Search Results (862)

This study examines the relationship between individuals’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and their job-seeking intentions, with a particular focus on the mediating role of personal values and attitudes toward social responsibility. The research was conducted in Romania’s south-west region between June and September 2025, using a stratified sample of 453 respondents. Data were analyzed using SMART-PLS 3.0 through structural equation modeling. The results indicate a positive association between perceived CSR and job-seeking intention, with personal values and attitudes toward CSR significantly mediating this relationship. The findings suggest that participants in this study who perceive organizations as socially responsible also report higher levels of organizational attractiveness, particularly when there is alignment between personal and organizational values. At the same time, the results highlight that consistent CSR practices are associated with stronger perceptions of employer attractiveness. Overall, the study suggests that CSR is closely linked to employment-related attitudes and intentions, supporting the view that alignment between individual values and organizational ethical principles represents an important dimension of contemporary human resource strategies. Full article

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance has become an important component of corporate sustainability and responsible governance, yet its economic implications remain contested, especially in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that are expected to balance commercial goals with broader social responsibilities. This study examines the relationship between ESG performance and firm performance in Chinese listed SOEs, with particular attention to the mediating role of corporate reputation. The results show that ESG performance is positively associated with firm performance. Corporate reputation, risk-taking, and financial constraints are identified as important transmission channels through which ESG performance affects firm outcomes. Further analysis reveals a threshold effect in the ESG–performance relationship: when corporate reputation is relatively low, ESG investment may weaken firm performance; however, once reputation exceeds a critical threshold, ESG performance significantly improves firm performance. These findings enrich the literature on corporate sustainability and ESG value creation by showing that the performance effect of ESG is conditional on reputational capital. The study also provides practical implications for managers and policymakers seeking to promote sustainable corporate transformation in state-owned enterprises. Full article

As sustainable development strategies keep advancing and the external environment remains unstable, green innovation resilience has become a critical capability for enterprises to cope with uncertainty and achieve low-carbon transformation. This study uses panel data of China’s A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2023 to explore how executive environmental attention drives firms’ green innovation resilience. Based on the attention-based view, this study explores the direct effect of executive environmental attention and the moderating role of environmental regulation and corporate social responsibility. The results show that executive environmental attention is significantly positively correlated with green innovation resilience. In addition, environmental regulation and corporate social responsibility both strengthen the positive effects of executives’ environmental attention and green innovation resilience, and this impact is mainly reflected in high-tech industries. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that the promoting effect of executives’ environmental attention on green innovation resilience is more significant in large-scale, high industry competition and manufacturing enterprises. By adopting a micro-level perspective, this study deepens our understanding of the cognitive basis for firms’ green sustainable development in an uncertain environment. It also provides theoretical evidence and practical implications for enterprises to enhance green innovation resilience by strengthening executive environmental cognition and improving internal and external governance mechanisms. Full article

This study investigates the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in shaping employee perspectives towards green initiatives and its consequent impact on environmental sustainability within the Congolese cobalt sector. The research is based on cross-sectional data analysis, with survey questionnaires administered to 398 employees across various mining companies. The study reveals a positive relationship between an employee’s mindset towards CSR and green initiatives, which subsequently leads to improved environmental sustainability outcomes. Furthermore, the research demonstrates that CSR measures moderate this relationship: when CSR practices are strong and visible (clear environmental policies, training, incentives, and resource support), they provide direction and support that strengthen the effect of employee mindset on green initiatives while when CSR practices are weak, the same mindset is less likely to lead to green initiatives. The findings offer valuable theoretical and managerial implications, particularly for organizations in sectors with considerable environmental impacts. The study reveals the necessity of aligning CSR strategies with both corporate objectives and employee attitudes to optimize their effectiveness. The study provides a robust model for future research and practical implementation. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly embedded in how cities are governed, shaping decisions on mobility, land use, public services, and environmental management. Yet urban AI is predominantly governed through fragmented frameworks designed at national or corporate scales, offering limited guidance for municipal decision-making and overlooking place-specific social and ecological consequences. As the level of government closest to everyday urban life, cities are uniquely positioned to steer AI toward public value, but face persistent tensions between efficiency, equity, accountability, and sustainability. This paper argues that responsible urban AI cannot be governed through top-down or one-size-fits-all approaches. To address this, the study aims to conceptualise and advance a ground-up model of responsible urban AI governance that places cities and local governments at the centre of decision-making. It addresses the following research question: How can municipal authorities translate high-level ethical principles into practical, context-sensitive governance arrangements that respond to local capacities, risks, and public values? Drawing on global governance principles and illustrative city experiences, we propose a locally grounded, stage-based framework for municipal AI governance. The framework addresses institutional capacity gaps, fragmented responsibilities, and algorithmic externalities, advancing a participatory, place-sensitive, and adaptive model that aligns urban AI innovation with democratic legitimacy, social justice, and sustainable urban futures. Full article

Freshwater scarcity is emerging as a critical constraint on industrial clusters, production networks, and urban service systems, where water functions simultaneously as an essential production input and a shared regional resource. This study investigates how post-allocation water-quota imbalances in large inter-basin diversion systems can be addressed through adaptive secondary water rights trading. Focusing on China’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP), the research aims to explain under what institutional and efficiency conditions water rights trading can enhance corporate social responsibility, environmental management, and sustainable supply chain resilience. The study’s main innovation lies in the development of a corporate-oriented evolutionary game model that links water governance with corporate production, urban–industrial demand, and responsible supply chain management. Unlike conventional models, it incorporates bounded rationality, heterogeneous water-use efficiency, information asymmetry, transaction costs, primary allocation water pricing, and the risk of unrecovered basic water fees. Using a case inspired by the Zhengzhou–Nanyang transaction along the Middle Route of the SNWDP, the model simulates the strategic interaction between a water-rich node with surplus quota and a water-scarce node facing deficit demand. The findings show that a socially desirable Trade–Trade equilibrium emerges only when efficiency expectations and institutional conditions are favorable. Lower transaction costs and basic water prices, higher sunk-fee risk, and clearer efficiency differentials significantly increase trading willingness. The study demonstrates the practical value of transparent secondary water markets in improving allocative flexibility, reducing governance rigidity, and promoting more responsible and environmentally efficient regional water management. Full article

As an evaluation framework that systematically assesses a company’s environmental performance, social responsibility, and corporate governance, as a critical measure for evaluating corporate sustainable development, ESG performance exhibits unique and distinctive features within agribusiness firms. This study develops and analyzes several hypotheses using mediation and moderation effect models to empirically investigate the processes and effects of ESG performance on accrual-based earnings management using a sample of Chinese A-share agriculture-related listed businesses from 2009 to 2024. The results show a strongly inverse relationship between accrual-based earnings management and ESG performance in companies involved in agriculture. Additionally, by easing financial limitations, ESG performance has inhibited efforts on earnings management. The inhibitory effect of ESG performance on earnings management is more pronounced among agribusinesses subject to intensive media coverage, but significantly weaker among those with strong internal control quality. In order to maximize ESG practices, control financial behavior, and develop pertinent regulatory laws, this research offers agriculture-related businesses both theoretical and practical insights. Full article

The fishing processing industry in Chimbote, Peru, reflects structural vulnerabilities typical of high-informality extractive sectors, including precarious working conditions and limited internal corporate social responsibility (ICSR), hindering progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8). Although prior research has linked ICSR to positive employee outcomes, the multilevel mechanisms through which these effects translate into organisational outcomes remain insufficiently understood. This study examines the relationship between ICSR and labour management through a multilevel sequential framework. Using survey data from 384 workers in fishing processing firms, a structural model was estimated to analyse the pathways linking ICSR with individual-, group-, and organisational-level labour management. The findings reveal that ICSR does not directly predict organisational-level outcomes. Instead, its effects operate through a sequential bottom-up process, where ICSR is associated with individual-level labour management, which in turn relates to group-level dynamics, ultimately contributing to organisational-level outcomes. This indirect-only mechanism highlights the central role of individual and group processes in translating organisational practices into broader organisational effects. These results contribute to the literature by providing empirical evidence of a multilevel transmission mechanism in a high-informality context, extending current understanding of ICSR beyond single-level models. From a practical perspective, the findings suggest that organisations seeking to improve labour conditions should prioritise interventions at the individual and group levels to achieve sustainable organisational outcomes aligned with SDG 8. Full article

Population aging intensifies the need for built environments that support healthy and independent living while reducing preventable risks. This integrative review examines how architectural design, safety measures, and corporate security can function as an integrated, layered system for creating age-friendly environments across public spaces, housing, and intergenerational community settings. Drawing on a systematic search of literature published between 2010 and 2026 across databases including Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and PubMed, supplemented by international standards and policy documents, the review analyses how universal design principles, injury prevention strategies, and governance routines intersect to sustain mobility, reduce harms, and protect data, devices, and operational continuity. The findings indicate that gaps in any layer, such as inaccessible layouts, poorly maintained safety systems, or weak cybersecurity, can undermine overall effectiveness, compromise trust, and affect older adults’ autonomy. The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed these interdependencies, accelerating smart technology adoption while exacerbating digital inequality and social isolation, particularly in rural settings. This review concludes that age-friendly environments require not only barrier-free architecture and proportionate safety measures, but also robust governance structures that ensure accountability, lifecycle maintenance, and responsible data practices. Integrating these three domains provides a foundation for resilient, trustworthy, and health-promoting environments that enable older adults to remain active, socially connected, and secure. Full article

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly adopted as a strategic tool to enhance firms’ sustainability and financial performance (CFP). However, despite extensive research, evidence on the underlying factors influencing CSR and CFP remains scarce. This study addresses this gap by exploring the role of employee engagement as one possible mechanism through which CSR initiatives may translate into CFP. Adopting a systematic literature review on papers published in 2019–2024 and a comparative case study methodology, the paper analyzes two Italian firms characterized by different configurations of CSR practices, including varying degrees of formalization and integration into organizational culture. The study leverages semi-structured interviews with management, employee surveys capturing perceptions of CSR and engagement, and firm-level financial indicators. The findings suggest that CSR contributes to CFP through some dimensions of higher engagement and only when CSR is perceived by employees as authentic and embedded in everyday organizational practices. The paper contributes to the literature on the factors influencing the relationship between firms’ CSR activities and CFP and the role played by employee engagement. Moreover, it offers implications for managers to design CSR strategies that create both sustainable and financial value. Full article

Many business schools have set strategic objectives to integrate sustainability in their curricula; however, there is limited evidence of effective curriculum change initiatives, including organizational change approaches that could inform effective strategy design and implementation. This paper examines how a business school sought to embed sustainability content in undergraduate business education, and how it navigated contested understandings of sustainability and multiple orientations to teaching sustainability, including ESG, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Social-ecological Systems, and Social Innovation. Using qualitative documentary curriculum data, a curriculum mapping methodology is presented to quantitatively assess year-on-year changes in sustainability content at curriculum, discipline, and orientation levels. Findings show that sustainability integration increased over the period studied, albeit unevenly across the curriculum, with integration driven by educators of various instructor types and sustainability orientations. The discussion highlights factors that likely supported progress, including the School’s approach to change and the strategy’s explicit recognition of multiple sustainability orientations. The study presents a practical methodology that senior managers seeking to integrate sustainability in higher education can use to track curriculum change progress, drivers, and orientations. It also offers guidance on how to advance sustainability integration in organizational contexts characterized by different sustainability orientations. Full article

Due to acute resource constraints and environmental turbulence, many small and medium-sized construction enterprises (SMEs) prioritize short-term survival over corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Grounded in social exchange theory (SET), this study investigates how CSR implementation drives financial performance (FP) via the mediating role of non-financial performance (NP), aiming to deconstruct the “psychological black box” of this transformation. Drawing on a sequential mixed-methods design involving PLS-SEM analysis of 380 responses and 10 semi-structured interviews, the results confirm that CSR practices, particularly ethical practices and community engagement, can be effectively translated into improved NP, which acts as a vital strategic conduit for enhancing FP. However, skills development and training showed limited immediate impact due to a systemic “digital mismatch” and significant time-lag effects. Theoretically, this research refines SET by identifying a hierarchical transition where socio-emotional assets serve as compensatory resources in volatile and resource-constrained environments. Practically, the findings offer a strategic roadmap for SMEs to mitigate technological and systemic barriers, providing novel pathways for fostering CSR to achieve sustainable growth. Full article

Social washing refers to the strategic exaggeration or misrepresentation of an organisation’s commitment to social responsibility, ethical governance, or social impact without corresponding substantive action. It typically operates through selective disclosure, symbolic initiatives, or performative communication that aligns the organisation with socially desirable values—such as equity, human rights, community development, or inclusion—while underlying practices remain unchanged, weakly evidenced, or contradictory. The concept belongs to the wider family of “washing” phenomena associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks, especially the difficult-to-measure social (“S”) pillar. By contrast, authentic accountability refers to governance and reporting practices that connect institutional commitments to verifiable social outcomes and discernible improvements in human well-being. The institutionalisation of ESG frameworks has raised expectations of corporate responsibility while also enlarging the scope for reputational manipulation. Within this setting, social washing has become relevant not only to social policy and sustainable development debates, but also to corporate governance, ESG evaluation, and cross-sector partnership practice. This entry examines how organisations construct narratives of social responsibility that do not necessarily correspond to substantive social outcomes. It also argues that such distortions matter both for welfare systems and civil-society actors and for ESG assessment, reputational signalling, and the interpretation of social performance in market settings. Full article

A holistic approach that prioritizes economic success and sustainable practices through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is crucial for the long-term sustainability of organizations, including the tourism and hospitality industry, and the first step is CSR knowledge. The aim of this study is to identify the key factors influencing the level of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) knowledge in the hospitality industry, as a practical tool for the sustainability of the territories. For this purpose, the research was conducted using a quantitative methodological approach by applying a CSR questionnaire to hotel managers from a sample of 222 hotels in the Colombian Caribbean. Multivariate statistical techniques were applied, specifically Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR). The Principal Component Analysis determined two dependent variables (Basic CSR Knowledge and Advanced CSR Knowledge) and subsequently a Multiple Linear Regression was applied to each one, determining which independent variables (treated as dummy variables) have significant effects. The results have led to the conclusion that the CSR knowledge of the hotel sector in the Colombian Caribbean is positively influenced by hotel-related factors—such as age, management contract type, financial performance, and investment in innovation—as well as by managers’ gender and educational attainment. These results have important implications for the hotel sector and academia. Future research should consider more stakeholders and other geographical areas. Full article

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach from a managerial point of view has become a topic of interest especially in the European ex-Communist countries. This paper explores the intentions of Romanian managers of small and medium-sized enterprises and multinational corporations operating in Romania to implement corporate socially responsible practices (CSRPs). To this end, a quantitative research methodology based on an online survey was employed, and partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results show that the research model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been validated. The values of composite reliability and Cronbach’s alpha exceed 0.7, the value of average variance extracted exceeds 0.5, while the values of average block variance inflation factor and average full collinearity are below 3.3. The findings also indicate that the intention of managers to integrate CSRP within their business organizations is mostly influenced by the stakeholder pressure, suggesting that the attainment of social approval is a crucial driver of responsible behavior, rather than other constructs related to the TPB. The study concludes that while negative attitudes towards CSR do not significantly affect managers’ intentions to engage in CSRP, positive attitudes exert a favorable influence. Full article