Javier Husillos

Social disclosure, legitimacy theory and the role of the state

Purpose - The principal objective of this paper is to expand the scope of legitimacy theory (LT) through a detailed analysis of the links that exist between the legitimising strategies of firms and the characteristics of the political environment in which they are developed. Designs/methodology/approach - A discourse analysis was performed on the social and environmental disclosure (SED) of a multinational in the automotive sector with an established presence in Spain, in the context of the relational dynamics between the firm/society/state. Different channels of information were compared to capture both the official discourse as represented in the annual reports of the multinational and the discourse of employees and the State as represented in the media. Findings - The results of the research show that the firm under study used SED strategically to legitimise a new production process through the manipulation of social perceptions, and that this strategy was supported implicitly and explicitly through ideological alignment with the State. Research limitations/implications - Despite a widely-held assumption of a pluralist political context, the State is presented here as aligning itself with corporate management as opposed to the welfare concerns of employees. Thus, future research calling for regulation of SED should preface such calls with consideration of the orientation of the State. Originality/value - In contrast with the dominant approach to LT that considers the relationship of the firm with its stakeholders, the present study widens the scope of LT to consider the interplay between firm legitimating strategies and state support for such strategies.

Global ends, local means: Cross-national homogeneity in professional service firms

An expanding institutionalist literature on professional service firms (PSFs) emphasizes that these are ridden by contradictions, paradoxes and conflicting logics. More specifically, literature looking at PSFs in a global context has highlighted how these contradictions prevent firms from becoming truly global in nature. What it takes to make partner in the Big 4 is at the core of such interrogations because partners belong to global firms yet are promoted at the national level. We undertake a cross-country comparison of partner promotion processes in Big 4 PSFs in Canada, France, Spain and the UK. Synthesizing existing institutionalist work with Bourdieusian theory, our results suggest that PSFs in different countries resemble each other very closely in terms of the requirements demanded of their partners. Although heterogeneity can be observed in the way in which different forms of capital are converted into each other, we show there is an overall homogeneity in that economic capital hurdles are the most significant, if not the sole, set of criteria upon which considerations of partnership admissions are based.

The emergence of triple bottom line reporting in Spain

ABSTRACT The emergence of triple bottom line reporting by organizations in Spain is the context in which the present work have tried to understand the influence of both external and internal contexts on social and environmental disclosures. The material for this study is drawn from semi-structured interviews with 30 managers of 20 Spanish organizations with responsibility for the preparation of TBL reports. The narratives provided by the interviewees suggest that internal (organizational and individual) and external contexts are both important in the explanation of social and environmental disclosure practices. One of the studys main findings is that certain assemblages of external and internal influences exist that can either enhance or inhibit the development of TBL reports.The aim of this paper is to have a better understanding of the influence of both external and internal contexts on social and environmental disclosure made by organizations, focusing on the emergence of triple bottom line reporting in Spain. More specifically, this study is based in semi-structured interviews with 30 managers of 20 Spanish organizations involved in the preparation of TBL reports. The narratives provided by the interviewees suggest that the internal (organizational and individual) and external context, is important in the explanation of social and environmental disclosure practices. One of the main findings of the study is the existence of certain assemblages of external and internal influences which could be enhancing or inhibiting the development of the TBL reports in the Spanish context.

Tracking habitus across a transnational professional field

The sociology of the professions has shied away from cross-national comparative work. Yet research in different professional jurisdictions emphasizes the transnational nature of professional fields. Further work is therefore needed that explores the extent to which transnational professional fields are characterized by unity or heterogeneity. To that end, this article presents the results of a qualitative interrogation of the habitus of partners in ‘Big 4’ professional service firms across, primarily, five countries (Bangladesh, Canada, France, Spain and the UK). Marked differences are observed between the partner habitus in Bangladesh and the other countries studied in terms of entrepreneurial and public service dispositions. In turn, these findings highlight the methodological relevance of habitus for both the sociology of the professions and comparative capitalism literatures: for the former, habitus aids in mapping the dynamics of transnational professional fields; for the latter, habitus can elucidate the informal norms and conventions of national business systems.

Taste matters: Cultural capital and elites in proximate Strategic Action Fields

Recent literature suggests that elites are increasingly fragmented and divided. Yet there is very little empirical research that maps the distinctions between different elite groups. This article explores the cultural divisions that pertain to elite factions in two distinct but proximate Strategic Action Fields. A key insight from the article is that the public sector faction studied exhibits a much broader, more aesthetic set of cultural dispositions than their private sector counterparts. This permits a number of inter-related contributions to be made to literature on both elites and field theory. First, the findings suggest that cultural capital acts as a salient source of distinction between elite factions in different Strategic Action Fields. Second, it is demonstrated how cultural capital is socially functional as certain cultural dispositions are strongly homologous with specific professional roles. Third, the article demonstrates the implications for the structure of the State when two culturally distinct elites are brought together in a new Strategic Action Field.

An Evolutionary Model of Prenatal and Postnatal Discrimination Against Females

Discrimination of born and unborn females is a well documented phenomenon in countries such as India, China, Taiwan or Korea. Empirical studies provide support for both an additive and a substitutive relationship between prenatal and postnatal discriminatory practices against females. We introduce a theoretical evolutionary model that endogenizes the preference for sons and, as a result, can explain why one or the other type of relationship emerges in a society.