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1 – 8 of 8Musa Obalola and Ismail Adelopo
This paper aims to reflect the argument that the impetus to engage in socially responsible actions is ultimately reinforced by the perceived belief that doing so will be…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to reflect the argument that the impetus to engage in socially responsible actions is ultimately reinforced by the perceived belief that doing so will be beneficial to the corporation in the long run.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a narrative‐inductive approach to make important contributions to the corporate social responsibility‐organizational effectiveness literature. Data were collected through a semi‐structured interview, and analyzed using qualitative analysis strategies.
Findings
The study reports a profound perceived usefulness of ethics and social responsibility for business in the insurance industry in Nigeria. Furthermore, the study presents evidence that indicates that consciousness about the role of ethics and social responsibility in organizational effectiveness in this context is low, but, nevertheless suggests a positive posture towards the constructs. This positive posture seems to have been driven by the negative image of the industry and the need to remedy the situation. It suggests that this can be achieved through a show of genuine concern for the needs of the consumers, and the need to reinforce their trust and confidence in insurance as a loss mitigating mechanism.
Practical implications
While shareholders' value maximization was shown as one of the considerations for ethical and social responsible behavior compromise, findings from the study also suggest that stakeholders' value maximization would be an effective consideration for the industry to improve the present low market penetration. The paper draws out the need to amend short‐term goals for long‐term goals by sacrificing short‐term profits for long‐term profits and survival.
Originality/value
Although the strategic importance of ethics and social responsibility has been investigated using the deductive approach in other industries, this work provides an alternative to this existing bulk of positivist investigations by using an inductive approach with subjects drawn from the insurance industry. The study also seems to the authors' knowledge, the first to investigate the strategic importance of this construct in a developing and apathetic market such as Nigeria.
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The purpose of this paper is to show that given the dearth of literature on how firms in the African continent have embraced and practiced corporate social responsibility (CSR)…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show that given the dearth of literature on how firms in the African continent have embraced and practiced corporate social responsibility (CSR), this study contributes to the CSR literature by examining managers' perceptions about CSR, structural changes to enhance, its implementation, and the pattern of current CSR actions in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used quantitative approach and collected primary data through a three‐part structured questionnaire, from insurance firms operating in Nigeria. The 67 responses received were analysed descriptively and the results presented.
Findings
The overall results indicate a strong support for social responsibility and the translation of this support into action through involvement in some community based projects. Evidence from the study also suggests that social responsibility is still largely perceived as a philanthropic gesture.
Research limitations/implications
The study only covers insurance firms operating in Lagos state. Furthermore, only one response represents the view of a firm, hence the need to exercise caution in generalizing the results.
Practical implications
Since the results suggest the readiness of the Nigerian insurance firms to go beyond the traditional view of profit and shareholders' wealth maximization, there must be a consistency between this posture and their actions.
Originality/value
The study provides an insight into perceptions about corporate social responsibility in the insurance industry, in a developing country and in Africa, which to the best knowledge of the author, have not been done before.
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Kamil Omoteso and Musa Obalola
This chapter adopts Porter’s ‘audit trinity’ approach comprising internal audit, external audit and audit committee to discuss the role auditing can play in the management of…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter adopts Porter’s ‘audit trinity’ approach comprising internal audit, external audit and audit committee to discuss the role auditing can play in the management of corporate fraud.
Design/methodology/approach
The chapter maps the historical background of and the developments in external audit as an assurance service, the internal audit function and the audit committee. Based on this, it explains the nature, types and possible causes of corporate fraud within the context of business risk with a view to establishing how auditing can help in managing such frauds.
Findings
The chapter highlights the relationships that should exist between the three audit types in order to support a sound internal control system as a tool for preventing and detecting corporate fraud.
Research limitations/implications
The chapter identifies cost, opportunity, connivance and managerial override as factors that could limit the ability of auditing to manage corporate fraud. It also suggests ways of addressing these limitations.
Practical implications
As the current upward trend in IT adoption for corporate operations continue to open new sets of corporate fraud windows, this chapter examines how an entity’s internal controls can be used to prevent and detect these growing fraud schemes.
Originality/value
The chapter’s unique strength is its adoption of a holistic approach to auditing to suggest ways of managing corporate fraud – a novelty in the corporate fraud literature. It is hoped that future research in the area will bring empirical insights to the issues raised and perspectives covered in the chapter.
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Ismail Adelopo, Ramiro Cea Moure, Lucely Vargas Preciado and Musa Obalola
The corporate social responsibility (CSR) debate has developed tremendously over decades. However, while CSR communication has developed significantly, web‐accessibility of CSR…
Abstract
Purpose
The corporate social responsibility (CSR) debate has developed tremendously over decades. However, while CSR communication has developed significantly, web‐accessibility of CSR communications is under researched. The purpose of this paper is to examine how firms make their CSR communications accessible to their stakeholders on the internet.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used number of “clicks” to download CSR communication of a firm to measure its accessibility. Independent mean test showed that CSR communications by high impact sectors are more accessible on the internet than low impact sectors, but web‐accessibility is not affected by country.
Findings
Although CSR research has grown tremendously over the decades, the discourse has been largely restricted to disclosures in the annual reports and, lately, to the standalone sustainability reports. In addition, they have mainly examined the management's motives for disclosures, using legitimacy theory as the most influential theoretical underpinning. Only very few studies have examined CSR communication on the internet and even these studies have only researched the content of the disclosure, examining the quality and quality of disclosures.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper lies in its consideration of the effect of firms' CSR communications on the recipients. While CSR communication has developed significantly, web‐accessibility of CSR communications remains under researched.
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This paper aims to carry out a thematic review of literature on ethics, governance and sustainable practices with regard to workforce engagement and development in the Nigerian…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to carry out a thematic review of literature on ethics, governance and sustainable practices with regard to workforce engagement and development in the Nigerian hospitality industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The review covered the available conceptual and empirical research articles along with a number of alternative sources containing helpful information, such as industry reports and news articles. The review suggests that, for the Nigerian hospitality industry, extant research on ethics, governance and sustainability with regard to workforce management can be categorized into five themes adapted from the categorization of ethical constructs in the work of Tucker et al. (1999) on codes of conduct. These five themes are integrity, equality, economic efficiency and equivalence, distributive and contributive justice and environmental concern.
Findings
There appeared to be a high incidence of unethical behaviour in the industry, the most common being maltreatment by employers and dishonesty of employees.
Research limitations/implications
Impressions derived from the study could be inaccurate, given the dearth of research publications in this regard in Nigeria. More empirical research must be done to better understand where industry players need help to be more responsible and sustainable in their business practices and in the way they engage and develop their workforce.
Practical implications
A number of recommendations were made regarding how to entrench ethics and sustainability in hospitality organizations and to develop the workforce in line with this.
Originality/value
The paper is important because of the high reliance on people for competitive advantage in this industry.
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