Editorial: Journal of Corporate Citizenship (61)

Sustainability, 2020

Corporate citizenship, which is firms’ societal engagement beyond customer and shareholder interests, is a prominent topic in management practice and has led to extensive research. This increased interest resulted in a complex and fragmented scholarly literature. In order to structure and map the field quantitatively, we conducted a temporal analysis of publications and citations, an analysis of the productivity of involved disciplines, an analysis of the productivity of publication forms including journal impact factors, an author productivity and citation analysis, a co-author analysis, an article citation analysis, an article co-citation analysis, and a keyword co-occurrence analysis. Results of these bibliometric analyses show that corporate citizenship research seems to have been in a phase of stagnation since 2014 and shows a rather low degree of interdisciplinarity. Papers are predominantly published in high impact journals. Authors show little collaboration with other resear...

2017

Twenty-five years ago on 3 June 1992 the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was opened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by Canadian businessman and diplomat Maurice F. Strong in his role as Secretary-General of the so-called Earth Summit. Rio brought unparalleled media attention to a host of interrelated global issues: biodiversity, climate change, consumption patterns, deforestation, fragile ecosystems, hazardous waste, indigenous knowledge, poverty, responsible entrepreneurship and the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)

IABS Proceedings 2000, 2000

The overall purpose of this paper is to present the values that have been achieved as a result of corporate citizenship initiatives. This will be accomplished by a literature review of thirty-six (36) articles spanning the past two decades (1980-1999). Corporate citizenship will be defined broadly, as encompassing the literatures of corporate philanthropy, cause-related marketing, and corporate social performance. The goal will be to present in summary form the specific values/benefits to the business bottom-line identified through articles, books and studies that reflect philosophical beliels (expert opinion), anecdotal experiences, and empirical studies. These benefits include: improved employee relationships; improved customer relationships; improved business performance; and enhanced marketing efforts.

Business and society Review, 2004

P hysicists now believe that the universe may be only one of many parallel universes, existing simultaneously, and yet conceivably quite different from each other and from the day-today world we know. So too, academic-and practice-based thinking about corporate citizenship (corporate responsibility) and stakeholder thinking seem to have evolved in parallel, sometimes overlapping but sometimes universes apart. The array of terminology (see Table 1) that has been used over the years in the development of what is now broadly called corporate citizenship, or corporate responsibility, highlights some of the confusion in determining the progress of corporate citizenship. But it also illustrates the very evolution that is of interest in exploring that progress, both in practice and in theory. To some extent, parallel and sometimes confusing universes exist even within the scholarly domain, not to mention between scholarship and the world of practice. Below I describe and attempt to define these terms. Whether "progress" has been made in theory or in practice remains more debatable, though unlike some skeptics, I think we can clearly Sandra Waddock is a Professor at the Carroll School of Management, Boston College. I would like to thank Bill Frederick, John Mahon, and Ed Freeman for their helpful and insightful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, as well as for their thoughtful intellectual leadership on the relationship between science, society, entrepreneurship, and the way we live our lives as people and scholars.

Journal of Business Ethics, 2003

2016

In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, the phrase “context is all” becomes a guiding thread that summons the reader to witness what happens to the novel’s narrator and protagonist Offred and other “handmaids”, as the novel’s sociocultural context evolves. This contextual metamorphosis enables “certain casually held attitudes about women [to be] taken to their logical conclusions”. For Offred, putting things into context enables her to cope and to hope: “What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame, the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface. Perspective is necessary … Otherwise you live in the moment. Which is not where I want to be … But that’s where I am, there’s no escaping it … Time to take stock … I have trouble remembering what I used to look like … But something has changed, now, tonight. Circumstances have altered. I can ask for something. Possibly not much; but something” (Atwood, 2012, p. 165). Earlier in the novel, Offred reflects on how...

Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 2007

In today's global economic downturn, identifying a company's strengths and weaknesses for better aligning resources and strategies, is becoming more important than ever. Organizations that look at corporate citizenship as a critical part of business for providing new market opportunities, reducing risk, or improving reputation, are making greater efforts to assess their strengths and weaknesses to better prioritize resources and actions. Having the appropriate tools with which to do so is vital. This paper discusses the challenges of corporate citizenship management and outlines key findings and lessons learned from piloting a new assessment tool for companies. It presents two examples of how companies have used the tool to advance their corporate citizenship efforts. Finally, it summarizes key findings about 'gaps' and 'strengths' in corporate citizenship management today and provides recommendations for further research.

IEEE Engineering Management Review, 2009

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to benchmark how 25 companies in five industries are addressing corporate citizenship through their governance, structures and systems. The paper aims to look at patterns of leadership practice developing in firms in this regard and what might be shaping them. It also seeks to consider current practices in light of movement toward next-generation corporate citizenship. Design/methodology/approach-The study surveyed a representative sample of Fortune 500 companies. To benchmark how companies are embedding citizenship into their governance, structure, and systems, two scorecards were devised measuring practices pertaining to: Corporate Board Governance; and Operational Management of Corporate Citizenship. Criteria chosen represent Board and management policies, behaviors, and/or public commitments. Findings-It was found that, while corporate Boards are assuming more responsibility for oversight of conduct and taking account of specific social and environmental issues, citizenship is not yet fully embedded into Boards or the operating structures and systems of most firms. Research limitations/implications-Companies appear to be moving through developmental stages as they integrate citizenship into their governance and operations, with several developmental patterns emerging. While there seem to be specific patterns of development that link to the industry, issues faced, and culture of firms, it is difficult to generalize specific influences within industry from the relatively small sample. Further benchmarking is needed to better understand these issues and which ideas represent best practices going forward. Practical implications-A next generation approach to corporate citizenship requires more than top down advocacy-this needs to be backed up by Board oversight and engagement and by layered management structures, systems, processes, and policies that make citizenship part of every employee's remit, across the company's value chain. Originality/value-The paper provides a unique set of frameworks to assess company performance in relation to governing and managing corporate citizenship. It provides much needed data from companies across a number of industries to prompt further discussion on next generation corporate citizenship, where responsible business practices are woven into the corporate DNA.