Hung Woan Ting, Bala Ramasamy and Lee Chew Ging
The purpose of this paper is to identify the most potent internal resources of a firm that contribute to the CSR agenda.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the most potent internal resources of a firm that contribute to the CSR agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a quantitative approach to analyze Malaysian companies. A scorecard is devised according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. A logit/probit model is employed to differentiate firms that are CSR‐active from their non‐active counterparts.
Findings
The results indicate that having universal accredited management systems in place differentiates CSR‐active companies from inactive companies. Also, firm size does not matter for CSR performance.
Research limitations/implications
The study uses proxies to examine a firm's resources, and thus it might not have captured the implication of the resources fully. Also it identifies resources that have a bearing on the CSR level but does not investigate the conditions in which such resources can be relevant.
Practical implications
The results imply that firms that are intent on being CSR‐active should consider implementing the various management systems relevant for their businesses. Managers responsible for the CSR agenda might wish to highlight the fact that adherence to such systems actually contributes to the bottom line, thus minimizing resistance from decision‐makers, who might view CSR as a costly initiative.
Originality/value
The study provides an insight into the influence of management systems on CSR performance among firms in a developing country in Asia. This, to the best knowledge of the authors, has not been studied before.
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Mark Edward Tuah, Peter Aning Tedong and Melasutra Md Dali
This study investigated the role of community infrastructure planning in Sarawak, Malaysia, by concentrating on the obstacles that hinder effective governance of community…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated the role of community infrastructure planning in Sarawak, Malaysia, by concentrating on the obstacles that hinder effective governance of community infrastructure planning.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative approach via case study design was adopted in this study. The Song District, located in the State of Sarawak, Malaysia, was selected as the case study area. Semi-structured interview sessions were conducted with 21 respondents who belonged to the government agencies involved in rural community infrastructure planning and village community representatives to capture their views on community infrastructure development planning in the selected district. The gathered responses were analysed thematically and the outcomes are discussed.
Findings
The findings revealed that although the development of community infrastructure in Song District has progressed and has exerted transformative impacts on rural livelihood, several challenges were identified in the delivery of community infrastructure. The four main themes of challenges that emerged from the data were location factors, financial resources, cooperation and collaboration of stakeholders, as well as community involvement. The outcomes disclosed that, in terms of governance, the institutional roles of the community, stakeholders and government agencies must be integrated throughout the rural community infrastructure planning process to resolve the emerging challenges effectively so that the demands of the rural community are met meritoriously.
Social implications
An effective and efficient community infrastructure planning approach ascertains that the community infrastructure development gaps in rural areas are bridged and brings fruition to the rural communities for their livelihood transformation.
Originality/value
This paper delineates a view on the governance aspect of community infrastructure planning in Sarawak, Malaysia, that is largely untapped. The study outcomes may facilitate practitioners and academics to move forward and recommend improvements in the approach to rural community infrastructure planning.
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Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American…
Abstract
Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.
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Gives an in depth view of the strategies pursued by the world’s leading chief executive officers in an attempt to provide guidance to new chief executives of today. Considers the…
Abstract
Gives an in depth view of the strategies pursued by the world’s leading chief executive officers in an attempt to provide guidance to new chief executives of today. Considers the marketing strategies employed, together with the organizational structures used and looks at the universal concepts that can be applied to any product. Uses anecdotal evidence to formulate a number of theories which can be used to compare your company with the best in the world. Presents initial survival strategies and then looks at ways companies can broaden their boundaries through manipulation and choice. Covers a huge variety of case studies and examples together with a substantial question and answer section.
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Amjad A. Abu‐ELSamen, Mamoun N. Akroush, Fayez M. Al‐Khawaldeh and Motteh S. Al‐Shibly
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between customer service skills and customers' loyalty through examining the mediation effect of customer satisfaction…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between customer service skills and customers' loyalty through examining the mediation effect of customer satisfaction dimensions in Jordan's mobile service operators.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the research objectives, data were collected from 1,350 subscribers in Jordan from which 1,007 were valid for the analysis. Utilizing structural equation modeling, and after a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the authors tested an integrated model of customer service skills and customer loyalty through examining the meditational effects of customer service satisfaction dimensions on the relationship between customer service skills and customer loyalty.
Findings
It was found that three of customer service skills components, namely; reputation building skills, nonverbal communication skills, and customer service culture have positive relationships with customer service satisfaction dimensions (overall, functional, and technical customer satisfaction). Also, overall customer service satisfaction and technical customer service satisfaction dimensions fully mediated the relationships between customer service skills and customer loyalty.
Originality/value
This is the first attempt to investigate the relationship between customer service skills and customer loyalty through customer service satisfaction dimensions as mediators, either in Jordan or other developing countries. The authors' results also provide significant managerial implications on how to acquire and retain loyal customers in today's highly competitive telecommunications market, and the vital role of customer service satisfaction dimensions on the relationship between customer service skills and customer loyalty.
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G. Ronald Gilbert and Cleopatra Veloutsou
This paper seeks to identify service satisfaction measures that can be used across industries.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to identify service satisfaction measures that can be used across industries.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper attempts to identify empirically core characteristics of customer satisfaction ratings across six industries based on the ratings of 10,835 respondents within the USA. The industries included are banking and finance, retail, government, grocery stores, hospitality/sports, and restaurants.
Findings
The paper finds that banking and finance and hospitality/sports entertainment were rated highest by their patrons. Those dealing with government, general retail and moderately priced fast food restaurants received lower service satisfaction ratings. Differences were also found among respondent characteristics (i.e. age, gender, education and ethnicity/race).
Research limitations/implications
The study sample was selected from organizations readily available to the research team. Future studies based on systematic random samples would enhance the generalizability of the findings.
Originality/value
The results provide a basis from which cross industry benchmarking and the identification of best practices can be captured and used by practitioners.
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Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya and Surabhi Verma
Business firms operate in society not only for market gains but also for generating positive social externalities. Civil society organisations (CSO) have helped society to develop…
Abstract
Purpose
Business firms operate in society not only for market gains but also for generating positive social externalities. Civil society organisations (CSO) have helped society to develop across various spheres of influence. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) ushered in an era wherein both business economic objectives as well as socio-environmental responsibilities of firms were prioritized simultaneously. The path of firms and CSOs intersected through CSR. In this work, the authors develop a typology on firm–CSO collaboration regarding CSR initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors through a twin approach of systematic literature review (SLR) with qualitative study developed a categorization of collaborations between a firm and a CSO in the context of CSR engagements. Apart from the SLR, the authors undertook two focus group discussions (FGD) with CSR experts (engaged in firm–CSO collaboration). This was done with a semi-structured discussion agenda frame. The data were content analysed for thematic aspects. Thus, both SLR as well as FGD outputs were considered for the study results.
Findings
The authors found six elements in firm–CSO collaboration and seven archetypes of collaboration. The six elements were CSR action elements (CSRAE) consisting of CSR agenda (CSRA), CSR resources (CSRR), CSR capabilities (CSRC), CSR Pprocess (CSRP), CSR monitoring (CSRM) and CSR stakeholder engagement (CSRSE). The seven typologies were CSO as auditor , outsourcing of CSR , CSO-driven CSR, joint CSR, support to CSO for CSR ,guided support to CSO and coordinated CSR.
Research limitations/implications
Doty and Glick, (1994) had undertaken a seminal work on theory building based upon the unique method of application of typologies. Doty and Glick, (1994) elucidated how application of typologies could through a typology study enhance the scope and level for understanding and modelling in a contextual domain involving theory. This study was a step in this direction in the context of firm–CSO collaboration in the context of CSR initiatives.
Practical implications
This study would help managers from both CSOs and business firms to comprehend in which sphere they were required to collaborate like in resource /capabilities deployment or in designing CSR agendas or CSR process or CSR monitoring or in stakeholder engagement during CSR management. This typology would enable managers to comprehend what would be the most suitable form of collaboration between a firm and a CSO for a specific CSR engagement.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies that theorizes regarding firm–CSO collaboration in the context of CSR initiatives both in terms of the collaboration building block elements as well as typology presented.