Virtue ethics, CSR and ‘corporate citizenship’

Purpose

Review of trust and machine ethics research: towards a bio-inspired computational model of ethical trust (CMET)

Recent advances in the fields of robotics, cyborg development, moral psychology, trust, multi agent-based systems and socionics have raised the need for a better understanding of ethics, moral reasoning, judgment and decision-making within the system of man and machines. Here we seek to understand key research questions concerning the interplay of ethical trust at the individual level and the social moral norms at the collective end. We review salient works in the fields of trust and machine ethics research, underscore the importance and the need for a deeper understanding of ethical trust at the individual level and the development of collective social moral norms. Drawing upon the recent findings from neural sciences on mirror-neuron system (MNS) and social cognition, we present a bio-inspired Computational Model of Ethical Trust (CMET) to allow investigations of the interplay of ethical trust and social moral norms.

Ethical trust and social moral norms simulation : a bio-inspired agent-based modelling approach

The understanding of the micro-macro link is an urgent need in the study of social systems. The complex adaptive nature of social systems adds to the challenges of understanding social interactions and system feedback and presents substantial scope and potential for extending the frontiers of computer-based research tools such as simulations and agent-based technologies. In this project, we seek to understand key research questions concerning the interplay of ethical trust at the individual level and the development of collective social moral norms as representative sample of the bigger micro-macro link of social systems. We outline our computational model of ethical trust (CMET) informed by research findings from trust, machine ethics and neural science. Guided by the CMET architecture, we discuss key implementation ideas for the simulations of ethical trust and social moral norms.

Indian news media : from observer to participant

This book makes a new and significant argument that Indian news media is no longer just an observer but an active participant in the events that direct the nation. It explores the changing role of Indian news media and their performance in the past 25 years by closely examining media coverage of some landmark events within the context of India’s globalising polity, which has led to privatisation, widespread engagement with new communication technologies, and the rise of individualism. The challenges of globalisation have caused significant changes in news processes and procedures, which this volume details by examining media’s coverage of events and issues such as paid news, anti-graft movement, sting journalism, Delhi gang-rape protest, politics-media nexus and neo-liberalism’s impact on the industry’s performance.
The book places Indian media’s evolution in the context of economic, political and sociological developments in the country. It takes a multi-disciplinary approach to evaluate reportage in a multitude of media platforms. The theoretical exploration of the changes in the Indian media landscape draws from academic disciplines of ‘media studies’, ‘journalism,’ ‘cultural studies’ and ‘sociology’. This book follows the authors’ earlier work, titled Indian Media in a Globalised World (SAGE/2010).

The Indian public sphere in social media era

The media in a number of Western countries, including Australia, could be forgiven for envying the growth of the Indian media in recent decades. In contrast to more mature media markets in Australia and elsewhere, the Indian media is surviving the onslaught of new media technologies including social media platforms available to news audiences as an alternative to traditional news media. However, despite the omnipresence and diversity of over 800 television channels, over 94,000 publications and hundreds of radio stations, the ‘commercial’ imperative of Indian news media has raised doubts about their capacity to meet the ‘ideals’ of the public sphere. This paper examines the Indian public sphere in terms of citizens’ increasing use of various social media platforms to express their anger, frustration and protest against the system of governance and corruption. It analyses the use of social media platforms by mainstream media, socio-political organisations and audiences alike during recent events such as the Mumbai terror attack in 2008; the anti-corruption movement in 2011; protests against a lack of safety for women in 2012–13; and the federal elections in 2014; to understand the implications for the public sphere in India. The paper outlines interplay between the mainstream media’s coverage of some of these significant events, and the audience conversations pertaining to these news events on various social media platforms. It explores the increased utilisation of social media platforms by youth and the middle class, who have often remained disengaged with governance in the country, as a sign of deepening democracy and widening public sphere in India, despite the ‘digital divide’ that still exists in the country.

Evolution of adolescent mental health in a rapidly changing socioeconomic environment: a review of mental health studies in adolescents in India over last 10 years

Background: Significant changes in the economic, familial and social support aspects in India have occurred in recent times, making it an interesting naturalistic setting to observe the effects of a dynamic socioeconomic environment on behavioral and emotional disorders in adolescents. Objective: This systematic review attempts to synthesize and evaluate the available evidence on mental health disorders and interventions in adolescents in India in last 10 years as well as identify conceptual trends and methodological lacunae in these studies. Method: A systematic search of electronic databases was performed in March 2014 and 27 school and community based studies evaluating behavioral problems, psychiatric morbidity, stress, suicide-related behaviors, depression, anxiety, aggression, self concept in adolescents in India were reviewed. Conclusion: There is a wide variation in the reported prevalence of psychiatric morbidity and behavioral problems in Indian adolescents. Some of the risk and protective factors are similar to those identified by other International studies in this age group. These include female gender, academic difficulties, parental fights, strained familial relationships, school absenteeism, school dropout and other school related factors. However, there are certain variables that appear to be context specific and need further investigation. These are mother's working status, studying in Government institutions or belonging to a nuclear family as risk factors and praying as a coping skill, parental involvement as a protective factor for psychiatric disorders. The suspected upward trend in the psychiatric morbidity in this age group needs more studies to be established. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

The media, the social media and the elections

This chapter provides a snapshot of politicians and mainstreammedia’s engagement on social media platforms, particularly Twitter. The chapter, based on preliminary analysis, explores the extent to which some of the political parties relied on social media as a vehicle for their conversation with their followers, and the mainstream media’s opportunistic utilisation of this free-for-all information source to know what is happening on the ground. The chapter also points to a nexus between the politicians, mainstream media and social media during the 2014 General Election campaign in India.

The methodology in empirical sales ethics research: 1980-2010

The study examines the research methodology of more than 200 empirical investigations of ethics in personal selling and sales management between 1980 and 2010. The review discusses the sources and authorship of the sales ethics research. To better understand the drivers of empirical sales ethics research, the foundations used in business, marketing, and sales ethics are compared. The use of hypotheses, operationalization, measurement, population and sampling decisions, research design, and statistical analysis techniques were examined as part of theory development and testing. The review establishes a benchmark, assesses the status and direction of the sales ethics research methodology, and helps inform researchers who need to deal with increasing amounts of empirical research. The investigation identified changing sources of publication with the Journal of Business Ethics and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management maintaining their position as the main conduit of high quality empirical sales ethics research. The results suggest that despite the use of theoretical models for empirical testing, a greater variety of moral frameworks and wider use of marketing exchange theory is needed. The review highlights many sound aspects about the empirical sales ethics research statistical methodology but also raises concerns about several areas. Ways in which these concerns might be addressed and recommendations for researchers are provided. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

The impact of employee perceptions of organizational corporate social responsibility practices on job performance and organizational citizenship behavior: evidence from the Chinese private sector

This paper examines the impact of employee perceptions of organizational corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on their job performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Hierarchical regression analysis on two-wave data from 184 supervisor/subordinate dyads from three organizations located in Zhejiang Province, South-East China, revealed that employee perceptions of CSR toward social and non-social stakeholders strongly influenced their OCB. However, employee perceptions of CSR toward employees, customers and government influenced neither their job performance nor OCB.

Space, place and race: Ethics in practice for educational research in ethnically diverse rural Australia

Research in Australia’s ethnically diverse rural and regional communities requires an approach that is informed by notions of space, place and culture, and which recognises race as a relational social construct mediated by social and political discourse and context, and prone to change overtime. This critical review examines how teacher education researchers connect culturally competent research and rural ethics with the view to improving education systems, addressing rural teacher workforce issues, informing the preparation of pre-service teachers, and, most importantly, ensuring that rural students have access to educational opportunities that are engaging and meet their needs. It focuses specifically on researcher positionality on the insider-outsider continuum and how this informs ethical research in diverse rural communities, particularly those in which visible new migrants reside. Peer-reviewed journal articles that discuss how education researchers negotiate working in rural space are examined and considered in relation to discourse about ethics in practice and the insider/outsider continuum. Scholarship reflected in the literature spanned the fields of rural/research ethics, inclusive education, education research methodology and research with new migrants, minority and marginalised groups.

A cross-cultural construct of the ethos of the corporate codes of ethics: Australia, Canada and Sweden

The objective of this paper is to develop and describe a construct of the ethos of the corporate codes of ethics (i.e. an ECCE construct) across three countries, namely Australia, Canada and Sweden. The introduced construct is rather unique as it is based on a cross-cultural sample seldom seen in the literature. While the outcome of statistical analyses indicated a satisfactory factor solution and acceptable estimates of reliability measures, some research limitations have been stressed. They provide a foundation for further research in the field and testing of the ECCE construct in other cultural and corporate settings. We believe that the ECCE construct makes a contribution to theory and practice in the field as it outlines a theoretical construct for the benefit of other researchers. It is also of managerial interest as it provides a grounded framework of areas to be considered in the implementation in organizations of corporate codes of ethics.

A cross cultural comparison of the contents of codes of ethics: USA, Canada and Australia

This paper examines the contents of the codes of ethics of 83 of the top 500 companies operating in the private sector in Australia in an attempt to discover whether there are national characteristics that differentiate the codes used by companies operating in Australia from codes used by companies operating in the American and Canadian systems. The studies that were used as a comparison were Mathews (1987) for the United States of America and Lefebvre and Singh (1992) for Canada. The major conclusion is that, whilst Australian codes do have some characteristics that differentiate them from the other two groups, it appears that companies in all three cultures are driven by the same motives to develop codes.

The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on organizational commitment and the moderating role of collectivism and masculinity: evidence from China

This study examines the relationship between employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility practices and their organizational commitment. Hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to analyze survey data on 280 employees from five export-oriented manufacturing firms in China. Employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility practices towards internal stakeholders were found to relate positively to their organizational commitment. In contrast, employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility practices to external stakeholders had a nonsignificant or marginally significant impact on organizational commitment. In addition, the collectivism and masculinity orientations of employees were found to moderate this relationship. These findings provide an insight into how corporate social responsibility practices may be utilized to motivate diverse groups of employees within China-based organizations. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Integrating and implementing CSR: A case of CONCOR (Container Corporation of India) in India

CSR in India is gaining momentum as a result of new legislation and pressure from multiple stakeholders. This chapter discusses the CSR program of a public sector enterprise, CONCOR (Container Corporation of India) in light of the changing regulatory environment form CSR in the country. This success story highlights how the CSR program in an Indian public sector enterprise was designed, planned and implemented right from its inception stage. The critical success factors for the implementation of CSR program on economic and social status of the beneficiaries are studied and presented. The findings of the project highlight the broad scope and implementation of different CSR initiatives and the effectiveness of the implementing organization in enhancing the capabilities of these poor communities and thus improving their livelihoods.