Gender-Specific Contributions to Socially Responsible Business Practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wided Batat

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine response strategies and the change in Michelin-starred chefs' practices to adapt to the global pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis that has strongly affected the foodservice sector.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted an exploratory qualitative research that used mixed-method, combining online interviews with 12 French Michelin-starred chefs and archival data. A manual thematic analysis method was used to analyze the data and identify relevant themes following an iterative coding process.FindingsThe findings show that Michelin-starred restaurants implement multilevel response strategies by developing dynamic capabilities while playing a social role through the development of new forms of business practices. The results show that Michelin-starred chefs adopt social bricolage entrepreneurial thinking to deal with the extreme situation and use diverse resources and response strategies to tackle social issues and improve the collective and individual well-being. The authors identified three major response strategies implemented by luxury restaurants: philanthropic activities targeting the well-being of the community, socially responsible business practices to support the foodservice actors and initiatives centered on consumer's food well-being.Research limitations/implicationsThe limits of this study are related to the small sample size and the elimination of psychographic criteria such as age and gender, which can extend our understanding of response strategies implemented by female and male owners or by age range during crises in the foodservice sector. Also, given that France is the country of Haute gastronomy, the conclusions of this study may not be generalizable to other countries where the gastronomic culture might be different.Practical implicationsRestaurants with high-end or luxury positioning must use multilevel – i.e. individual, sector and societal – response strategies to play a social role while sustaining their businesses during times of crisis. These insights seek to provide a roadmap which can be applied to other sectors to assess response strategies driven by various motives, resources and capabilities.Social implicationsThis research contributes to transformative service research literature by providing insights regarding how service providers can rethink their activities during the crises to play an active social role. Also, the findings point to several ways in which service actors can help customers and the community to improve their well-being.Originality/valueTo our knowledge, no prior research examined both the type of response strategies deployed by companies to survive and the importance of playing a social role and developing socially responsible business practices during times of crisis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 05025
Author(s):  
Pavla Srbová ◽  
Mária Režňáková

Research background: Family businesses represent a combination of family and business aspects. Typically, a family is the majority owner and its members are top managers of the firm. The company name often contains the names of family members, i.e. they are publicly known. The family thereby gains recognition through the business operations of its firm, such as socially responsible business practices, and may also be considered a good employer. These aspects constitute its socioemotional wealth (SEW). Family business owners may consider the SEW to be of greater importance than typical corporate management, and this may be a reason for the lower profitability of family businesses. The purpose of the article: The aim of this article is to describe selected factors influencing SEW and to verify their significance on data on Czech family companies. Methods: The research was based on qualitative and quantitative data obtained by a questionnaire survey. Descriptive and statistical methods were used to analyse the formulated assumptions. Findings & Value added: Most Czech family companies are run by the first or second generation of family owners. Since they consider their control and influence on their company to be extremely important, family owners do not typically consider the entry of non-family investors into the ownership structure. The assumption that family companies have a low level of indebtedness was not confirmed. The ownership of the company consists of one family, which usually keeps a 100% share. The family has at least one member in the top management. The founder of the company is typically the father. The family prefers to transfer the business to family members; firstly its management, then its ownership.


2022 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 396-401
Author(s):  
Ahmed M. Asfahani

Marketing is used by business organizations to promote the beneficial attributes of their product and services. The increased focus on promoting ethical and socially responsible business practices has contributed to the emergence of socially responsible marketing. This study explores this concept and how it promotes good/positive social and cultural norms. The research demonstrates how businesses are forced to practice socially responsible marketing though its impact on TV viewership and household conflict remains unknown. A qualitative descriptive study is carried out to examine the effect of socially responsible marketing on TV viewership and household conflict. Data was collected from a sample of 15 marketing experts using a self-administered question and analyzed through thematic analysis. The study found no significant link between socially responsible marketing and TV viewership. Additionally, this research found that socially responsible marketing reduces household conflict. These findings are supported by the Uses and Gratification Theory, Functionalist Theory, and Conflict Theory.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 290-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucinda L. Austin ◽  
Barbara Miller Gaither

Corporate social initiatives (CSIs) are increasingly important in boosting public acceptance for companies, and emerging research suggests corporate social marketing (CSM) could be the most effective type of CSI. However, scholars caution that CSM is not a one-size-fits-all. Through a content analysis of Coca-Cola’s social media posts on potentially controversial topics related to sustainability, health, and social change, this study explores how CSI type and message content influence public response to an organization’s social media corporate social responsibility posts. Posts emphasizing socially responsible business practices generally received the most favorable public response, while posts focused on cause promotion were received the most negatively. Findings also suggest that CSM is less effective when the issue and advocated behavior change appears to be acting against the company’s interests.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seoyeon Kim ◽  
Lucinda Austin

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine Millennial consumers’ responses to two corporate social initiative types – socially responsible business practices and corporate philanthropy – in combination with proactive and reactive CSR communication strategies. Design/methodology/approach A 2 (corporate philanthropy/socially responsible business practices) ×2 (proactive/reactive CSR communication) between-subjects experiment was conducted. Findings The socially responsible business practices were largely perceived more positively than the philanthropic initiatives. Likewise, greater public-serving motives were attributed to the socially responsible business practices compared to the philanthropy. While philanthropic initiatives were perceived more negatively when communicated reactively, there were no significant differences between proactive and reactive socially responsible business practices. Originality/value As an attempt to initiate the comparative examination of the effects of different corporate social initiative types, this study suggests outperformance of the socially responsible business practices type of corporate social initiatives over the resources-giving (i.e. philanthropy) type of initiatives even in the reactive communication setting where reputational threat resides.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan Parent

While most industries are being held increasingly responsible for engaging in socially responsible business practices and contributing to public interest efforts, professional sports are likely held to an even higher standard of what is traditionally considered corporate social responsibility (CSR). Professional sports are intricately embedded in their communities, arguably more dependent on consumer and government support, with greater influence on culture and more power to improve community well-being. These facts lead to the expectation that professional sports will contribute more to society than just exciting exhibitions. As this expectation is relatively new, the parameters of social responsibility in sports (SRS) is not well defined. Most professional leagues and teams in the United States are participating in efforts to improve their communities, the well-being of their employees, and promote safety and integrity within their competitions. But neither the motivations behind these efforts nor the outcomes have been well characterized. This examination draws on original research to describe how SRS differs from typical CSR. It will then identify some key legal mechanisms through which socially responsible efforts in sports are carried out, and the importance of a leadership culture that embraces SRS. Finally, it will explain the value of authentic social responsibility efforts, both to the community and to the implementing sport organization, which calls for investments in SRS initiatives that are strategically tailored to the organization’s identity and are held accountable for meeting the needs of the community.


1998 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 19-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth A. Rodman

The traditional realist paradigm holds that the sovereign nation-state is the principal political and legal unit in the world community. Reflecting this tradition, most studies of economic sanctions are state-centered. They assume that states exercise control over their national corporations to deny economic resources to other states. Within this framework, nongovernmental human rights organizations become involved only as interest groups, lobbying governments to regulate or ban private economic activity with designated malefactor. These groups, however, are generally unable to persuade states to mandate disinvestment from or socially responsible behavior within repressive regimes. As a result, they redirect their energies away from the central authorities and toward corporations-directly pressuring them through boycotts and shareholder activism-and local governments-persuading them to condition municipal contracts on human rights criteria.This essay examines the degree to which these nonstate actors can provide an alternative center of authority to that of the state in imposing human rights accountability on corporate conduct abroad. The first section explains the logic of nonstate sanctions and establishes criteria against which one can judge their challenge to realism. The second section assesses the successes and limitations of the anti-apartheid movement, which is viewed as the role model for such efforts. The third and final section contrasts the South African case with recent campaigns against corporate investment in Burma and Nigeria. These cases have been chosen because most grassroots organizations have pressed for corporate withdrawal rather than for more socially responsible business practices. Each represents an attempt by citizens' groups to impose sanctions against repressive regimes beyond those enacted by governments.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tünde Csapóné Riskó ◽  
Ádám Péntek ◽  
Troy Wiwczaroski

Several definitions for corporate social responsibility (CSR) exist and these vary greatly as to the activities it should cover and their motivators. Among the benefits of CSR are positive marketing/brand building, brand insurance and employee loyalty. Numerous arguments against CSR prevail, e.g. social responsibility is not a problem that belongs in the sphere of activities a corporation should be addressing or even that CSR distracts businesses from addressing the primary need to concentrate on sales. Thus, the strong economic question: is CSR worth it? In 2014, we carried out a representative survey in Hungary, in which the effects of responsible business practices on consumer purchase behaviour were studied. With our research results, we could show that there is a considerable gap between the apparent interest of consumers in CSR and the limited role of CSR in purchase behaviour. JEL classification:M104


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