Consequences of Social and Environmental Corporate Responsibility Practices: Managers’ Perception in Mozambique

The objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the social and environmental practices of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and the economic–financial, social, and environmental performance in Mozambican companies, from the managers’ perspectives. The data were collected from a sample of 227 companies through a survey questionnaire. We used structural equation modelling to analyze how the managers correlate the different social and environmental practices with performance at the financial, social, and environmental levels. The results showed that the relationship between all major components of the social and environmental practices, and the economic–financial, social, and environmental performance is positive but insignificant with the exception of the social practices of community support, which has a weak relationship with the economic–financial performance, environmental performance, and social performance, as well as the environmental practices. The data indicate that there is a need for strengthening the appropriate economic–financial incentive policies and strategies for the agents who promote good CSR practices in the country, in order to obtain satisfactory, measurable, and comparable economic–financial, social, and environmental performance.

How government withdrawal affects corporate social performance?

This study aims to investigate whether government withdrawal affect corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, and how CEO’s political connection moderates its relationship. We use sample data from Chinese listed firms over the 2010 to 2015 period to test our hypotheses. We find that decrease in state ownership through government withdrawal tends to negatively affect firms’ CSR performance, but the CEO’s political connection weakens its negative relationship and increases the firm’s likelihood towards CSR activities. Our findings imply that firm’s social engagement mainly result from high governmental involvement, and usually from political connections, because such firms are subject to close scrutiny by stakeholders and thus are more likely to improve social performance. Moreover, this research provides important implications to policy makers regarding the social outcomes of government withdrawal and the usefulness of firms’ political connection in developing economies like China. Este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar si la retirada del gobierno afecta al rendimiento de la responsabilidad social corporativa (RSC), y cómo la conexión política del CEO modera su relación. Utilizamos los datos de una muestra de empresas chinas que cotizan en bolsa durante el período 2010-2015 para comprobar nuestras hipótesis. Encontramos que la disminución de la propiedad estatal a través de la retirada del gobierno tiende a afectar negativamente a los resultados de RSC de las empresas, pero la conexión política del CEO debilita su relación negativa y aumenta la probabilidad de la empresa hacia las actividades de RSC. Nuestras conclusiones implican que el compromiso social de las empresas se debe principalmente a la alta participación gubernamental, y normalmente a las conexiones políticas, porque estas empresas están sometidas a un estrecho escrutinio por parte de las partes interesadas y, por lo tanto, es más probable que mejoren sus resultados sociales. Además, esta investigación ofrece importantes implicaciones para los responsables políticos en relación con los resultados sociales de la retirada del gobierno y la utilidad de la conexión política de las empresas en economías en desarrollo como China.

The link between the brain volume derived index and the determinants of social performance

Motivation, defined as the energizing of behavior in pursuit of a goal, is a fundamental element of our interaction with the world and with each other. Furthermore, as it is known that cooperation leads to higher levels of performance than do individual conditions, empathic concern is also crucial to all forms of helping relationships. A growing number of studies indicate that motivation and empathy are associated not only with organizational performance and study achievements, but also with the human brain. However, to date, no definite neuroimaging-derived measures are available to measure motivation and empathy objectively. The current research evaluated the association of motivation and empathy with the whole brain using the gray-matter brain healthcare quotient (GM-BHQ), an MRI-based quotient. Participants were 47 healthy adults. All subjects underwent structural T1-weighted imaging. Motivation levels were evaluated using four motivation scales: Behavioral Activation System (BAS), Self-Monitoring Scale (SMS), Self-Control Scale (SCS), and Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS). Interaction levels, including empathic concern, were evaluated using four subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). It was found that the GM-BHQ was most significantly sensitive to the BAS scale (p = 0.002). Furthermore, the GM-BHQ was moderately sensitive to the SMS (p = 0.028) and subscales of the IRI (p = 0.044 for Fantasy and p = 0.036 for Empathic Concern). However, no significant association was found between the GM-BHQ and other variables (BIS and SCS). These results suggest that the GM-BHQ might reflect motivation and empathic concern.