Joana Story, Filipa Castanheira and Silvia Hartig
Talent management is a twenty-first-century concern. Attracting talented individuals to organizations is an important source for firm competitive advantage. Building on signaling…
Abstract
Purpose
Talent management is a twenty-first-century concern. Attracting talented individuals to organizations is an important source for firm competitive advantage. Building on signaling theory, this paper proposes that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be an important tool for talent recruitment.
Design/methodology/approach
Across two studies, this paper found support for this hypothesized relationship. In Study 1, a job advertisement was manipulated to include information about CSR and tested it in two groups of 120 master’s degree students who would be in the job market within the year. It was found that CSR was an important factor that increased organizational attractiveness. In Study 2, with 532 external talented stakeholders of 16 organizations, our findings were replicated and advanced by testing whether perceptions of CSR practices (internal and external) influenced perceptions of organizational attractiveness and if this relationship was mediated by organizational reputation.
Findings
This study found that perceptions of internal CSR practices were directly related to both organizational attractiveness and firm reputation. However, perceptions of external CSR practices were related only to organizational attractiveness through organizational reputation.
Research limitations/implications
The article’s one of the main limitations has to do with generalizability of the results and the potential common method variance bias.
Practical implications
The findings demonstrate that CSR can play an effective role in attracting potential employees, through enhancement of organizational reputation and organizational attractiveness. If organizations are willing to implement practices that protect and develop their employees, along with practices that improve the quality of the natural environment and the well-being of the society, they can become an employer-of-choice.
Originality/value
This study expands on previous studies by including an experimental design, including two types of CSR practices and a mediating variable in this field study.
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Keywords
Raúl Sánchez Francés, Silvia Gómez Valle, Nuria García Rueda, Benedetta Lucchitta and Edoardo Croci
Nature-based solutions (NBS) generate different impacts at the urban scale, such as the ability to regulate water or store carbon, comparable to traditional, gray infrastructures…
Abstract
Nature-based solutions (NBS) generate different impacts at the urban scale, such as the ability to regulate water or store carbon, comparable to traditional, gray infrastructures in a more cost-efficient way. On the other hand, by their intrinsic nature, NBS do deliver a series of other services that are commonly defined as social, economic, and environmental cobenefits. These benefits are not always valued in a consistent and complete way, so there is the need to compile a more comprehensive evidence base on the social, economic, and environmental effectiveness of NBS. The chapter attempts to identify a categorization of the existing NBS and define the ecosystem services (ES) provided by them. Furthermore, starting from the results achieved through the definition of the existing NBS frameworks assessment, the chapter will identify a set of key performance indicators KPIs, based on the ES produced by NBS, to measure the economic, social, and environmental benefits generated in by NBS at the urban level taking into account their multifunctional character. In total, 66 key performance indicators have been individuated: 3 for provisioning services, 38 for regulating services, 17 for cultural services, and 8 for supporting services. Each indicator has been associated to a category of ES in order to measure and evaluate the performances of NBS implemented in cities.
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Patricia Aguirre, Freddy Hernán Villota and Silvia Mera
According to the importance of higher education institutions (HEIs) in meeting sustainable development goals (SDGs), the purpose of this study is to analyze how sustainability was…
Abstract
Purpose
According to the importance of higher education institutions (HEIs) in meeting sustainable development goals (SDGs), the purpose of this study is to analyze how sustainability was implemented in Ecuadorian higher education. The case study of the Universidad Técnica del Norte (UTN) process was analyzed to show the advantages of implementing projects with SD approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
This study includes an analytic-synthetic method. In the case study, a longitudinal-documentary method was used to analyze the projects implemented in the UTN. The primary source of information corresponds to reports, minutes, publications, interviews and surveys from the academic staff of UTN, which can be found in the Postgraduate Institute of the UTN archives.
Findings
Projects implemented at UTN facilitated the development of skills in the participating university community and influenced the general organizational development of the university. Likewise, the potential benefits of the projects in each of the components are highlighted, so that social learning and the development of skills in students and teachers have been facilitated, focusing on internationalization.
Research limitations/implications
The population analyzed corresponds to Ecuadorian universities and technical institutes, however, access to information from all HEIs is limited, due to processing time and economic resources.
Practical implications
This study presents implications for representatives of higher education and policymakers at the national level since the positive aspects can be rescued to promote the sustainable performance of HEIs.
Social implications
HEIs train ethical professionals capable of transforming the world. The study shows successful experiences that can be used by other HEIs to have a positive impact on society, providing a sustainable future. In addition, UTN has prioritized the initiative of the students in several activities.
Originality/value
The primary information for the case study comes from the experiences obtained during the international cooperation projects of the UTN. Positive findings and limitations have been identified, which are published with the purpose of contributing to the scientific community.
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Silvia Gaia and Michael John Jones
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of narratives in biodiversity reports as a mechanism to raise the awareness of biodiversity’s importance. By classifying…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of narratives in biodiversity reports as a mechanism to raise the awareness of biodiversity’s importance. By classifying biodiversity narratives into 14 categories of biodiversity values this paper investigates whether the explanations for biodiversity conservation used by UK local councils are line with shallow, intermediate or deep philosophies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used content analysis to examine the disclosures on biodiversity’s importance in the biodiversity action plans published by UK local councils. The narratives were first identified and then allocated into 14 categories of biodiversity value. Then, they were ascribed to either shallow (resource conservation, human welfare ecology and preservationism), intermediate (environmental stewardship and moral extensionism) or deep philosophies.
Findings
UK local councils explained biodiversity’s importance mainly in terms of its instrumental value, in line with shallow philosophies such as human welfare ecology and resource conservation. UK local councils sought to raise awareness of biodiversity’ importance by highlighting values that are important for the stakeholders that are able to contribute towards biodiversity conservation such as landowners, residents, visitors, business and industries. The authors also found that local councils’ biodiversity strategies were strongly influenced by 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the few accounting studies that engages with the literature on environmental ethics to investigate biodiversity. In line with stakeholder theory, it indicates that explanations on biodiversity’s importance based on anthropocentric philosophies are considered more effective in informing those stakeholders whose behaviour needs to be changed to improve biodiversity conservation.