Rob Gray, Reza Kouhy and Simon Lavers
Responds to the widely‐reported methodological problems which havearisen in research into corporate social and environmental reporting.Reports on an attempt to build a database of…
Abstract
Responds to the widely‐reported methodological problems which have arisen in research into corporate social and environmental reporting. Reports on an attempt to build a database of UK company social and environmental disclosure. The motivation behind the database is an attempt to provide, first, a data set which both refines and develops earlier attempts to capture and interpret such disclosures; second, a data set covering several years to permit longitudinal analysis; and third, a public database for accounting researchers who wish to pursue, in a systematic and comparable way, more focused hypotheses about social and environmental reporting behaviour. Explains the motivation for, the background to, and process of establishing such a database and attempts to expose the difficulties met and the assumptions made in establishing the structure of the data capture. The resultant database has already proved useful to other UK researchers. Aims to help researchers in other countries to develop their own methods of enquiry in a manner which will avoid them having to reinvent wheels and will produce results which will be broadly comparable at an international level.
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Rob Gray, Reza Kouhy and Simon Lavers
Takes as its departure point the criticism of Guthrie and Parker byArnold and the Tinker et al. critique of Gray et al.Following an extensive review of the corporate social…
Abstract
Takes as its departure point the criticism of Guthrie and Parker by Arnold and the Tinker et al. critique of Gray et al. Following an extensive review of the corporate social reporting literature, its major theoretical preoccupations and empirical conclusions, attempts to re‐examine the theoretical tensions that exist between “classical” political economy interpretations of social disclosure and those from more “bourgeois” perspectives. Argues that political economy, legitimacy theory and stakeholder theory need not be competitor theories but may, if analysed appropriately, be seen as alternative and mutually enriching theories from alternative levels of resolution. Offers evidence from 13 years of social disclosure by UK companies and attempts to interpret this from different levels of resolution. There is little doubt that social disclosure practice has changed dramatically in the period. The theoretical perspectives prove to offer different, but mutually enhancing, interpretations of these phenomena.
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James Guthrie, Lee D Parker and John Dumay
– The purpose of this paper is to present a critique of published research access and peer review, considering their impacts on accounting scholarship.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a critique of published research access and peer review, considering their impacts on accounting scholarship.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on literature and publishing document review, experiential reflections and argument.
Findings
The authors reveal changes in publishing formats and accessibility, the challenges of managing research quality and significance and the challenges of avoiding constraint and foreclosure of significant new knowledge and its effective dissemination.
Research limitations/implications
This paper discusses the research and publishing community’s opening to new, flexible opportunities for knowledge creation and dissemination.
Originality/value
The discussion challenges the status quo of traditional academic journal publication and points to an innovative future.
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Traces the development of the principles of professional negligenceespecially in the 1980′s and to reappraise them in the 1990s.Illustrates with cases designed to show perceived…
Abstract
Traces the development of the principles of professional negligence especially in the 1980′s and to reappraise them in the 1990s. Illustrates with cases designed to show perceived trends and which are deemed significant to practitioners. Concludes by observing an uncomfortable hardening of the courts′ attitude towards professional negligence.
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How are we to make sense of the attitudes of Social Democratic parties towards decentralisation? What do they think about what is a legitimate territorial allocation of power…
Abstract
How are we to make sense of the attitudes of Social Democratic parties towards decentralisation? What do they think about what is a legitimate territorial allocation of power? What factors shapes this view? And what makes Social Democratic parties change their minds? This article addresses these questions by way of competing ideological traditions, the external strategic incentives and internal constraints. Empirically, the article presents a comparative case-study analysis of Social Democratic parties in four countries (Belgium, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom). On the basis of this analysis, I argue that the positioning of Social Democratic parties on decentralisation is influenced by strategic incentives created by the structure of political competition, whereas the policy shifts are more often produced by factors that are internal to the party. A decentralist policy shift is always associated with the capacity of regionalist parties to set the agenda by exerting pressures on Social Democratic parties. In addition, Social Democratic parties tend to shift their policy while in opposition to distinguish themselves from their centralist mainstream rival in government. The dominant mechanism found across four countries was one in which regional branches persuade the central party leadership to adopt a pro-decentralist position. This chapter illustrates how Social Democratic parties have an instinct for ‘adaptation and control’ in the face of social-structural changes, and it demonstrates that the prevalence of different ideological traditions will vary according to external strategic incentives and, crucially, by the party's internal ability to follow those incentives.
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The paper seeks to examine empirically the attitudes of English lawyers towards mediation in commercial landlord and tenant disputes. Despite much support from numerous sources…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to examine empirically the attitudes of English lawyers towards mediation in commercial landlord and tenant disputes. Despite much support from numerous sources there has been very little actual take‐up in this sector. It is premised that the future growth of mediation in commercial property disputes is hindered by the negative or sceptical perspectives held by some lawyers towards mediation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on data from questionnaires and a series of qualitative interviews with a variety of landlord and tenant lawyers combined with a thorough examination of existing literature.
Findings
Many lawyers were not keen to recommend the use of mediation. This was partly because of unfamiliarity as well as concerns that mediation is not a genuine legal process and that consequently it lacked status. Legal culture was identified as a problem here. Lawyers also felt that mediation was inappropriate in many cases. Education was suggested as having an important role in changing expectations, providing skills and raising awareness.
Research limitations/implications
The qualitative data are based on a relatively small sample of lawyers active within the UK commercial property sector. Nevertheless, a wide cross‐section of practitioners was chosen.
Originality/value
The paper provides original data on the attitudes and perspectives of lawyers active in commercial property disputes. This is an area that has yet to receive sustained attention.
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Angelo Ditillo and Irene Eleonora Lisi
Although companies are increasingly embracing the sustainability discourse in their external reporting and disclosures, little is known about how management control systems…
Abstract
Although companies are increasingly embracing the sustainability discourse in their external reporting and disclosures, little is known about how management control systems support sustainability within organizations. This is unfortunate, given the important role that properly designed Sustainability Control Systems (SCS) may play in helping firms to better face their social and environmental responsibilities. Starting from these premises, the aim of this essay is twofold. On the one hand, we present a review of the emerging stream of research on sustainability and management control mechanisms, in order to identify and discuss the link between the two. On the other hand, we try to illustrate the main unaddressed issues in this literature as a premise to exploring one possible way to advance research in this area. Specifically, we make a call for a more holistic approach to the study of SCS, which considers also their organizational and cultural dimensions in addition to their technical properties. A framework for informing future work on the topic is proposed, based on the concept of ‘control package’ (Malmi & Brown, 2008; Sandelin, 2008) complemented with notions from the complementarity-based approach developed in organizational economics (Grandori & Furnari, 2008; Milgrom & Roberts, 1995). By enhancing our understanding on how SCS operate as a package, the application of our framework should allow researchers to develop better theory of how to design a range of controls to support organizational sustainability objectives, control sustainability activities, and drive sustainability performance.