New networked technologies and carers of people with dementia: an interview study

Dementia is one of the greatest contemporary health and social care challenges, and novel approaches to the care of its sufferers are needed. New information and communication technologies (ICT) have the potential to assist those caring for people with dementia, through access to networked information and support, tracking and surveillance. This article reports the views about such new technologies of 34 carers of people with dementia. We also held a group discussion with nine carers for respondent validation. The carers' actual use of new ICT was limited, although they thought a gradual increase in the use of networked technology in dementia care was inevitable but would bypass some carers who saw themselves as too old. Carers expressed a general enthusiasm for the benefits of ICT, but usually not for themselves, and they identified several key challenges including: establishing an appropriate balance between, on the one hand, privacy and autonomy and, on the other: maximising safety; establishing responsibility for and ownership of the equipment and who bears the costs; the possibility that technological help would mean a loss of valued personal contact; and the possibility that technology would substitute for existing services rather than be complementary. For carers and dementia sufferers to be supported, the expanding use of these technologies should be accompanied by intensive debate of the associated issues.

Taking strategy seriously:responsibility and reform for an important social practice

Strategy is a pervasive and consequential practice in most Western societies. We respond to strategy's importance by drawing an initial map of strategy as an organizational field that embraces not just firms, but consultancies, business schools, the state and financial institutions. Using the example of Enron, we show how the strategy field is prone to manipulations in which other actors in the field can easily become entrapped, with grave consequences. Given these consequences, we argue that it is time to take strategy seriously in three senses: undertaking systematic research on the field itself; developing appropriate responses to recent failures in the field; and building more heedful interrelationships between actors within the field, particularly between business schools and practitioners.

Employee social responsibility:development of an ESR measure and a multi-level investigation of antecedent and boundary conditions

The following thesis instigates the discussion on corporate social responsibility (CSR) through a review of literature on the conceptualisation, determinants, and remunerations of organisational CSR engagement. The case is made for the need to draw attention to the micro-levels of CSR, and consequently focus on employee social responsibility at multiple levels of analysis. In order to further research efforts in this area, the prerequisite of an employee social responsibility behavioural measurement tool is acknowledged. Accordingly, the subsequent chapters outline the process of scale development and validation, resulting in a robust, reliable and valid employee social responsibility scale. This scale is then put to use in a field study, and the noteworthy roles of the antecedent and boundary conditions of transformational leadership, assigned CSR priority, and CSR climate are confirmed at the group and individual level. Directionality of these relationships is subsequently alluded to in a time-lagged investigation, set within a simulated business environment. The thesis collates and discusses the contributions of the findings from the research series, which highlight a consistent three-way interaction effect of transformational leadership, assigned CSR priority and CSR climate. Specifically, efforts are made to outline various avenues for future research, given the infancy of the micro-level study of employee social responsibility.

Corporate social responsibility in China:impact of regulations, market orientation and ownership structure

Purpose – This paper aims to report on a study that contributes to the understanding of the determinants of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the largest emerging market, namely China. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is a survey of 600 hotels that resulted in 143 returned responses from top managers. Findings – Market orientation is the most significant predicator of CSR followed by government regulations. In contrast, ownership structure is found to have little effect. Originality/value – Previous research on CSR focuses on its nature and impact on business performance, and is carried out mainly in developed countries. This research contributes to one's understanding of the determinants of CSR in emerging markets like China. © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Effects of government regulations, market orientation and ownership structure on corporate social responsibility in China:an empirical study

Previous research on corporate social responsibility mainly focuses on its nature and impact on business performance. This paper reports on a study that contributes to our understanding of the determinants of corporate social responsibility by focusing specifically on the role played by three strategically important variables, namely government regulation, ownership structure and market orientation. Results of a survey of 586 general managers of hotels in China suggest that the market orientation is the most significant predicator of corporate social responsibility followed by government regulation. In contrast, the ownership structure is found to have little effect. The implications of the findings for managers in China are discussed.

The impacts of market orientation and corporate social responsibility on firm performance:evidence from China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the joint effects of market orientation (MO) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected via a questionnaire survey of star-rated hotels in China and a total of 143 valid responses were received. The hypotheses were tested by employing structural equation modelling with a maximum likelihood estimation option. Findings – It was found that although both MO and CSR could enhance performance, once the effects of CSR are accounted for, the direct effects of MO on performance diminish considerably to almost non-existent. Although this result may be due to the fact that the research is conducted in China, a country where CSR might be crucially important to performance given the country's socialist legacy, it nonetheless provides strong evidence that MO's impact on organizational performance is mediated by CSR. Research limitations/implications – The main limitations include the use of cross-sectional data, the subjective measurement of performance and the uniqueness of the research setting (China). The findings provide an additional important insight into the processes by which a market oriented culture is transformed into superior organizational performance. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first to examine the joint effects of MO and CSR on business performance. The empirical evidence from China adds to the existing literature on the respective importance of MO and CSR.

From co-operative to competitive localism? The changing balance between equity and efficiency in local government under the Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition

This paper considers whether there has been a shift in the balance between equity and efficiency in respect of decentralised public policy in England since the election of the Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010. Drawing on the literature on policy decentralisation and fiscal federalism from both Political Science and Economics, reasons are discussed why a trade-off between equity and efficiency might be expected. The context of English local government then outlined, and consideration is then given to four areas of policy: business rate localisation, the ‘New Homes Bonus’, council tax benefit and social housing, and regional economic development. In each case, some shift in the balance away from concern with equity towards one with efficiency is discerned: whether or not this is desirable will prove a matter of political and moral, as well as scientific judgement.

The grip of personalization in adult social care:between managerial domination and fantasy

This paper examines the 'ideological grip' of personalization. It does so empirically, tracking the trajectory of personalization through austerity budgeting in one English local authority. In this case, personalization continued to signify hope and liberation even though the most draconian cuts in the Council's history effectively rendered personalization a practical impossibility. This requires critical theorization. Two bodies of theory are interrogated. First Boltanski's sociology of critique, and, in particular, his notion of managerial domination illuminate the way in which change imperatives and crises come to cement ideological formations. Here it is argued that the articulation of personalization with transformation lends itself to managerial domination. It is further argued, though, that while institutional actors may be able to manipulate the symbolic to evade, what Boltanski terms, deconstructionist critique, this cannot entirely explain the hold of this particular discourse. Here, the Lacanian concept of enjoyment is deployed to interrogate its extra-symbolic function and fantasmatic form. Finally, the paper explores the political implications of such affective attachment and, in particular, the guarantee that personalization offers in a period of welfare state decline. © The Author(s) 2012.

The relationship between personality and social factors and success as a sales representative, both of a petrol company and an animal food company

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Resource enclavity and corporate social responsibility in Sub-Saharan Africa:the case of oil production in Ghana

Why has Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) yielded such disappointing outcomes in oil-rich sub-Saharan Africa? Over the past decades, a sizable body of literature has emerged which draws attention to the shortcomings of oil-related development and complementary CSR exercises in the region. Most critiques on the topic, however, assess specific interventions and/or policies but fail to evaluate the complex decision-making processes, dictated heavily by setting, which produce such actions altogether. This thesis attributes CSR outcomes in oil-rich sub-Saharan Africa to the unique context in which the decisions underpinning actions take place. In doing so, the analysis borrows ideas from a diverse body of literature spanning the international development, accounting, management and political science disciplines. To explore these ideas further, the thesis focuses on the case of Ghana. The most recent “addition” to sub-Saharan Africa’s oil club, Ghana provides a rare glimpse of how decisions underpinning CSR have been identified, evolved and reshaped from the outset. To provide a comprehensive picture of CSR in the sector and its impacts at the local level, interviews and focus groups were conducted with a range of stakeholder groups. As is the case throughout sub-Saharan Africa, in Ghana, oil production occurs in offshore “enclaves”, which are disconnected geographically from local communities. This thesis argues that these dynamics have important implications for CSR. Findings point to companies also being disconnected ideologically from local development needs, which, in part explains the questionable CSR that has become such a contentious issue in the debate on oil and development in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. The enclave-type setting in which oil production occurs appears to have stifled creativity and innovation in the area of CSR. This, along with institutional weaknesses, regulatory deficiencies and the Government of Ghana’s failure to adequately respond to local-level concerns, has produced these outcomes.

A vállalatok politikája – vállalati, társadalmi felelősségvállalás, vállalati közösségek és a vállalati stratégia jövője (Corporate policy – corporate social responsibility, corporate communities, and future of corporate strategy)

A vállalati társadalmi felelősségvállalás (CSR) a diszciplinarizálódás korai szakaszában különböző tudományos hagyományokból táplálkozva, a vállalatirányítás, az üzleti etika, a környezetgazdálkodás és a marketingkommunikáció határvidékének szélesítésével, különböző hangsúlyú kiterjesztésével igyekszik saját helyét kijelölni a gazdálkodástudomány keretei között. Jelen tanulmány egy, az érintetti elméletekből kiinduló, ám alapvetően történeti és politikai hagyományhoz köti a CSR jelenét és jövőjét, majd ebből a megközelítésből kiindulva helyezi el a CSR elméletét és lehetséges managementgyakorlatát a vállalatirányítás és a marketingkommunikáció világában. A szerző álláspontja szerint a CSR inkább forma, mint tartalom; az üzleti értelemben vett fenntarthatóságot a vállalatok kevésbé jó ügyek képviselete révén, mint az érintetti (stakeholder) demokrácia megvalósulásának elősegítésével teremthetik meg. Jelen dolgozat azt mutatja meg, hogy az érintetti demokrácia mint üzleti működési modell megvalósulása messzemenő következményekkel járhat mind a vállalatirányítás, mind a modern marketingkommunikáció számára. ______ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is in an early phase of disciplinarization and works towards establishing its level scholarly playing field from different traditions. It attempts to extend its territory on the boarderline of management, business ethics, environmental studies, and marketing-communications. This study applies a historical and political approach to the understanding of the present and future of CSR and places CSR in the area of management studies and marketing- communications from this starting point. CSR is more form than content; business sustanaibility is achieved less through good causes but via assisting in the establishment of stakeholder democracy. This study attempts to show what results stakeholder democracy as business modell would bring to the world of both corporate management and marketingcommunications.

Társadalmi felelősségvállalás a személyes vélemények oldaláról = Social responsibility from the viewpoint of personal opinions

A vállalatok társadalmi felelősségvállalása választ adhat a globális problémák megoldására. Azzal, hogy a környezeti és társadalmi ügyeket üzleti kategóriaként kezeli, új lehetőségeket nyitott meg a megközelítés, azonban az alapvető változások még nem érezhetők. A szerző kutatásában e témakört vizsgálja a személyes vélemények és attitűdök oldaláról. A gazdasági érdekek elsődlegessége mellett az ismerethiány az olyan tényező, amely szakadékot képez az elmélet és a gyakorlat között. Mivel a magatartásformák megváltoztatása időigényes kihívás, a közeljövő eredményei azzal biztosíthatók, ha a leendő döntéshozók sajátosságaikat megismerve a menedzsmenteszközöket igazítják a lehetőségekhez. A tanulmány egy átfogó, empirikus kutatás eredményei alapján mutatja be, hogy a felsőoktatásban tanulók, mint a jövő vezetői, hogyan viszonyulnak a fenntartható fejlődés és a CSR kérdéséhez. _____ The tools of corporate social responsibility (CSR) may support the solving of global problems by handling them as a business category. This expands the possibilities, but the breakthrough is still missing. The author’s research activity analyses the relations from the viewpoint of personal opinions and attitudes. There is a huge lack between the theories and the practical application that can be explained by the economic interest and the deficiencies of knowledge. Since changing the behaviour is a time-consuming challenge, the focus must be on discovering the present characteristics of the future decision makers and adjusting the management methods to the results. The paper summarises the results of an empiric research that opinions and attitudes of higher education students to sustainable development and CSR.