Kent Walker

Organizational Ingenuity and the Paradox of Embedded Agency: The Case of the Embryonic Ontario Solar Energy Industry

We examine organizational ingenuity within the paradox of embedded agency where organizational stakeholders are constrained in their behaviors by institutions, yet also influence and change these institutions. In this study organizational ingenuity represents the agency component and institutional constraints the embedded component. We build theory about ingenuity from a four-year case study of the embryonic Ontario solar industry. There were two major institutional constraints, limited grid access and political uncertainty. These led to four ingenuity strategies that emerged at different times and levels of analysis that challenged, complied with, or escaped the constraints. We combine these findings to develop a process model of the emergence of ingenuity in this embryonic industry. Lastly, we find that extending legitimacy to an ingenuity strategy is necessary for its success.

Sustainability fellowships: the potential for collective stakeholder influence

Purpose – Given the current ecological state of the planet organizations now need to develop their sustainability to a significantly greater extent and at a faster pace. This paper aims to propose stakeholder collectives as a means for rapid and comprehensive sustainability, while also examining the moderating influence of firm size and change potential. Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical analysis leads to the development of multiple propositions. The work concentrates on one research question: how can the authors bring about rapid and comprehensive organizational sustainability? Findings – Arguments for the inability of individual stakeholders to drive the level of sustainability now required are presented. Propositions suggesting that sustainability can be obtained through stakeholder collectives, moderated by firm size and the change potential of the firm are developed. Research limitations/implications – Research using stakeholder theory has examined intra-stakeholder group collective action,...

An assessment of the early stages of a sustainable business model in the Canadian fast food industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a Canadian corporations implementation and application of a sustainable business operation and model. It is based upon a case study of an International Canadian coffee and donut chain: Tim Hortons.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through: extensive publications of corporate documents, observations of actual operations at retail sites and social media sites.Findings – The paper finds that Tim Hortons has clearly made progress toward greater sustainability. However, its program often lacks specificity, particularly in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Within a visibly and highly polluting industry Tim Hortons sustainability program is a step in the right direction but there are areas in need of improvement.Research limitations/implications – The findings of this study paradoxically suggest that it is difficult for a company in the fast food industry to truly become sustainable given certain characteristics of the industry (disposal food a...

Enhancing Critical Thinking by Teaching Two Distinct Approaches to Management

The authors explore the effect on students’ critical thinking of teaching only one approach to management versus teaching two approaches to management. Results from a quasiexperiment—which included a survey, interviews, and case analysis—suggest that compared with students who are taught only a conventional approach to management (which emphasizes maximizing productivity, profitability, and competitiveness), students who are taught a conventional and an alternative approach (which seeks to balance multiple forms of well-being for multiple stakeholders) exhibit enhanced critical thinking. Implications for management education are discussed.

The angel-halo effect: How increases in corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility relate to firm performance

Purpose This paper aims to examine how increases in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) relate to firm performance. Further, this paper investigates how increases in CSR (CSiR) while CSiR (CSR) is present relate to three measures of firm performance: profitability, management efficiency and market valuation. Design/methodology/approach Using over 10,000 observations from 2009-2013 and combined data from Sustainalytics and Compustat, this paper examines how increases in either CSR or CSiR relate to firm performance. Findings The paper finds that increased CSR significantly relates to increased firm performance in all three measures, and that increased CSiR significantly relates to decreased profitability only. Furthermore, increased CSR when CSiR is present relates to increased efficiency and market valuation. Finally, increased CSiR when CSR is present relates to increased profitability and efficiency. The results suggest that CSR dominates the relationship to firm performance, as it was positively related to all three measures of firm performance, and when CSR and CSiR exist simultaneously, CSR has a dominant positive effect. Research limitations/implications The study sample consists of US firms only from 2009-2013, thus the generalizability of the results to other countries and periods is unknown. Practical implications The results demonstrating differing effects based on the measure of firm performance suggest that managers should be specific with which measures are used to gauge the impact of CSR and CSiR. In addition, managers would be wise to invest in CSR, as the results suggest that they can improve profitability, efficiency and market value. Even further, the empirically identified angel-halo effect suggests that investments in CSR may counter any potential negative effects from CSiR. Finally, the latter results suggest that firms can “get away” with some degree of CSiR when CSR is present. Originality/value By examining changing levels of CSR and CSiR independently and conjunctly across various measures of firm performance, this paper found a dominating role for CSR, which is labeled as the angel-halo effect.

The Mirror Effect: Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Social Irresponsibility and Firm Performance in Coordinated Market Economies and Liberal Market Economies: The Mirror Effect: CSR, CSiR and Firm Performance

We investigate the classic management debate of agency versus institutional pressures through the application of the varieties of capitalism literature. In particular, we examine corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) and their relationships with firm performance in two types of capitalist systems: coordinated market economies (CMEs) and liberal market economies (LMEs). We note that while the CSR literature has tended to develop a balanced view on the influence of agency and institutional pressures, the CSiR literature has tended to emphasize the influence of agency. The latter appears to be a result of the fundamental attribution bias, where irresponsible corporate behaviours are attributed to individual managers or organizations, rather than the institutional environment. Our results, which include five years of data across 16 countries, show significantly greater CSR and significantly lower CSiR in CMEs compared with LMEs. Further, we find a positive relationship between CSR and firm performance in CMEs but not LMEs, and a negative relationship between CSiR and firm performance in LMEs but not CMEs. Overall, our results demonstrate the influence of the institutional environment, suggesting that corporate behaviours mirror the external environment.