Ana Carolina de Moura Maciel, Daniel Jardim Pardini and Plínio Rafael Reis Monteiro
This study aims to focus on the development and testing of a social risk management scale that could be applied to identify internal and external dimensions of strategic risks.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on the development and testing of a social risk management scale that could be applied to identify internal and external dimensions of strategic risks.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applied a quantitative approach for testing an theoretical model in the Brazilian mining sector, using partial least squares–structural equation modeling to assess reliability and validity of the dimensions and model.
Findings
Results points that internal and external risks have similar impact on general risk in the mining sector on the company studied. The research also identifies multidimensional scales consisting of internal (company policy, attitudes, loss of assets, human resources and operational) and external risks (market, strategic, social, credit, liquidity, loss of assets and technological). The results also points the relative importance of these dimensions and sub-dimensions on general business strategic risks.
Research limitations/implications
The scale was tested in just one company and, as a case study approach, the results are of limited generalization. Also, the scale was developed in the mining sector, so also the scale may require adaptation to applications in other contexts.
Practical implications
The multidimensional and hierarchical approach applied to modeling and scale development helps managers to understand the nature of risks and how to minimize them in business strategic settings.
Social implications
The study points out cues for managers to reconcile divergent sources of strategic risks that affect business, taking in to account the social dimension as a central element of risk management.
Originality/value
The study proposes and tests a scale with a multidimensional and hierarchical approach for social risk managing.
Details
Keywords
Barbara de Lima Voss, David Bernard Carter and Bruno Meirelles Salotti
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in…
Abstract
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.