are formulated. In conclusion, the work outlines future marketing trends, such as the integration of artificial intelligence, automated solutions, and personalized digital communications.
This article examines the factors that influence the propensity of corporations to engage with NGOs. Drawing from resource dependency theory (RDT) and related theories of social networks and the resource-based view of the firm, the authors develop a series of hypotheses that draw from this conceptual foundation to predict a range of factors that influence firms to collaborate with NGOs. These factors include the level of commitment of the firm to CSR, the strategic fit between the firm’s and the NGO’s resources, the level of trust the firm has in NGOs, the frequency of contact with NGOs, prior level and perception of experience with NGOs, and the level of pressure exerted by NGOs. The authors report on results of a survey of the Top 500 firms in the Netherlands on their interactions with NGOs, finding general support for our hypotheses, and suggest that understanding the motives for firm–NGO interactions can teach us more about firms’ corporate social activities and the way such activities are shaped in the dynamic interplay between firms and their stakeholders. Our findings are relevant for future research on cross-sectoral interactions, for corporations considering future relationships with NGO cohorts, and for broader questions about the role of stakeholders and the role of business in society.
Dialogic openness suggests that organizations should employ an agonistic approach to conversation, discussion, and listening when communicating with activist groups. This study applies this theoretical premise to corporate social responsibility communication in motorsport, specifically Formula 1, which has been increasingly communicating about sustainable initiatives on social media. Through quantitative content analysis, we analyzed 820 responses to 10 CSR-related tweets during the 2021 season. We found that reactions to the messages were mostly critical, from both the left and right political perspectives. More liberal viewpoints indicated that Formula 1 should do more to address sustainability, while more conservative viewpoints complained that Formula 1 should “stick to sports” and stop engaging in social issues. Both sides showed high levels of skepticism for the intentions behind the messages. Based on our findings, we suggest that sport organizations should use principles of dialogic openness foster deliberative communication around sustainability in sport.
Endüstriyel simbiyoz, doğal kaynakları koruma ve ekolojik dengenin sağlanmasını ifade eden bir kavramdır. Ancak günümüzde endüstriyel simbiyoz kavramı gittikçe örgütsel bakış açısı ile ele alınmaktadır. Örgütsel bakış açısıyla endüstriyel simbiyoz örgütlerin rekabet avantajı kazanmak ve hayatta kalabilmek için uyguladığı işbirliği ağı stratejisi olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Bu kapsamda bu çalışmanın amacı bibliyometrik bir yaklaşım kullanarak endüstriyel simbiyoz kavramının örgütsel bakış açısı ile nasıl ele alındığı konusunda bir çerçeve oluşturmak ve araştırmacılara konu ile ilgili çalışma yapabilmesi için detaylı bilgiler sunmaktır. Bu çalışma ile, 1993-2022 yılları arasında Web of Science veri tabanından elde edilen 196 eserin Wosviewer programı kullanılarak en etkin yazarlar, dergiler ve ülkeler belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Araştırma bulgularında, örgütler arası simbiyotik ilişkilerde en üretken ülke ABD, en çok atıf alan yazarlar Davis ve Eisenhardt olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu bağlamda bu çalışmanın gelecekte çalışma yapmak isteyen araştırmacılar için genel bir çerçeve oluşturacağı düşünülmektedir.
Stakeholder theory has been advocating the inclusion of affected parties in organizational processes to increase the legitimacy and effectiveness of organizational governance. However, organizations can fail to achieve these objectives if there is no systematic link between stakeholders and their constituency. Based on democratic notions of representation, we argue that democratic stakeholder representativeness is an essential virtue of stakeholder governance processes. We conceptually derive authorization and accountability as normative elements of stakeholder representativeness and operationalize the construct by proposing empirical indicators of stakeholder representativeness as well as procedural guidance on their adoption in a practical governance context. By doing so, we contribute to the advancement of practical stakeholder governance as well as to the public management and organizational theory literature by specifying and operationalizing a construct that had previously been only vaguely defined.
Purpose
This study aims to crystallize the research landscape of corporate social responsibility (CSR) authenticity by systematically analyzing CSR scholarships published in peer-reviewed journals from 2007 to 2021.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative content analysis was used to systematically analyze 52 peer-reviewed articles on CSR authenticity. In particular, this study coded the conceptualizations and operationalizations of CSR authenticity, research contexts, applied theoretical frameworks and constructs associated with authenticity in the CSR scholarships.
Findings
This study’s analysis revealed that CSR authenticity is a multifaceted and multidimensional concept researched in various contexts. Yet, it still lacks clear and consistent conceptualization and theorization. Methodologically, qualitative and quantitative methods have equally contributed to the investigation of CSR authenticity. However, scale development and validation still need to improve.
Research limitations/implications
The sample of this research is limited by the searching method and language restriction. This research contributes to CSR scholarships by describing the growing landscape of CSR authenticity research, identifying key research gaps and offering suggestions for future research.
Practical implications
Practitioners can use the findings as references to develop more authentic CSR activities.
Originality/value
This study is an early attempt to examine the research on CSR authenticity, which has been inconclusive and disorganized, despite the rapid growth of publications in recent years.
Digital marketing has become a central part of marketing for companies, and the importance of digital marketing communication is growing daily due to its incomparable ability to influence customer attitudes and behaviours. The significance of this topic was due to the rapid development of technology and the Internet, which changed consumer attitudes and marketing forms.
The main purpose of the thesis is to examine specifically what kind of impact marketing digital communications might have on consumer awareness, loyalty, and behaviour. For this purpose, quantitative research was conducted on randomly selected audiences, and they were surveyed through an electronic questionnaire.
The study identified trends in digital media usage, consumer attitudes towards digital advertising, and the impact of digital marketing communications. It turns out that most consumers spend a lot of time on social networks, where they often get important information about products or companies, which is why they have more confidence in brands that are actively involved in digital platforms. In addition, research has shown that consistent and active use of digital marketing communications allows brands to attract new customers, maintain authority, and increase the number of loyal customers. Finally, the research found that consumer behaviour, specifically the purchase of products, is greatly influenced by the
the activity of companies on digital platforms and often becomes a motivating factor in the decision-making process.
This dissertation provides a theoretically driven empirical investigation of the emerging institution of solutions journalism. Solutions journalism is a journalistic approach defined as rigorous reporting on responses to social problems. This project uses a triangulated qualitative methodology comprising 52 in-depth interviews; netnography of solutions journalists, editors, and practitioners’ digital communities; and qualitative content analysis of solutions-oriented journalistic texts. This dissertation presents three major arguments. The first argument is that solutions journalism is a journalistic approach that functions globally as a networked organizational form with a central mission and decentralized hubs and spokes that carry out the practice worldwide. The second argument is that emerging institutions gain legitimacy through shared support for a codified set of rules, norms, and values, as seen in the legitimation of solutions journalism. The third and final argument is that solutions journalism is in a moment between theorization and diffusion worldwide, with various factors contributing to and constraining its success. Drawing from foundational roots in sociological and managerial literature, this dissertation project expands the applicability of new institutional theory to empirical questions about emerging news practices. This dissertation also answers calls for clarity of the theorization and conceptualization of solutions journalism.
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed severe challenges that require collaborative efforts from multi-sector organizations. Guided by an institutional theory framework that considers how both organizational fields and national level contexts affect organizations’ social partnership communication, the current study examines the COVID-19-related social partnership communication network on social media. The cross-national study using semantic network analysis and exponential random graph models (ERGMs) first maps the meaning of COVID-19 social partnership network, and then investigates the role of organizational fields and a country’s political system, economic system, educational system, and cultural system on the formation of interorganizational communication ties surrounding the relief efforts of COVID-19. Results reveal the importance of the political system—such as the presence of populist government, economic disparity, and uncertainty avoidance cultural orientation in shaping the social media-based social partnership communication network. In addition, NGOs from multiple issue areas are actively engaged in the network, whereas corporations from manufacturing and financial industries are active players.
In recent decades, Chinese Internet companies have experienced exponential growth. As the Internet industry increasingly commends tremendous financial resources, they also face growing stakeholder expectations for corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions. One way through which Chinese Internet companies conduct CSR is by building cross-sectoral collaborations with nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and governmental agencies. Aiming to understand Internet companies’ strategic relationship building on CSR issues, the researchers drew from stakeholder influence theory and research on a network approach to stakeholder influence, and applied multilevel network analysis to model three networks related to Chinese Internet companies’ CSR collaborations. Specifically, we found that power and urgency are significant predictors of the structure of Internet companies’ cross-sector CSR alliance network. Organizations affiliated or endorsed by the central Chinese government are the most desirable CSR stakeholders. Additionally, the study also revealed that for Internet companies, devoting their attention to Internet-related social issues could increase their desirability as strategic stakeholders from other sectors and among Internet companies.
Amid recent attention to nonprofit and voluntary organizing, empirical studies have largely focused on social capital functions, decision-making, and volunteer relationships, in contrast to missions or practices that are contested, controversial, or concealed. This study examines how nonprofit milk banks and online milksharing networks experience concealment in unique, unintentional ways. Using ethnographic fieldwork and discursive interviews, we analyze how Discourses of Filth, Suspicion, and (In)adequacy discipline members’ corporeality and participation in the milk banking/sharing industry such that concealment is enacted and enforced. The findings provide evidence for obscured organizations as a useful complement to hidden organizations by highlighting how organizations involved in body product exchange encounter unique symbolic, structural, and technical communication problems that bear community consequence. The results have implications not only for studying contemporary organizations, but also for theorizing hidden organizing and stigmatized membership.
The study critically looked into the ways in which social and environmental provisions in Nigeria can be improved upon and the body that should be socially responsible. Is it the government or the corporate entities? This paper selected six companies that are quoted in Nigeria Stock Exchange, taking two from each sector, and examined the content and quality of the concerns demonstrated in their 2013 Annual Report and Accounts for Social and environmental issues in Nigeria. Special attention was placed on the similarities or differences among the companies in their social and environmental care. This paper discovered that social and environmental issues in Nigeria had been grossly neglected by the corporate entities. They hardly reported on it in their annual reports. Even where there was report on the social and environmental issues, it is always in the Chairman's speech. The main conclusion of this paper is that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an integral part of the new business model and that it is increasingly recognized that the role of the business sector is critical. As a part of society, it is in business' interest to contribute to addressing common problems. Strategically speaking, business can only flourish when the communities and ecosystems in which they operate are healthy. Introduction:
Much like everything else in the world today, marketing communications has also evolved. With all the digital options available to consumers, the traditional methods still remain effective. The current chapter strives to examine both traditional and contemporary marketing communications and how both can be used effectively in contemporary times. The chapter starts with an introduction about marketing communications, followed by a section on traditional marketing presenting theories of traditional marketing, traditional marketing mix and the advantages of traditional marketing communications. The chapter also evaluates the contemporary marketing methods in depth and argues that the growth of digital marketing communications has created new forms of hybridity that incorporate traditional and contemporary forms of marketing communications and expanded the scope of opportunities that could not be accessed via traditional platforms while integrating new technologies. Added together, this shows an emerging pattern of opportunities and challenges brought by the digital technologies for the marketers and practitioners and how to efficiently adapt in the rapidly changing environment. The cultural differences can also pose a challenge for the marketers in emerging economies, the chapter provides recommendations on how to deal with cultural perceptions. The chapter provides practical implications for both academics and emerging markets to use the marketing communication methods effectively.
Örgütlerde birçok iletişim sorunu bulunmaktadır. Çalışanlardan kaynaklanan kişisel nedenler, örgütün yapısından kaynaklanan örgütsel nedenler, fiziksel ve teknik eksikliklerden kaynaklanan nedenlerden dolayı iletişim sorunları oluşmaktadır. Örgütsel sessizlikte, örgütsel iletişim sorunlarından birini meydana getirmektedir. Örgütsel sessizlik, çalışanların düşünce, deneyim ve görüşlerini bilerek, isteyerek örgütten saklamasını ifade etmektedir. Yapılan bu çalışmada örgütsel sessizliğin örgüte etkisi ve nedenleri ile örgütsel iletişim açısından önemi açıklanmıştır. Örgütsel sessizliğin bulunduğu örgütlerde, çalışanlar arasında huzursuzlukların, işyerinde hataların arttığı ve bunun sonucunda örgütte etkinlik ve verimliliğin azaldığı değerlendirilmektedir. Yöneticilerin etkin formel ve informel iletişim kanalları oluşturması sonucunda örgütsel sessizliğin ortadan kalkması veya azalması mümkün olacaktır.
With the advent of the industrial revolution, industry houses started performing philanthropic activities mostly for their employees. In relatively recent times, such activities graduated to what is known today as the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It has stemmed from the realization that a business exists for the larger good of the society, and it must give back to society (Diamond, J. in Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed, Penguin, Diamond, J. (2011). Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed. Penguin.). Also, there is a great deal of brand image dynamics associated with such activities. The GOI recently brought in a law, making CSR compulsory for businesses whose revenue was above a particular band. Different companies engage in various CSR activities. Probably the easiest and commonest is a donation to charity.
Abstract:
There is a big boom in online courses in the last many years. The earlier concept of distance education is gradually converted into online education. But unfortunately, the difference between online and distance learning is not understood well by academicians. This paper explores l the current status of Online Distance Teaching-Learning. In the year 2002, an average of 1700 institutions offered over 54000 online courses. But gradually there has been a steady rise in such courses worldwide, and almost all the universities all over the world have started offering such courses. The idea of MOOC has been a hit in the area of online teaching-learning and in India also the government has started promoting virtual online courses through various platforms like NPTEL, PG Pathshlala, Swayam, and many more. This has opened up a whole new area of web-based e-learning in a corporatized professional manner. Many such courses are being offered today by many institutions and private organizations and the number is steadily increasing. Some of the areas where these challenges are faced are- self-efficacy, knowing how to learn, creativity, and above all, the ability to use information in this relatively new platform by keeping the basic value of education intact. Many such programs and courses encourage and motivate reactive learning, But the need of the hour is pro-active learning. This has become the biggest challenge in the overall effectiveness of online and distance education courses.
Keywords:
Online education, distance learning, pedagogy, andragogy, heutagogy
This article synthesizes the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches. The analysis identifies three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based on normative approval; and cognitive, based on comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness. The article then examines strategies for gaining, maintaining, and repairing legitimacy of each type, suggesting both the promises and the pitfalls of such instrumental manipulations.
This article presents the results of a grounded theory analysis of observation, interview, and archival data collected at SEMATECH, a research, development, and testing consortium in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Three core categories of events and behaviors are described: (1) the factors underlying the consortium's early disorder and ambiguity, (2) the development of a moral community in which individuals and firms made contributions to the industry without regard for immediate and specific payback, and (3) the structuring that emerged from changing practices and norms as consortium founders and others devised ways to foster cooperation. We interpret results in terms of complexity theory, a framework for understanding change that has not been previously explored with detailed empirical data from organizations.
This paper examines the vaunted potential of stakeholder engagement for achieving sustainability, in theory and in practice. It identifies considerable risks inherent in relying on stakeholder engagement for the achievement of sustainability including misguided assumptions around stakeholder priorities in respect of sustainability, and around business interests in always acting to resolve stakeholder concerns. Stakeholder engagement is argued to be a mechanism that in a normative sense may be able to assist business in rethinking its interests in favor of sustainability, but if oversold or implemented instrumentally merely to legitimate 'business as usual', it is shown to represent an ill-fated panacea. Introduction Sustainability, with its challenge to business to measure its performance against not just the financial bottom-line, but also its social and environmental impacts, implies a revision of the traditional business model with its primary focus on short-term profits and meeting shareholder concerns (Elkington, 1997; Ehrenfeld, 1999 Welford 1995; 1997 & 2000). Increasingly, stakeholder engagement is being proffered as a means of achieving sustainability, not least in the business context (Hart & Milstein, 2003; Hart & Sharma, 2004; Sharma & Starik, 2004). It is this potential solution that we problematize in this paper through an exposition of some of the inherent risks we see associated with its being oversold or over-relied upon. In theoretical and practical terms, stakeholder engagement can be conceived of as having achieved a modicum of popularity in its own right. Stakeholder theory -from which the idea of stakeholder engagement emanates -is regularly written about in the academic literature (e.g Clarkson, 1995; Donaldson & Preston, 1995; Mitchell, Agle & Wood, 1997; Jones & Wicks 1999; Stoney & Winstanley, 2001) and routinely taught in business schools – albeit often as a normative or instrumental complement to the prevailing shareholder model. Somewhat less although increasing attention has been given to descriptive stakeholder theory that focuses on whether and to what extent managers attend to various stakeholders and act in accord with their interests – and how they engage with rather than manage these stakeholders. Ins trumental reasoning appears to prevail, however. Stakeholders have more recently been defined by the contribution they make to corporate wealth creation or destruction: that is that they "contribute either voluntarily or involuntarily to [the corporation's] wealth-creating capacity and activities and are therefore its potential beneficiaries and/or risk bearers" (Post, Preston & Sachs, 2002, p. 19). Terms like stakeholder capitalism (Kelly, Kelly & Gamble, 1997), stakeholder democracy (see Special Issue of Business Ethics: A European Review, 2005), stakeholder engagement and dialogue have become more commonplace. In the face of challenges to organizational legitimacy, these modes of engagement offer hope of mutually acceptable solutions, and a sense of shared responsibility and even understanding on the part of stakeholders not least where sustainability is concerned (Doppelt, 2003).
Theory suggests that when transaction costs are low, corporations and stakeholders can minimize social costs by transacting to their mutual advantage, but when trans- action costs are high, reducing social costs requires the intervention of a centralized institution. In surprisingly little work have scholars considered what happens in between—when transaction costs exist but recourse to hierarchical institution is barred. I use transaction cost analysis to hypothesize how collaboration between corporations and environmental stakeholder groups will be structured. Ronald Coase's "The Problem of Social Cost" (1960) was one of two articles mentioned by the Nobel Committee when awarding him the 1991 Nobel Prize in Economics. Yet, in his lecture at the award ceremony, Coase argued that the ar-
Homelessness in today's urban centers poses a problem of huge proportions. Increasingly, the homeless and the urban dilemma are intertwined. Cause and effect are blurred as the needs of the homeless confront and affront while shaping urban policy. Because of the diverse nature and needs of the American homeless population, individual organizations are not able to provide the range of services necessary for survival on the street and long-term recovery off the street. The authors present a grounded theory study of coordination and communication in the provision of service to the urban homeless. They begin by reviewing theoretical perspectives on communication and coordination in interorganizational relationships. They then consider this literature in light of the urban homelessness context.
This case study identified communicative practices that supported “collaborative spirit”; in a collaborative alliance. Two components of collaborative spirit previously identified in the literature were examined: shared mission and shared power. Communication practices associated with the shared mission principle included discussion of the mission, reaffirmation, testimony, and pride statements. Communication practices associated with the shared power principle included use of a consent process, barter and negotiating behavior, provision of equal opportunity, soliciting others’ input, and the rotating chairperson.
Nongovernmental organization (NGO)-corporate alliances are a strategic type of institutional positioning communication. From a sample of 155 US Fortune 500 corporations and 695 NGOs drawn from corporations' websites, this research examines: (a) the number of NGOs with which corporations communicate alliances; (b) the patterns of communicated alliances that exist between corporations in economic industries and NGOs in social issue industries; and (c) the relationship between corporate stakeholders and the communication of alliances with NGOs in particular social issues. This research tests the propositions of Symbiotic Sustainability Model concerning the number and type of NGO alliances likely to be communicated by corporations. In particular, this research demonstrates that most corporations only communicate alliances with a few NGOs and with one NGO in an issue industry. In addition, the results suggest that corporations in the same economic industry are likely to communicate alliances with different NGOs in the same issue industries. In combination, these findings imply that a small set of social issues are likely to be included in NGO-corporate communication. Exploring this implication, this research reports preliminary findings about communicated alliances between corporations in 11 economic industries and NGOs in 59 social issue industries.
Should business strive to be socially responsible, and if so, how? The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility updates and broadens the discussion of these questions by bringing together in one volume a variety of practical and theoretical perspectives on corporate social responsibility. It is perhaps the single most comprehensive volume available on the question of just how "social" business ought to be. The volume includes contributions from the fields of communication, business, law, sociology, political science, economics, accounting, and environmental studies. Moreover, it draws from experiences and examples from around the world, including but not limited to recent corporate scandals and controversies in the U.S. and Europe. A number of the chapters examine closely the basic assumptions underlying the philosophy of socially responsible business. Other chapters speak to the practical challenges and possibilities for corporate social responsiblilty in the twenty-first century. One of the most distinctive features of the book is its coverage of the very ways that the issue of corporate social responsibility has been defined, shaped, and discussed in the past four decades. That is, the editors and many of the authors are attuned to the persuasive strategies and formulations used to talk about socially responsible business, and demonstrate why the talk matters. For example, the book offers a careful analysis of how certain values have become associated with the business enterprise and how particular economic and political positions have been established by and for business. This book will be of great interest to scholars, business leaders, graduate students, and others interested in the contours of the debate over what role large-scale corporate commerce should take in the future of the industrialized world.
Should business strive to be socially responsible, and if so, how? The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility updates and broadens the discussion of these questions by bringing together in one volume a variety of practical and theoretical perspectives on corporate social responsibility. It is perhaps the single most comprehensive volume available on the question of just how "social" business ought to be. The volume includes contributions from the fields of communication, business, law, sociology, political science, economics, accounting, and environmental studies. Moreover, it draws from experiences and examples from around the world, including but not limited to recent corporate scandals and controversies in the U.S. and Europe. A number of the chapters examine closely the basic assumptions underlying the philosophy of socially responsible business. Other chapters speak to the practical challenges and possibilities for corporate social responsiblilty in the twenty-first century. One of the most distinctive features of the book is its coverage of the very ways that the issue of corporate social responsibility has been defined, shaped, and discussed in the past four decades. That is, the editors and many of the authors are attuned to the persuasive strategies and formulations used to talk about socially responsible business, and demonstrate why the talk matters. For example, the book offers a careful analysis of how certain values have become associated with the business enterprise and how particular economic and political positions have been established by and for business. This book will be of great interest to scholars, business leaders, graduate students, and others interested in the contours of the debate over what role large-scale corporate commerce should take in the future of the industrialized world.
The book presents the latest research and theory about evolutionary change in organizations. It brings together the work of organizational theorists who have challenged the orthodox adaptation views that prevailed until the beginning of the 1980s. It emphasizes multiple levels of change - distinguishing change at the intraorganizational level, the organizational level, the population level, and the community level. The book is organized in a way that gives order and coherence to what has been a diverse and multidisciplinary field. (The book had its inception at a conference held at the Stern School of Business, New York University, January 1992.)
Cause-related marketing represents the confluence of perspectives from several specialized areas of inquiry such as marketing for nonprofit organizations, the promotion mix, corporate philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, fund-raising management, and public relations. The authors outline the concept of cause-related marketing, its characteristics, and how organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, can benefit from effective use of this promising marketing tool.
Should business strive to be socially responsible, and if so, how? The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility updates and broadens the discussion of these questions by bringing together in one volume a variety of practical and theoretical perspectives on corporate social responsibility. It is perhaps the single most comprehensive volume available on the question of just how "social" business ought to be. The volume includes contributions from the fields of communication, business, law, sociology, political science, economics, accounting, and environmental studies. Moreover, it draws from experiences and examples from around the world, including but not limited to recent corporate scandals and controversies in the U.S. and Europe. A number of the chapters examine closely the basic assumptions underlying the philosophy of socially responsible business. Other chapters speak to the practical challenges and possibilities for corporate social responsiblilty in the twenty-first century. One of the most distinctive features of the book is its coverage of the very ways that the issue of corporate social responsibility has been defined, shaped, and discussed in the past four decades. That is, the editors and many of the authors are attuned to the persuasive strategies and formulations used to talk about socially responsible business, and demonstrate why the talk matters. For example, the book offers a careful analysis of how certain values have become associated with the business enterprise and how particular economic and political positions have been established by and for business. This book will be of great interest to scholars, business leaders, graduate students, and others interested in the contours of the debate over what role large-scale corporate commerce should take in the future of the industrialized world.
This essay reconstructs communication theory as a dialogical-dialectical field according to two principles: the constitutive model of communication as a metamodel and theory as metadiscursive practice. The essay argues that all communication theories are mutually relevant when addressed to a practical lifeworld in which "communication" is already a richly meaningful term. Each tradition of communication theory derives from and appeals rhetorically to certain commonplace beliefs about communication while challenging other beliefs. The complementarities and tensions among traditions generate a theoretical metadiscourse that intersects with and potentially, informs the ongoing practical metadiscourse in society In a tentative schedule of the field, rhetorical, semiotic, phenomenological, cybernetic, sociopsychological, sociocultural, and critical traditions of communication theory are distinguished by characteristic ways of defining communication and problems of communication, metadiscoursive vocabularies, and metadiscoursive commonplaces that they appeal to and challenge. Topoi for argumentation across traditions are suggested and implications for theoretical work and disciplinary practice in the field are considered.
Nonprofits are putting hard numbers on the value of their brands, many of which consumers trust highly. Such organizations are hoping brand valuation will give them greater influence as they negotiate cobranding alliances with corporate partners.
Large and wealthy global companies too often fail to acknowledge environmental responsibility or workers' rights. This book tells the dramatic story of one company - Chiquita Brands International - that decided to change the negative paradigm. Formerly the notorious United Fruit Company, a paternalistic organization that gave the name Banana Republic to tropical countries in Central America, Chiquita defied all expectations in the mid-1990s by forming agreements with the Rainforest Alliance that transformed not only the corporation itself but also an important segment of the banana industry. Gary Taylor and Patricia Scharlin reveal the inside story of how corporate executives, banana workers, local leaders, and conservation advocates learned to work together and trust one another. Alliance established a Better Banana seal of approval to certify genuine efforts to improve soil and water quality, ensure rainforest conservation, and enhance worker health and safety. This chronicle of their collaboration, told objectively and with extensive documentation, presents a promising new model of cooperative behaviour - a model that shows how multinational companies can become motivated to solve critical global problems. © 2004 by J. Gary Taylor and Patricia J. Scharlin. All rights reserved.
This article synthesizes the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches. The analysis identifies three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based on normative approval: and cognitive, based on comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness. The article then examines strategies for gaining, maintaining, and repairing legitimacy of each type, suggesting both the promises and the pitfalls of such instrumental manipulations.
The essential guide for forward-thinking business leaders who see the Green Wave coming and want to profit from it. This book explores what every executive must know to manage the environmental challenges facing society and business. Based on the authors' years of experience and hundreds of interviews with corporate leaders around the world, Green to Gold shows how companies generate lasting value, cutting costs, reducing risk, increasing revenues, and creating strong brands, by building environmental thinking into their business strategies. Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston provide clear how-to advice and concrete examples from companies like BP, Toyota, IKEA, GE, and Nike that are achieving both environmental and business success. The authors show how these cutting-edge companies are establishing an "eco-advantage" in the marketplace as traditional elements of competitive differentiation fade in importance. Esty and Winston not only highlight successful strategies but also make plain what does not work by describing why environmental initiatives sometimes fail despite the best intentions. Green to Gold is written for executives at every level and for businesses of all kinds and sizes. Esty and Winston guide leaders through a complex new world of resource shortfalls, regulatory restrictions, and growing pressure from customers and other stakeholders to strive for sustainability. With a sharp focus on execution, Esty and Winston offer a thoughtful, pragmatic, and inspiring road map that companies can use to cope with environmental pressures and responsibilities while sparking innovation that will drive long-term growth. Green to Gold is the new template for global CEOs who want to be good stewards of the Earth while simultaneously building the bottom line. © 2006 by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston. All rights reserved.
Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach was first published in 1984 as a part of the Pitman series in Business and Public Policy. Its publication proved to be a landmark moment in the development of stakeholder theory. Widely acknowledged as a world leader in business ethics and strategic management, R. Edward Freeman’s foundational work continues to inspire scholars and students concerned with a more practical view of how business and capitalism actually work. Business can be understood as a system of how we create value for stakeholders. This worldview connects business and capitalism with ethics once and for all. On the 25th anniversary of publication, Cambridge University Press are delighted to be able to offer a new print-on-demand edition of his work to a new generation of readers.
Stakeholder theory has been a popular heuristic for describing the management environment for years, but it has not attained full theoretical status. Our aim in this article is to contribute to a theory of stakeholder identification and salience based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency. By combining these attributes, we generate a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their salience to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.
Stakeholders seek to have their "stakes" met by organizations. Organizations assess those requests and sometimes grant stakes to stakeholders. This study examines this critical function of organizations by investigating the stakeholder communication of 66 nonprofit organizations undergoing change. Implementers' self-reports of frequency, timing, approaches, and topics of communication with 10 stakeholder groups were examined. Results indicate that implementers generally follow a quid pro quo "matching rule" wherein stakeholders' resource importance serves as the basis on which they are awarded communicative attention. However, observance of this rule was not predictive of implementers' assessments of successful change outcomes. Further, results also show that "internal" stakeholders receive the most and earliest communication, compared to stakeholders external to the organization or near the organization's boundary, and that "information dissemination" is the most prevalent communicative approach taken.
This paper describes relationship building among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in a civil-society effort. It presents the results of an interorganizational network analysis of 17 Croatian civil society organizations that participated in the 2000 parliamentary election campaign. The research analyzes network relationships including density, structural holes, and centrality, considering the nature of these relationships as a function of choice of communication channels and strength of ties. The results of this study describe the communication roles of various organizations during the transformation from a totalitarian state to a fledgling civil society.
Drawing on neoinstitutional and learning theories, we distinguish three distinct modes of selective interorganizational imitation: frequency imitation (copying very common practices), trait imitation (copying practices of other organizations with certain features), and outcome imitation (imitation based on a practice's apparent impact on others). We investigate whether these imitation modes occur independently and are affected by outcome salience and contextual uncertainty in the context of an important decision: which investment banker to use as adviser on an acquisition. Results of testing hypotheses on 539 acquisitions that occurred in 1988-1993 show that all three imitation modes occur independently, but only highly salient outcomes sustain outcome imitation. Uncertainty enhances frequency imitation, but only some trait and outcome imitation. The results highlight the possible joint operation of social and technical indicators in imitation, illuminate factors that moderate vicarious learning processes, and show asymmetries between learning from success and failure.
While many sociologists have noted that organizational legitimacy is important for organizational survival, legitimacy has been infrequently empirically examined. This paper presents a conceptual framework in which organizational legitimacy is defined as the congruence between the values associated with the organization and the values of its environment. Challenges to organizational legitimacy and responses to these challenges are illustrated in a discussion of the American Institute for Foreign Study. Corporate philanthropic contributions, the composition and size of boards of directors, and the content of annual reports and other organizational communications are presented as efforts on the part of organizations to achieve legitimacy. The focus on processes of organizational legitimation can be used in analyzing a variety of organizational behaviors that are components of organization-environment interaction.
This paper distinguishes between two ecological perspectives on organizational evolution: population ecology and community ecology. The perspectives adopt different levels of analysis and produce contrasting views of the characteristic mode and tempo of organizational evolution. Population ecology limits investigation to evolutionary change unfolding within established populations, emphasizing factors that homogenize organizational forms and maintain population stability. Population ecology thus fails to explain how populations originate in the first place or how evolutionary change occurs through the proliferation of heterogeneous organizational types. Community ecology overcomes these limitations: it focuses on the rise and fall of populations as basic units of evolutionary change, simultaneously explaining forces that produce homogeneity and stability within populations and heterogeneity between them.
Among the many traditions of research on "identity," two somewhat different yet strongly related strands of identity theory have developed. The first, reflected in the work of Stryker and colleagues, focuses on the linkages of social structures with identities. The second, reflected in the work of Burke and colleagues, focuses on the internal process of self-verification. In the present paper we review each of these strands and then discuss ways in which the two relate to and complement one another. Each provides a context for the other: the relation of social structures to identities influences the process of self-verification, while the process of self-verification creates and sustains social structures. The paper concludes with examples of potentially useful applications of identity theory to other arenas of social psychology, and with a discussion of challenges that identity theory must meet to provide a clear understanding of the relation between self and society.
WITH OFFICES IN NEW YORK, LONDON, AND VANCOUVER Breaking down complex philosophical issues into a step-by-step guide, Rushworth Kidder shows us how to grapple with everyday issues and problems. How Good People Make Tough Choices is a unique, anecdote-rich, and articulate program that teaches us to think for ourselves rather than supplying us with easy, definitive answers. Offering concrete guidelines and principles, Kidder enables us to resolve ethical dilemmas and to make the tough choice between what are usually two "right" values. All of us face tough choices. Sometimes we duck them. Sometimes we address them. Even when we address them, however, we don't always decide to resolve them. Sometimes we simply brood endlessly over possible outcomes or agonize about paths to pursue. And even if we do try to resolve them, we don't always do so by energetic self-reflection. Sometimes we simply bull our way through to a conclusion by sheer impatience and assertive self-will—as though getting it resolved were more important than getting it right. This is a book for those who want to address and resolve tough choices through energetic self-reflection. Those are the people, after all, whom we often think of as "good" people. They are good, we say, because they seem to have some conscious sense of vision, some deep core of ethical values, that gives them the courage to stand up to the tough choices. That doesn't mean they face fewer choices than other people. Quite the opposite: Those who live in close proximity to their basic values are apt to agonize over choices that other people, drifting over the surface of their lives, might never even see as problems. Sound values raise tough choices; and tough choices are never easy.
This study of automotive transaction relationships in the U.S.A. and Japan offers data which
indicate that transaction costs do not necessarily increase with an increase in relationship-specific
investments. We empirically examine the conditions under which transactors can simultaneously
achieve the twin benefits of high asset specificity and low transaction costs. This is possible
because the different safeguards which can be employed to control opportunism have different
set-up costs and result in different transaction costs over different time horizons. We examine
in detail the practices of Japanese firms which result in effective interfirm collaboration.
The HIV–AIDS epidemic is one of the most challenging and significant health crises facing the world today. In order to cope with its complexities, the United Nations and World Health Organization have increasingly relied upon the resources offered by networks of HIV–AIDS nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The research reported here uses evolutionary theory to predict the patterns of alliances and collaborations within the HIV–AIDS International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGO) network. The hypotheses are tested using 8 years of data from the Yearbook of International Organizations. The results showed that geographic proximity and common ties with intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) predict the pattern of alliances among HIV–AIDS INGOs. The best predictor of such alliances, however, is past relationships among these organizations.
A case of interorganizational collaboration in Canada involving a retail grocery chain and several environmental groups is analyzed. In this case, one environmental group attempted to act as a bridge between business and environmentalists by endorsing a line of "green" products. Based on material drawn from news reports and personal interviews, the authors use the case to illuminate the concept of strategic bridging as a distinctive form of collaboration. Like other forms of collaboration, bridging relies on collaborative negotiations and "back-home" commitment to the outcome of the negotiations and "back-home" commitment to the outcome of the negotiations. It differs from other forms -such as joint ventures, multiparty task forces, and mediation -with respect to the degree of organizational interpenetration involved in the negotiations and the complexity of the problem of gaining back-home commitment. Based on their analysis, the authors speculate that strategic bridging is more likely to occur when the problem domain is underorganized and the willingness of the stakeholders to collaborate is low. Implications for future research are discussed.
This essay explores the cultural reconfiguration of breast cancer in the United States since the 1970s. It traces how breast cancer has been transformed in public discourse from a stigmatized disease best dealt with privately and in isolation, to a neglected epidemic worthy of public debate and political organizing, to an enriching and affirming experience during which women with the disease are rarely ‘patients’ and mostly ‘survivors.’ In the latter of these configurations, survivors emerge as symbols of hope who through their courage and vitality have elicited an outpouring of philanthropy, a continued supply of which will apparently ensure that the fight against breast cancer remains an unqualified success. By examining three key sites in this shift—federal policy, breast cancer marketing and the Susan G. Komen Foundation's Race for the Cure—the essay seeks to understand how, and with what effects, this transformation has occurred.
The study describes the structure of international conflict with the tools of network analysis to enhance the understanding of multilateral conflict-communication relations and to predict the conflict structure with existing international relations theories (liberal and realist) plus global communication variables. Using data obtained from the Correlates of War Project (http://cow2.la.psu.edu/), the structure of international conflict is described for the period 1993–2001 for 145 nations. The results indicate that this network is very sparse; 42 nations had no conflict, and 36 only one bilateral disagreement. The network is centered about former Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Russia, the United States, Iraq, and China. Most conflicts are regional. The paper also evaluates both the liberal, expanded liberal (with communication variables included), and realist (including Huntington's Clash of Civilizations Theory) perspectives as predictors of conflict. The results indicate that communication variables substantially enhance explanatory power of a predictive model, but the effects of the communication variables are inconsistent. A multiple regression model including history of colonialism and prior conflict, physical proximity and contiguity, whether or not a nation is a democracy, and the communication variables—international telecommunication, freight, and exports—accounted for 30.0% of the variance in the structure of international conflict and each variable was significantly related to conflict. The need for further research is discussed.
Throughout the world, social cause organizations and independent media organizations work together, despite their differences and competition with each other for resources, toward creating civil society. This paper assesses the network dynamics of a system of cooperative competitors in Croatia. The research is framed from the theoretical perspectives of resource dependency, cooperation competition, and structural holes with results that describe the roles of various organizations in the development of civil society. Network relationships are described among 18 civil society organizations from their initial participation in the Croatian transformation in the year 2000 to a democratic nation to two years later. Results identify benefits and drawbacks of the general system structure, specific organization's network roles, and reputations associated with networking activities. Theoretical implications address the complementary contributions of using multiple theoretical perspectives to approach interorganizational relationships and their pragmatic utility with respect to building stronger networks among civil-society partners.
Organizations enter alliances with each other to access critical resources, but they rely on information from the network of prior alliances to determine with whom to cooperate. These new alliances modify the existing network, prompting an endogenous dynamic between organizational action and network structure that drives the emergence of interorganizational networks. Testing these ideas on alliances formed in three industries over nine years, this research shows that the probability of a new alliance between specific organizations increases with their interdependence and also with their prior mutual alliances, common third parties, and joint centrality in the alliance network. The differentiation of the emerging network structure, however, mitigates the effect of interdependence and enhances the effect of joint centrality on new alliance formation.