Evaluation of Corporate Social Responsibility by Consumers: Use of Organic Material and Long Working Hours of Employees

Many previous studies on consumer choice have examined consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for attributes related to environmental issues. In Japan, long working hours have caused many problems, including death through overwork. However, to the best of the author’s knowledge, there are no previous studies examining WTP for the attribute related to long working hours in Japan. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether consumers prefer products without involving employees’ working long hours and to demonstrate the difference in WTP between the attribute of environmental issues (the product is made from organically grown raw cotton) and the attribute of long working hours in order to reveal Japanese consumers’ preference. The research methodology is a choice experiment using a questionnaire survey in Japan. The results indicate that the use of organically grown raw cotton can increase the WTP by JPY (Japanese yen) 121 on average. When an overworked employee who works more than 80 h of overtime per month is present, the WTP decreases by JPY 230 on average. The contribution of this study is to reveal WTP and show that consumers are interested in employees’ working hours in addition to the environmental issue. Preference heterogeneity is also examined.

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Corporate social responsibility and biotechnological foods: an experimental study on consumer’s behaviour

Nutrition & Food Science ◽

10.1108/nfs-10-2021-0293 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Flavio Boccia ◽

Daniela Covino

Keyword(s):

Corporate Social Responsibility ◽

Social Responsibility ◽

Choice Experiment ◽

Consumer Preferences ◽

Genetically Modified ◽

Preference Heterogeneity ◽

Genetically Modified Food ◽

Manufacturing Companies ◽

Content Type ◽

Corporate Social

Purpose New food technologies based on biotechnological organisms are increasingly becoming a cause for debate and conflicting discussions. This paper aims to investigate hypothetical consumer behaviour, and the willingness to pay (WtP), towards a specific type of genetically modified food in relation to particular indications on the label about the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives by manufacturing companies. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose a choice experiment was used on a representative sample of more 1,300 Italian families, interviewing the component in charge of the buying choices within the selected household. A random parameter logit-error component model allows for heterogeneity in consumer preferences and potential correlation across utilities and across taste parameters. Beyond investigating consumers’ preferences regarding that product through a choice experiment, the aim was to detect the drivers of that purchase and preference heterogeneity across consumers’ choice, and the WtP, for the products with those features. Findings Results also offer a topic for further discussion and are useful for companies’ strategies to understand how to address such concerns through appropriate CSR policies. The main results are: CSR initiatives always have a strong effect on consumer choice; the price is consistently important, exerting a negative influence in the decision-making process for individuals; consumers may also know possible effects of genetically modified foods, but that does not always translate into purchase behaviour. Originality/value The research considers a particular link between genetically modified food and CSR not addressed in details; moreover, it is also based on the author’s own previous research and is its natural continuation and development, but also important for future researches.

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Beneath Compliance

10.1093/oso/9780198794332.003.0005 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Tim Bartley

Keyword(s):

Migrant Workers ◽

Working Hours ◽

Consumer Products ◽

Long Working Hours ◽

Corporate Compliance ◽

Qualitative Evidence ◽

Private Standards ◽

Marginal Status ◽

Corporate Social ◽

Practical Implications

This chapter considers the concrete implications of labor-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) in consumer products industries in China. As China became the “factory to the world” the discourse and practice of CSR greatly expanded. But restrictions on workers’ rights, the marginal status of migrant workers, and a “dormitory labor regime” that facilitates long working hours are difficult to square with global norms. Using qualitative evidence from interviews, the chapter reveals problems with factory auditing and corporate compliance initiatives that have allowed exploitative practices to continue despite the embrace of CSR. Using quantitative data on a sample of workers and factories in Guangdong province, the chapter examines the practical implications of SA8000 certification and other private standards. In several ways, the chapter shows how compliance with private rules has been redefined to be compatible with the repressive Chinese context.

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Organic or Local? Investigating Consumer Preference for Fresh Produce Using a Choice Experiment with Real Economic Incentives

HortScience ◽

10.21273/hortsci.44.2.366 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 366-371 ◽

Cited By ~ 105

Author(s):

Chengyan Yue ◽

Cindy Tong

Keyword(s):

Choice Experiment ◽

Fresh Produce ◽

Consumer Preference ◽

Economic Incentives ◽

Method Choice ◽

Marketing Segmentation ◽

Hypothetical Experiment ◽

The Difference ◽

Organically Grown ◽

Locally Grown

Determining consumers' preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for organically grown and locally grown fresh produce is very important for stakeholders because it helps them figure out what type of fresh produce to grow and sell, what to emphasize in marketing efforts, and what are reasonable prices to charge. However, the literature that studies and compares consumers' preference and WTP for both organically and locally grown fresh produce is sparse. The objective of this study was to investigate consumers' WTP for organically grown and locally grown fresh produce and the marketing segmentation of these two types of produce. We combined a hypothetical experiment and nonhypothetical choice mechanism to investigate consumers' WTP for the attributes organic, local, and organic plus local for fresh produce. We found that when real products were used in the hypothetical experiment, the hypothetical bias (the difference between what people say they will pay and what they would actually pay) was not high. We found that consumers' WTP for the organic attribute was about the same as their WTP for the local attribute. Consumers' sociodemographics affected their choice between organically grown and locally grown produce. Furthermore, we found that consumers patronized different retail venues to purchase fresh produce with different attributes. The findings of the research have great importance for fresh produce stakeholders to make correct production and marketing decisions; the findings also contribute to experimental method choice in consumers' WTP research.

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Long working hours and alcohol use: systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data

BMJ ◽

10.1136/bmj.g7772 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 350 (jan12 13) ◽

pp. g7772-g7772 ◽

Cited By ~ 77

Author(s):

M. Virtanen ◽

M. Jokela ◽

S. T. Nyberg ◽

I. E. H. Madsen ◽

T. Lallukka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Working Hours ◽

Individual Participant Data ◽

Long Working Hours ◽

Individual Participant

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Impact of Long Working Hours and Shift Work on Perceived Unmet Dental Need: A Panel Study

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18062939 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 2939

Author(s):

Hye-Eun Lee ◽

Nam-Hee Kim ◽

Tae-Won Jang ◽

Ichiro Kawachi

Keyword(s):

Shift Work ◽

Dental Care ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Panel Study ◽

Working Hours ◽

Care Needs ◽

Long Working Hours ◽

Care Services ◽

Dental Care Needs ◽

Dental Needs

This study investigates whether workers with long working hours as well as shift workers perceive higher unmet dental care needs, and whether there is a gender difference in the associations. We used the Korea Health Panel (2009, 2011–2014) involving 20,451 person-wave observations from 5567 individuals. Perceived unmet dental care needs was defined when the participants reported that they perceived a need for dental treatment or check-up but had failed to receive dental care services during the past year. Fixed effects logit models were applied to examine how changes in weekly working hours or shift work status were linked to changes in perceived unmet dental needs within each individual. Among participants, 15.9–24.7% reported perceived unmet dental needs and the most common reason was time scarcity. We found that long working hours (>52 h/week) was significantly associated with perceived unmet dental needs due to time scarcity in both men (OR = 1.42, 95% CI 1.13–1.78) and women (OR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.03–1.79) compared workers working 40–52 h per week. Shift work was also a significant risk factor, but only in women (OR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.06–2.32). These findings provide evidence for labor policies to reduce working hours in order to improve access to dental care services.

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Can Mandatory Disclosure Policies Promote Corporate Environmental Responsibility?—Quasi-Natural Experimental Research on China

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18116033 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (11) ◽

pp. 6033

Author(s):

Yue Liu ◽

Pierre Failler ◽

Liming Chen

Keyword(s):

Property Rights ◽

Large Scale ◽

Environmental Responsibility ◽

Mandatory Disclosure ◽

Corporate Environmental Responsibility ◽

Disclosure Policy ◽

Protection Information ◽

The Difference ◽

Csr Disclosure ◽

Corporate Social

Corporate environmental responsibility (CER) is an important component of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) report, and an important carrier for enterprises to disclose environmental protection information. Based on the corporate micro data, this paper evaluates the effect of a mandatory CSR disclosure policy on the fulfillment of corporate environmental responsibility by adopting the difference-in-differences model (DID) with the release of a mandatory disclosure policy of China in 2008 as a quasi-natural experiment. The study draws the following conclusions: First, a mandatory CSR disclosure policy can promote the fulfillment of CER. Second, after the implementation of a mandatory CSR disclosure policy, enterprises can improve their CER level through two channels: improving the quality of environmental management disclosure and increasing the number of patents. Third, the heterogeneity of the impacts of mandatory CSR disclosure on CER is reflected in three aspects: different CER levels, different corporate scales and a different property rights structure. In terms of the CER level, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the CER level and mandatory CSR disclosure effect. In terms of the corporate scale, mandatory disclosure of CSR plays a greater role in large-scale enterprises. In terms of the structure of property rights, mandatory CSR disclosure has a greater effect on non-state-owned enterprises.

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Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research Needs

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18126540 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (12) ◽

pp. 6540

Author(s):

Veruscka Leso ◽

Luca Fontana ◽

Angela Caturano ◽

Ilaria Vetrani ◽

Mauro Fedele ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Circadian Rhythm ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Sleep Disturbances ◽

Working Hours ◽

Night Work ◽

Current Evidence ◽

Future Research ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Long Working Hours ◽

Main Determinants

Particular working conditions and/or organization of working time may cause important sleep disturbances that have been proposed to be predictive of cognitive decline. In this regard, circadian rhythm misalignment induced by exposure to night work or long working hours would be responsible for cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, evidence supporting this correlation is limited and several issues still need to be elucidated. In this regard, we conducted a systematic review to evaluate the association between shift/night work and cognitive impairment and address its main determinants. Information provided by the reviewed studies suggested that night work might have serious immediate negative effects especially on cognitive domains related to attention, memory and response inhibition. Furthermore, cognitive performance would progressively worsen over consecutive night shifts or following exposure to very long work shifts. Otherwise, conflicting results emerged regarding the possible etiological role that night work chronic exposure would have on cognitive impairment. Therefore, circadian rhythm desynchronization, lack of sleep and fatigue resulting from night work may negatively impact worker’s cognitive efficiency. However, in light of the considerable methodological variability of the reviewed studies, we proposed to develop a standardized research and evaluation strategy in order to obtain a better and comprehensive understanding of this topic.

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Job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students in China: a discrete choice experiment

Human Resources for Health ◽

10.1186/s12960-021-00626-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ping Liu ◽

Shimeng Liu ◽

Tiantian Gong ◽

Quan Li ◽

Gang Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Discrete Choice Experiment ◽

Discrete Choice ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Choice Experiment ◽

Job Characteristics ◽

Pharmacy Students ◽

Preference Heterogeneity ◽

Short Supply ◽

Job Preferences ◽

Open Management

Abstract Background Pharmacists are a crucial part of the health workforce and play an important role in achieving universal health coverage. In China, pharmaceutical human resources are in short supply, and the distribution is unequal. This study aimed to identify the key job characteristics that influence the job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students and to elicit the relative importance of different job characteristics to shed light on future policy interventions. Methods A discrete choice experiment was conducted to assess the job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students from 6 provinces in mainland China. A face-to-face interview was used to collect data. Conditional logit and mixed logit models were used to analyse data, and the final model was chosen according to the model fit statistics. A series of policy simulations was also conducted. Results In total, 581 respondents completed the questionnaire, and 500 respondents who passed the internal consistency test were analysed. All attributes were statistically significant except for open management. Monthly income and work location were most important to respondents, followed by work unit (which refers to the nature of the workplace) and years to promotion. There was preference heterogeneity among respondents, e.g., male students preferred open management, and female students preferred jobs in public institutions. Furthermore, students with an urban background or from a single-child family placed higher value on a job in the city compared to their counterparts. Conclusion The heterogeneity of attributes showed the complexity of job preferences. Both monetary and nonmonetary job characteristics significantly influenced the job preferences of pharmacy students in China. A more effective policy intervention to attract graduates to work in rural areas should consider both incentives on the job itself and the background of pharmacy school graduates.

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A Generalized Structural Equation Model Approach to Long Working Hours and Near-Misses among Healthcare Professionals in Japan

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18137154 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (13) ◽

pp. 7154

Author(s):

Tatsuhiko Anzai ◽

Takashi Yamauchi ◽

Masaki Ozawa ◽

Kunihiko Takahashi

Keyword(s):

Indirect Effects ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Sleep Problems ◽

Working Hours ◽

Near Miss ◽

Long Working Hours ◽

Near Misses ◽

Related Stress ◽

Job Related Stress

(1) Background: Near-miss incidents are the foundation of major injuries. They are warning signs that loss is imminent. Long working hours are a risk factor for near-misses along with sleep problems, job-related stress, and depressive symptoms. This study aimed to evaluate the indirect effects of long working hours via mediating variables on near-miss occurrences among Japanese healthcare professionals. (2) Methods: 1490 Japanese healthcare professionals’ reports from a web-based survey of workers in October 2018 were analyzed to evaluate total, direct, and indirect effects of long working hours on near-misses. We applied a generalized structural equation model with three mediating variables: sleep problems, job-related stress, and depressive symptoms. (3) Results: The total effect and direct effect of the categories of working hours longer than 41 h per week (h/w) for occurrence of near-misses were not significantly higher than that of 35–40 h/w. However, for indirect effects on occurrence of near-misses that first passed through job-related stress, there were higher reports for each category compared to 35–40 h/w, with odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of OR = 1.12, 95% CI (1.07, 1.21) for 41–50 h/w; 1.25, (1.14, 1.41) for 51–60 h/w; and 1.31, (1.18, 1.51) for ≥ 61 h/w. (4) Conclusion: The results suggest that reducing working hours might improve job-related stress, which could reduce near-misses and prevent injuries.

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