The purpose of this paper is to explore the source of apparent abnormal returns accrued by “green” company stocks. Though one cannot completely rule out that market-to-book and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the source of apparent abnormal returns accrued by “green” company stocks. Though one cannot completely rule out that market-to-book and size factors may already capture the information of Trucosts’ total damage measure, the authors attempt to attribute the effect to risk, a persistent desirable characteristic or a short-run attention effect.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors construct portfolios of stocks using the Trucost data for identifying more environmentally friendly companies. The authors then compare the risk-adjusted returns of the green portfolios to the non-green portfolios. A secondary analysis of the price impact of being listed on the Newsweek green company listed is used to determine attention effects.
Findings
The authors find that green stock returns outperform the most polluting stocks by 3.7 percent per year on a risk-adjusted basis. The evidence is most consistent with a significant but economically small attention effect coupled with a longer lasting and greater magnitude desirable characteristic driving green returns. The authors do not find evidence of a risk-contribution to the performance after controlling for well-known factors.
Practical implications
Fund managers may benefit from this research in selecting green stocks, and thereby enhancing investment performance, with desirable characteristics without fear of increasing risk.
Social implications
One social implication is that investing in sustainable and green firms may not only be beneficial for the common good but also for the investor. Increased capital flows, and hence lower borrowing costs, for green firms may assist in creating a more ecologically sustainable economy.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge this paper unique in attempting to determine if the green premium is a short-run inefficiency resolved by attention or a result of a desirable characteristic.
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Melissa Intindola and Laurel Ofstein
The purpose of this paper is to explore bricolage as the missing link in understanding how cross-sector social partnerships form and operate in response to grand challenges. It is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore bricolage as the missing link in understanding how cross-sector social partnerships form and operate in response to grand challenges. It is proposed that the weaving together of resources employed by members of cross-sector social partnerships (CSSPs) is bricolage in action and can be linked to Gray's (1985) facilitating conditions for collaboration. While existing research examines bricolage primarily at the individual level, this research studies collective bricolage, as implemented by a cross-sector social partnership in its process to address a grand challenge.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors follow the evolution of a Midwestern initiative aimed at the grand challenge of generational poverty. The deductive case study approach identifies the mechanisms of bricolage being employed in the initiative's evolution and ties these to Gray's (1985) seminal paper on interorganizational collaboration.
Findings
This case study has implications for academics conceptually struggling to understand grand challenges and the role of entrepreneurial initiatives in the public and nonprofit sectors, as well as practitioners currently involved in collaborative efforts to address said challenges.
Originality/value
This study enriches the discussion and enhances the link between the CSSP literature and new notions of social entrepreneurship that embrace the collective as their unit of analysis. This is the first work of its kind to link bricolage to a nascent CSSP and demonstrate how the entrepreneurial concept of bricolage is an inherent part of CSSP formation and operation.
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Critical race theory (CRT) seems to face a never-ending baptism by fire. When the Trump administration sought to ban CRT from American federal training courses in 2020, this may…
Abstract
Critical race theory (CRT) seems to face a never-ending baptism by fire. When the Trump administration sought to ban CRT from American federal training courses in 2020, this may have come as a shock to few (Lang, 2020). Perhaps of greater surprise was that mutual sentiments resonated with the UK Minister for Equalities Kemi Badenoch, a black female, who appears to oppose the teaching of CRT in principle (Thrilling, 2020). The resurgence of such denunciations is problematic in a Western world which is primed for social activism, particularly for scholars in higher education institutions, where CRT has been gaining traction as a guiding framework for research into antiracism, fairness and affirmative action. This chapter suggests that the condemnation of CRT is neither unexpected nor is it altogether absurd. Nevertheless, it aims to provide a balanced metatheoretical ‘criticism’ of CRT and offer a view on the suitability of, and prospects for, its activist research agenda in higher education. Quite often, criticisms of CRT reflect issues with its origin as a troubled bricolage of conveniently assembled ‘tenets’, which do not lend themselves easily to the burden of evidentiary production required in higher education research and practice. In this review, I analyse CRT, through its bricolage-style characteristics, as primarily an explanatory theory, with respect to its application against racialised issues in higher education policy. It is hoped this chapter offers academic and activist researchers a way past the shadow of CRT's bricolage, by defusing some of the misgivings towards its inherent limitations.
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Melissa J. Markley and Lenita Davis
The paper's purpose is to outline the potential competitive advantage firms can create through the creation of a sustainable supply chain, and to describe potential measures for…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper's purpose is to outline the potential competitive advantage firms can create through the creation of a sustainable supply chain, and to describe potential measures for managers to use.
Design/methodology/approach
Arguing that firms can increase their competitive advantage as a result of a stronger triple bottom line, propositions are created from a natural‐resource‐based view of the firm perspective that is supported using accounting theory, management strategy, green logistics and supply chain literatures. Secondary data resources that could be used for testing by managers and academicians are identified.
Findings
The paper finds that, as sources of competitive advantage for firm become scarcer, potential new areas of advantage must be explored.
Practical implications
This research will serve to help managers in the exploration of these possible outlets.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to explore the impact of a sustainable supply chain on the triple‐bottom line of a firm. Not only does this fill a necessary gap, it also serves to bring together the supply chain, sustainability and triple‐bottom‐line literatures to create a potential advantage for future organizations.
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Explores the ideas that a group’s social capital is related to levels of social exclusion, together with the policy implication that social capital can be developed in order to…
Abstract
Explores the ideas that a group’s social capital is related to levels of social exclusion, together with the policy implication that social capital can be developed in order to counter exclusion. Analyses a school‐based research project which looks at the relationship of social capital to the well‐being of children and young people covering gender, ethnicity, age, trust and community. Concludes that Putnam’s widely used concept of social capital is problematic as it over‐emphasises “bridging, linking and bonding and neglects material, economic and political factors”. Suggests that Bourdieu’s concept is more useful.
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Martin C. Seay, Andrew T. Carswell, Melissa Wilmarth and Lloyd G. Zimmerman
The purpose of this research was to explore the growth of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) fraud and the role of housing counselors in its identification and prevention…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research was to explore the growth of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) fraud and the role of housing counselors in its identification and prevention. HECMs are the Federal Housing Administration endorsed version of a reverse mortgage and represent the majority of reverse mortgages on the market.
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate HECM counselor’s training, and their ability to detect fraudulent activity, a survey was constructed and distributed nationwide using HUD’s publicly available roster of qualified agencies and counselors. The survey consisted of three main sections agency and respondent information including HECM certification process, typical interactions with clients, and mortgage fraud and HECM fraud.
Findings
Responses indicate that HECM counselors have limited awareness of and training in identifying fraudulent activities.
Originality/value
The case is made that additional training is needed to raise awareness among counselors so that they might better serve their clients. Given the sizable population that may legitimately need HECMs, it is important to improve awareness and provide training to detect fraudulent schemes and prevent this type of deception from occurring.
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Robin Patric Clair, Isaac Clarke Holyoak, Theon E. Hill, Prashant Rajan, Elizabeth L. Angeli, Melissa L. Carrion, Sydney Dillard, Rati Kumar and Shaunak Sastry
This study uses ethnographic methods to explore the discursive practices that give life to ethnic restaurants, establishing identity, and addressing community engagement…
Abstract
This study uses ethnographic methods to explore the discursive practices that give life to ethnic restaurants, establishing identity, and addressing community engagement. Employing postcolonial and postmodern perspectives that discuss discursive practices of hybridity, authenticity, and commoditization, the research focused on five culture-specific restaurants: Irish, Italian, Korean, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern. The restaurants' stories are studied through observation, interviews, and the situated approach as discussed by Denzin (1994). The findings suggest that some restaurants openly embraced hybridity, defied and debunked stereotypes, and resisted hegemonic constructions of individuals and of culture by enacting narratives of defiance, while others attempted to maintain traditional images or commodify the culture. Using the situated approach revealed a post-postcolonial tension between certain restaurants within the community.
Corporations are now taking stands on contemporary and controversial social issues that share no obvious connection to the corporations’ business practices. At the same time…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporations are now taking stands on contemporary and controversial social issues that share no obvious connection to the corporations’ business practices. At the same time, political polarization continues to intensify, which begs the question: Are these corporate stands – referred to as corporate social advocacy (CSA) – and political polarization related to each other, and if so, how? The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptualization of the connections between CSA and political polarization through a series of propositions that can be tested in subsequent research studies. Corporations have influence in society, and the ways in which they communicate on controversial social issues could further intensify or help assuage political polarization. Conversely, political polarization may be causing CSA in the first place, which would put into question the legitimacy and desirability of CSA because of the environment from which CSA is cultivated.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is designed to be conceptual, and the approach is based on theory building.
Findings
The study conceptualizes the relationship between CSA and political polarization to be symbiotic because both are bidirectional causes of each other. Engagement in CSA is also argued to be positively associated with perceptions that corporations contain particular political ideologies, i.e. more “liberal-leaning” or “conservative-leaning.” This study also predicts that – dependent on particular conditions – CSA will also lead to an increase in both boycotts and skepticism.
Practical implications
This study will contribute to scholars’, practitioners’ and consumers’ understanding of the causes and effects of CSA. The way in which political polarization is potentially causing CSA puts into question the legitimacy of corporations engaging in CSA in the first place. If CSA is cultivated in the soil of political polarization, is CSA desirable for corporations? Conversely, the way in which CSA is potentially causing political polarization also puts the legitimacy of CSA into question. If CSA is causing political polarization, is CSA desirable for society?
Social implications
Corporations are an influential part of society, and thus will influence how society views controversial social issues. If the predictions in this study hold, corporations will play an important role in either intensifying or reducing political polarization, and political polarization will also play an important role in how corporations communicate about CSA issues.
Originality/value
Research focused on CSA is burgeoning, yet limited studies have examined how CSA and political polarization interact. Although there could be positive aspects of corporate involvement in CSA, this study examines some of the potential negative aspects of corporate involvement in CSA. Future research will also be able to test the propositions proposed in this study.
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Mollie Appelgate, Lara Dick, Dittika Gupta, Melissa Marie Soto and Shawn Broderick
This research investigated how lesson study (LS) served as mathematics teacher educators’ (MTEs’) professional development. Using Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning (STL…
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigated how lesson study (LS) served as mathematics teacher educators’ (MTEs’) professional development. Using Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning (STL) framework based on communities of practice (CoP), the authors demonstrate how MTEs’ learning evolved throughout the LS process.
Design/methodology/approach
The four dimensions of Wenger’s (1998) STL (learning as belonging, learning as experience, learning as doing and learning as becoming) were used to systematically code MTEs’ written reflections across the phases of LS. A Pearson chi-squared test for association was run to determine significant relationships between phases of LS and the dimensions of MTE learning.
Findings
MTEs’ learning varied across the phases of LS. Learning as belonging was significant in the initial planning and implementation cycle phases. Learning as experience was significant during the initial planning and final reflection phases. Learning as becoming was significant in the implementation cycle phase.
Research limitations/implications
This study was limited to a group of five early-career MTEs who engaged in a modified LS process, which limits the scope of the findings.
Practical implications
Understanding how teachers learn through engagement in LS can provide insight into how to impact teacher learning.
Originality/value
It has been posited that one means of participant learning from LS is through the development of CoP. This paper explicitly considers the role of the evolving CoP by adopting Wenger’s (1998) STL as both theoretical grounding and an analytical approach to studying learning as members of a CoP engage in LS.