Stephen Brammer

The contribution of corporate social responsibility to organizational commitment

This study investigates the relationship between organizational commitment and employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within a model that draws on social identity theory. Specifically, we examine the impact of three aspects of socially responsible behaviour on organizational commitment: employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility in the community, procedural justice in the organization and the provision of employee training. The relationship between organizational commitment and each aspect of CSR is investigated within a model that distinguishes between genders and includes a set of control variables that is drawn from the commitment literature (Meyer et al., 2002). The analysis is based on a sample of 4,712 employees drawn from a financial services company. The results emphasize the importance of gender variation and suggest both that external CSR is positively related to organizational commitment and that the contribution of CSR to organizational commitment is at least as great as job satisfaction.

Voluntary Environmental Disclosures by Large UK Companies

This paper examines the patterns in voluntary environmental disclosures made by a sample of large UK companies. The analysis distinguishes between the decision to make a voluntary environmental disclosure and decisions concerning the quality of such disclosures and examines how each type of decision is determined by firm and industry characteristics. We find that larger, less indebted companies with dispersed ownership characteristics are significantly more likely to make voluntary environmental disclosures, and that the quality of disclosures is positively associated with firm size and corporate environmental impact. We find significant cross-sector variation in the determinants of both the participation and quality decisions. Furthermore, the manner of this variation differs between the two. Copyright 2006 The Authors Journal compilation (c) 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Sustainable procurement in the United Kingdom public sector

Purpose – This study aims to investigate sustainable procurement in the UK public sector.Design/methodology/approach – Sustainable procurement is investigated using a questionnaire that draws on established scales for “purchasing social responsibility”. The survey was administered across the UK public sector, and 106 responses were received from procurement officers.Findings – Analysis of quantitative and qualitative survey data reveal there is significant variation across public sector agencies in the nature of sustainable procurement practice. Local authorities have a particularly strong emphasis on buying from local and small suppliers relative to other sectors, health looks generally lower in many categories, and education appears to have something of an emphasis on environmental aspects of sustainable procurement. Cost has been found to be the leading barrier to sustainable procurement, and top management support the leading facilitator.Research limitations/implications – There is likely to be select...

Gender and Ethnic Diversity Among UK Corporate Boards

This paper investigates the ethnic and gender diversity of the corporate board of UK companies, placing particular emphasis on links to board size and industry characteristics. We employ a novel dataset that covers a large sample of UK PLCs and describes a director’s gender, ethnicity and position held. We find both ethnic and gender diversity to be very limited, and that diversity is somewhat less pronounced among executive positions. We find significant cross‐sector variation in gender diversity, with an above average prevalence of women in Retail, Utilities, Media and Banking, while such variation in ethnic diversity is considerably less pronounced. Our evidence suggests that a close proximity to final consumers plays a more significant role in shaping board diversity than does the female presence among the industry’s workforce. We argue that this shows that board diversity is influenced by a firm’s external business environment and particularly an imperative to reflect corresponding diversity among its customers.

The Effect of Stakeholder Preferences, Organizational Structure and Industry Type on Corporate Community Involvement

This paper analyses the relationships between corporate community involvement activities, the organizational structures within which they are managed, the firms industry and evolving stakeholder attitudes and preferences in a sample of 148 U.K. based firms who have demonstrated a clear desire to be socially responsible. The research highlights significant associations between the allocation of responsibility for community involvement within the firm, its industry and the extent of its community involvement activities. Consistent with the view that managerial structures may play a significant role in the implementation of community initiatives, the results identify significant variations in community involvement policies across alternative organizational forms. However, important similarities in corporate community policies across alternative structures are also shown to exist suggesting that corporate community involvement activities may be influenced by the preferences of societal stakeholders.

Corporate Reputation and Women on the Board

In this paper, we investigate the determinants of corporate reputation, derived from the assessments of managers and market analysts, of a sample of large UK firms. Along with the influences of a variety of firm attributes, we find a reputational effect associated with a female presence at board level. This effect varies across sectors and demonstrates the influence of a firms stakeholder environment in determining whether a female presence on the board enhances or harms the reputation of the firm. The pattern that emerges indicates that the presence of women on the board is favourably viewed in only those sectors that operate close to final consumers. We argue that the nature of this effect reflects an imperative for equality of representation that highlights the need to reflect gender diversity among customers.

Corporate Charitable Giving, Multinational Companies and Countries of Concern

This paper investigates the degree to which corporate charitable giving is influenced by a firms internationalization and/or whether it has operations in one or more countries of concern. For a sample of large UK firms, we find evidence of a positive effect not for internationalization per se, but only for a presence in particular countries. In this connection, the salient country characteristic is a lack of political rights and/or civil liberties, and the positive impact on charitable giving is restricted to a presence in only those countries that are, according to Freedom House indicators, most lacking in this respect. Furthermore, our study highlights a mode of corporate response to stakeholder concerns and pressures – offsetting – that is qualitatively different from those suggested in earlier conceptual literatures.

National institutional systems as antecedents of female board representation : an empirical study

Manuscript Type: Empirical. Research Question/Issue: How are national institutional systems related to the proportion of women found on corporate boards of directors of companies listed in particular countries? Which particular types of national institutions play the most important role? We explore cross-country variation in the pattern of female representation on corporate boards and evaluate the extent to which it is associated with the nature of national institutional systems as captured in five frameworks each of which emphasizes the importance of a distinct type of national institutions. Our analysis includes 38 countries and covers the years 2001-07. Research Findings/Insights: Our findings show that as much as half of the variation in the presence of women on corporate boards across countries is attributable to national institutional systems and that culturally and legally-oriented institutional systems appear to play the most significant role in shaping board diversity. Theoretical/Academic Implications: Our study suggests that country-level institutions, previously neglected in studies of board diversity, play an important role in shaping the prevalence of women on corporate boards and that these need to be more fully incorporated in future research on board diversity. Practitioner/Policy Implications: The importance of national institutional systems for board diversity suggests that policy levers of a regulatory nature and national cultural characteristics are important elements in driving corporate board diversity and offer distinct opportunities for tailoring a mix of corporate governance interventions that suit the particular institutional nature of a given country.

An empirical examination of the relationship between business strategy and socially responsible supply chain management

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the effect of business strategy on socially responsible supply chain management (SR‐SCM).Design/methodology/approach – This study draws on data from 178 UK‐based companies, and 340 buyer‐supplier relationships. A novel data collection approach is used, which minimizes social desirability and common methods bias, to capture socially responsible supply chain management. The data are analysed through a set of OLS regressions.Findings – Business strategies significantly influence socially responsible supply chain management. Low‐cost producers largely neglect their social responsibilities in the supply chain. In contrast, firms pursuing differentiation strategies are considerably more engaged with these issues, partly because they have better supply chain processes.Practical implications – Practitioners should carefully consider the fit between strategic position and level of engagement with SR‐SCM, since our results emphasise the relationship between SR‐SCM and business s...

Is Philanthropy Strategic? An Analysis of the Management of Charitable Giving in Large UK Companies

Recent evidence suggests that the level of philanthropic donations made by large UK businesses has grown significantly over the last 20 years (Arulampalam & Stoneman 1995, Campbell et al. 2002). The most recent statistics indicate that the largest 100 UK firms collectively contributed over d630m in 2002/3, a rise of 26% on the previous year, and that the proportion of profits given to charities by these companies approximately doubled between 2001 and 2003. The growing importance of corporate philanthropy is reflected in the proliferation of recent articles in the academic literature, many of which chart the chronological development of corporate philanthropy in the United States or the United Kingdom or examine the correlates of philanthropy (Arulampalam & Stoneman 1995, Moore 1995, Himmelstein 1997, Adams & Hardwick 1998, Saiia 2000, 2002, Bartkus et al. 2002, Campbell et al. 2002, Porter & Kramer 2002, Saiia et al. 2003, Siefert et al. 2003). A variety of motivations for firms making philanthropic donations have been advanced in the existing literature (see Siefert et al. 2003: 195– 196 for a useful overview). Among the alternative motivations identified in the literature for philanthropy are the maximization of managerial utility that is derived from association with good works, the altruistic desire for companies to return some of the wealth generated through economic activities to their communities, and economic motives that originate in the desire to enhance worker productivity and goodwill among consumers (Navarro 1988, Young & Burlingame 1996, Saiia et al. 2003). Within these alternative motivations, a central path paints philanthropy both as a way for companies to demonstrate their social responsiveness to the communities in which they operate (Wood & Jones 1995, Berman et al. 1999), and as an activity that stimulates goodwill towards companies within those communities. Earlier work has argued that corporate philanthropy influences the perceptions of the firm in the eyes of a variety of stakeholders including investors, customers, suppliers, actual or potential employees, and the voluntary sector (Smith 1994, Himmelstein 1997, Saiia et al. 2003). Existing research into the motivations for corporate philanthropy provides mixed evidence concerning the degree to which philanthropy is The first two authors are, respectively, Lecturer and Reader at the School of Management, University of Bath, UK. The third author is Lecturer in Economics, Department of Economics, University of Reading, UK.