Responsible Leadership Behaviour as a Determinant of Stakeholders' Health and Well-Being

Recent corporate scandals have prompted discussion of the role of business in society. Business leaders are increasingly held accountable for their actions and non-actions in relation to all stakeholders, both internal and external. The emerging challenges faced by business organizations today include economic, social, and environmental demands; globalization; rapid population growth; natural resources exploitation; extreme poverty and debt; global migration; unprecedented inequality; global migration; geopolitical and ecological crises; climate change and other environmental issues; competitive pressure; health issues; new information and communication technologies; and sustainable lifestyles. Responsible leadership represents a new type of leadership, which is better positioned to address these challenges through stakeholder consideration and in the context of sustainable development. Building on existing literature, the aim of this article is to present a conceptual framework of responsible leadership as a potential determinant of stakeholders' health and well-being.

Editorial for the Special Issue of EJKM 2021

Guest EditorAlexeis Garcia-Perez, Centre for Business in Society, Coventry University, UK Supported byAnitha Chinnaswamy, Aston Business School, Aston University, UKVahid Jafari-Sadeghi, Aston Business School, Aston University, UK

Characteristics of the ERP Systems Designed for Managing Small Businesses

This article mainly aims to introduce the particular charactersitics of the ERP systems, used for managing small businesses, by answering several basic questions related to this topic: What do we generally understand by ERP systems? What is the essence of ERP for small business? What is the role of ERP for small business? What do we understand by small business? What are the characteristics of small business? What is the role of small business in society? What are the basic problems of small business? What is today’s business environment? In this respect, the report introduces the essence and the role of the ERP systems used for managing small business organizations in a structured and summarized way. It shows how the specific characteristics of small business and today’s business environment affect the ERP configurations, compared to those used in large organizations. At the end of the paper, a summary is provided of the characteristics of the ERP systems used for managing small organizations.

The Responsible Business: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Recession

<p>The 2008 financial crisis and recession crippled some of the largest businesses in the world and caused severe recession across the world. However, prior to the focus on economic recovery, social responsibility and sustainability were major themes in the business world and debate centred on the role of business in society. The key question and area for research was how the financial crisis affected this debate. This thesis uses the financial crisis to explore the role and responsibilities of business. This research is located firmly within the literature on business and society, where the key debates centre on the role of business and the scope of business responsibilities. The literature on social responsibility has a notable gap in the fact that it does not address the impact of economic context on social responsibilities. The methodology of this paper uses a set of twenty-one interviews. These interviews consisted of three sets of seven interviews with different participant groups for each set. The participant groups consisted of consumers, policy managers and business managers. These interviews were analysed for themes through the data analysis method of coding. The findings of this paper suggest that the role of business in society should be focused on the generation of profit and that the recession or other economic influences do not change this role. These findings also suggest that although businesses are responsible only for complying with the law, they should also satisfy their customers, engage in activities beneficial to their long term interest and avoid actions which cause harm to others or undermine the long term viability of the business. The findings also imply that neither economic context nor profit, changes these responsibilities. These findings make important theoretical and practical contributions. The theoretical contributions support the literature arguing for a limited scope on the role of business. They also argue in favour of social responsibilities being voluntary. The finding that economic context and profitability have no impact on responsibility is important in its own right, but also suggests that business responsibilities are static. This paper makes another contribution through models which are based on the findings. These models combine social responsibility with corporate strategy to show the concept of a responsible business and the difference between voluntary, compulsory and strategic responsibilities.</p>

The Responsible Business: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Recession

<p>The 2008 financial crisis and recession crippled some of the largest businesses in the world and caused severe recession across the world. However, prior to the focus on economic recovery, social responsibility and sustainability were major themes in the business world and debate centred on the role of business in society. The key question and area for research was how the financial crisis affected this debate. This thesis uses the financial crisis to explore the role and responsibilities of business. This research is located firmly within the literature on business and society, where the key debates centre on the role of business and the scope of business responsibilities. The literature on social responsibility has a notable gap in the fact that it does not address the impact of economic context on social responsibilities. The methodology of this paper uses a set of twenty-one interviews. These interviews consisted of three sets of seven interviews with different participant groups for each set. The participant groups consisted of consumers, policy managers and business managers. These interviews were analysed for themes through the data analysis method of coding. The findings of this paper suggest that the role of business in society should be focused on the generation of profit and that the recession or other economic influences do not change this role. These findings also suggest that although businesses are responsible only for complying with the law, they should also satisfy their customers, engage in activities beneficial to their long term interest and avoid actions which cause harm to others or undermine the long term viability of the business. The findings also imply that neither economic context nor profit, changes these responsibilities. These findings make important theoretical and practical contributions. The theoretical contributions support the literature arguing for a limited scope on the role of business. They also argue in favour of social responsibilities being voluntary. The finding that economic context and profitability have no impact on responsibility is important in its own right, but also suggests that business responsibilities are static. This paper makes another contribution through models which are based on the findings. These models combine social responsibility with corporate strategy to show the concept of a responsible business and the difference between voluntary, compulsory and strategic responsibilities.</p>

Business, peacebuilding, violent conflict and sustainable development in Myanmar: presenting evidence from a new survey dataset

Purpose This paper aims to present a new survey data set of 9,065 private sector respondents and other stakeholder groups, in Myanmar. The primary aim of this paper is to offer new insight avenues on local business–conflict–development interactions, and offer the full survey data set itself as an open-source research tool for scholars and practitioners. Design/methodology/approach The survey was conducted over smartphone in 2018. It asked questions that aimed to better understand the relationships between business, ethnic conflict, investment, corporate social responsibility and the United Nations sustainable development goals in Myanmar and in Rakhine State in particular. Findings The data set captures a series of significant differences in corporate leadership perspectives on the role of business in society, across sectors (e.g. banking, agriculture, retail, manufacturing, extractives) and variations across firm country of ownership (e.g. national firms, Global North firms, Indian firms, Chinese firms). Research limitations/implications The authors conclude with a brief discussion of possible research findings from the survey, offering suggestions for possible forward analysis. The authors offer here the raw survey data as an attachment for full global open-source use and application. Practical implications This data set offers a unique window into stakeholder perceptions and understandings of working through conflict, and the role of business in development in a fragile conflict-affected state (Myanmar). The authors also conduct two example analyses of the data set using ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests to illustrate possible uses and findings of the data set. Social implications The authors briefly discuss social implications as well, particularly regarding the role of business in peacebuilding and development. Originality/value This data set offers a unique window into stakeholder perceptions and understandings of working through conflict, and the role of business in development in a fragile conflict-affected state (Myanmar). The authors also conduct two example analyses of the data set using ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests to illustrate possible uses and findings of the data set.

Business strategies responding to COVID-19: experience of Chinese corporations

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives adopted by Chinese firms during the outbreak of COVID-19. Facing this unknown, unexpected and devastating disease, Chinese corporations demonstrated their CSR in different approaches. The purpose of this paper is to explore how CSR influences the decisions of the corporations that respond to a severe incident and how corporations can achieve their mission or strategic objectives by responding to a serious incident. Design/methodology/approach Based on secondary data and thematic analysis, this paper examines six Chinese corporations which are the leading firms in their respective industries. Findings This paper finds that firms adopted a mixed approach to conducting their CSR initiatives, including altruistic, strategic and citizenship CSR initiatives. This paper also confirms that strategic CSR initiatives were in line with the five dimensions of strategic CSR including centrality, specificity, proactivity, visibility and voluntarism. In addition, this paper also shows that a company could create its competitive advantage by carrying out CSR initiatives that are able to strengthen its value chain activities or the competitive context. This is based on the partnership built by the firms with their stakeholders to recognize the shared value. Practical implications This paper shows the implication that business leaders should understood the role of a business in society and the importance of stakeholders’ expectations. The underlying philosophy is that CSR could strengthen the resilience of society; business organizations need to operate in a healthy society. Originality/value This paper provides insights of Chinese corporations responding to a severe social incident. It highlights the strategic perspective of CSR initiatives and the linkage between CSR activities and a firm’s competitive advantage.

DIRECTIONS OF SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP: INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

The article is devoted to topical issues of determining the directions of social partnership. The peculiarities of foreign and Ukrainian experience of social responsibility of business on the example of such a form of external social responsibility as sponsorship and charity are revealed. The internal and external components of social partnership are analyzed, which are divided into groups from the point of view of the practical component. The role of business in society, which raises arguments for and against social responsibility, is systematized. The world experience and models of social responsibility of social partnership, which corresponds to the Ukrainian realities, are studied, with the help of which the formation of social responsibility in Ukraine and the factors influencing the structure of the economy are outlined. Consider examples of policy development strategies and tools for state regulation of corporate social responsibility in countries.

Exploring a Culture of Health in the Auto Industry

The Culture of Health framework includes four pillars of societal health and well-being influenced by business, namely: consumers; employees and workers in the supply chain; the community, and the environment. The Auto industry was an ideal crucible in which to explore the interface of public health with business given the confluence of the different domains in this sector. The substantial benefits of mobility, especially for the under-resourced, sit alongside negative impacts from emissions, accidents, products and services. Through interviews with 65 senior executives from seven major automakers, corporate actions reflecting health as a strategic agenda were mapped to the Culture of Health model. While most of the companies did not use the language of health explicitly in their strategy, key examples were present across all four pillars. Given the future of mobility relies on the interface of human experience with technology, it is a population-level challenge demanding system-level changes. Ostensibly, a framework for sustainability, the Culture of Health model could help the Auto industry navigate the disruption caused by the global megatrends and changing societal expectations of business in society and transition successfully to a new mobility economy.

Rho AI – Leveraging artificial intelligence to address climate change: Financing, implementation and ethics

The case focusses on Rho AI, a data science firm, and its attempt to leverage artificial intelligence to encourage environmental, social and governance investments to limit the impact of climate change. Rho AI’s proposed open-source artificial intelligence tool integrates automated web scraping technology and machine learning with natural language processing. The aim of the tool is to enable investors to evaluate the climate impact of companies and to use this evaluation as a basis for making investments in companies. The case study allows for students to gain an insight into some of the strategic choices that need to be considered when developing an artificial intelligence–based tool. Students will be able to explore the role of ethics in decision-making related to artificial intelligence, while familiarising themselves with key technical terminology and possible business models. The case encourages students to see beyond the technical granularities and to consider the multi-faceted, wider corporate and societal issues and priorities. This case contributes to students recognising that business is not conducted in a vacuum and enhances students’ understanding of the role of business in society during new developments triggered by digital technology.