Despite recognizing the importance of developing authentic corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, noticeably absent from the literature is consideration for how employees distinguish between authentic and inauthentic CSR programs. This is somewhat surprising given that employees are essentially the face of their organization and are largely expected to act as ambassadors for the organization’s CSR program (Collier and Esteban in Bus Ethics 16:19–33, 2007 ). The current research, by conducting depth interviews with employees, builds a better understanding of how employees (...) differentiate between authentic and inauthentic CSR programs, and how these judgments influence their perceptions of the organization. We find that employees rely on two different referent standards to form authenticity judgments—the extent to which the image put forth in the CSR program aligns with the organization’s true identity and the extent to which the CSR program itself is developmental. To assess the former, employees draw on cues about resource commitment, alignment between elements of the organization’s CSR program, emotional engagement, justice, and embeddedness. The latter assessments are based on the extent to which the organization adopts a leadership role with regards to its CSR initiatives. We also find that perceived authenticity can lead to positive outcomes such as organizational identification and employee connections. This study contributes to the broad literatures on both CSR and authenticity, as well as more specifically adding to the conversation on authenticity as a potentially valuable lens for enriching business ethics theorizing. (shrink)

Reflecting on a three year long exploratory research of ethics committees in the Czech Republic authors discuss the current role and identity of research ethics committees. The research of Czech ethics committees focused on both self-presentation and self-understanding of ECs members, and how other stakeholders (representatives of the pharmaceutical industry) view them. The exploratory research was based on formal and informal communication with the members of the ethics committees. Members of the research team took part at six regular voluntary meetings (...) of the ethics committees' members, organised by the Forum of Czech Ethics Committees, and at three summer schools of medical ethics. There were realised twenty-five semi-structured interviews as well as six focus group sessions and a participant observation of several regular meetings of three ethics committees. On the grounds of experience from the interviews a simple questionnaire survey was realised among the members of the ethics committees. The ethics committees comprise a community of members working voluntarily, without claims to remuneration or prestige; the unifying goal is protection of subjects of research. The principal working methods are dialogue and agreement. The members of the ethics committees thus, among other things, create an informal community, which can be to a certain extent seen as a Kantian ethical community in a weak sense. The phenomenon of ethics committees can also be described by terms of an epistemic community and a community of practice. These concepts, which are borrowed from other authors and areas, are used as a way how to think of ECs role and identity a bit differently and are meant as a contribution to the current international debate on the topic. (shrink)

This paper is based on the premise that public officials in developing countries lack the necessary skills to implement Knowledge Management (KM) successfully, so a framework is required to facilitate this process. South Africa is the case study. It is therefore necessary to develop a Knowledge Management Implementation Framework (KMIF). Consequently, one of the objectives of this paper is to validate this need and then outline a KMIF that can help government departments in developing countries implement KM and foster a (...) KM culture. A mixed methodology approach was used, combining qualitative and quantitative data collection. Based on the Taro Yamane formula, 139 people were selected from a target population of 221 officials involved in KM in the South African government. DATAtab, a web-based statistics application, was used to analyze the responses. A comprehensive review of several secondary literature sources was carried out. For the literature review, relevant peer-reviewed articles were downloaded from Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Scopus, and Phil Papers. The study posits that officials charged with KM implementation in the South African government lack the necessary implementation skillset, that a need for a KMIF exists, and subsequently outlines a three-stage KMIF to facilitate their efforts. This study recommends that the proposed three-stage KMIF be adopted since it will provide the government (i) a simplified and structured way of realizing KM; (ii) it will be an effective tool that officials can use to guide them on how to implement KM, and (iii) it will cultivate a KM culture within the government. Even though the study is original to the South African government, the findings, however, may be applied to other emerging governments in Africa and beyond. Despite its theoretical nature, the paper lacks empirical validation, leaving it open to further investigation. (shrink)

This paper analyses the relationship between Public Administration, Knowledge Management and Service Delivery and to understand if improved Knowledge Management in the South African Government can improve public sector service delivery. This paper is a systematic analysis of 150 secondary literature sources. Even though not all the secondary literature sources analysed are used or cited in the paper, they nonetheless contributed to the identification of several key issues. The main finding of this paper is that improved Knowledge Management in the (...) South African Government would ultimately result in improved public sector service delivery. There is a dearth of empirical research on Knowledge Management in the South African Government, including whether the public sector's adoption of private-sector methods to better itself is effective. From a Public Administration standpoint, none of the literature analysed explains how to successfully integrate Knowledge Management in the "South African Government to improve service delivery." More research on this subject is necessary. Especially, to determine the impact of Knowledge Management on investor confidence, and the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment. The research will benefit governments of developing countries, particularly South Africa, Public Administration scholars, and Knowledge Management professionals. (shrink)

We uncover fundamental dimensions of the process through which organizations embed the practice of fraternity through embarking on an organizational journey in the direction of the common good. Building on the latest encyclical of Pope Francis, _Fratelli Tutti_, about fraternal and social friendship, we offer insight into the understanding of what it means to become a fraternal organization and reflect on the key ethical and paradoxical challenges for organizations aiming at collectively contributing to the common good. We add to previous (...) work by characterizing this journey as a process involving unique ethical challenges that emerge from the paradoxes associated with this process and how this might change the nature of the relationships between organizations and others within the organizational landscape. (shrink)

Online informal learning spreads quickly in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Studies have predicted that both online and workplace IL have potential value to individual and organization development, whereas the study on its link with innovation remains scarce. IL is an individualized learning pattern different from formal learning, and its functioning mechanism on innovation will deepen our understanding of the relationship between learning and innovation. Self-efficacy and autonomous motivation are considered as two streams of motivational mediating mechanisms to innovation. However, previous studies (...) have proceeded largely in separation from each other. Researchers highlight the need to develop a more fine-grained theory of motivation and innovation. In addressing these literature gaps, this paper takes college teachers as the sample and focuses on the motivational mediating mechanism between online IL and innovation. The results showed that teachers IL could positively predict innovative teaching performance. Personal teaching efficacy and autonomous motivation played as sequential mediators on the link between IL and innovative teaching performance. This study extends the literature of IL–innovation relationship and enriches understanding of cognition-oriented motivation theory, highlighting one's internal autonomous construction is the key to innovation. Theoretical and practical implications for psychological empowerment are discussed. (shrink)

In recent years, increasing attention has been given to virtue ethics in business. Aristotle's thought is often seen as the basis of the virtue ethics tradition. For Aristotle, the idea of phronësis, or 'practical wisdom', lies at the foundation of ethics. Confucian ethics has notable similarities to Aristotelian virtue ethics, and may embody some similar ideas of practical wisdom. This article considers how ideas of moral judgment in these traditions are consistent with modern ideas about intuition in management decision making. (...) A hypothetical case is considered where the complexity of ethical decision making in a group context illustrates the importance of intuitive, phronësis-like judgment. It is then noted that both Aristotelian and Confucian virtue ethics include suggestions about support for moral decision making that are also consistent with modern theory. (shrink)

The article focuses on Intranet technology as the result of overlapping negotiations among social actors inside organizations. Such negotiations are aimed at establishing and embedding specific relations and representations of work, communication, and learning into the technological artifact. Two case studies are presented to analyze practices and processes of implementation and use of the Intranet. The fieldwork, carried out in two companies in Italy and the United Kingdom, shows how specific contexts and organizational histories can affect such processes. Despite the (...) “optimistic” imagery associated with Intranet technology and the high expectations about its communicative and economic efficiency, the article points out many constraints in the process of implementation and use. Company history and culture, skills and work groups, and use of other technologies and media are relevant factors to account for the current use of the two systems and their low degree of integration into everyday working and communicative practices. (shrink)

In recent years, business ethics and economic scholars have been paying greater attention to the development of commons organizing. The latter refers to the processes by which communities of people work in common in the pursuit of the common good. In turn, this promotes commons organizational designs based on collective forms of common goods production, distribution, management and ownership. In this paper, we build on two main literature streams: the ethical approach based on the theory of the common good of (...) the firm in virtue ethics and the economic approach based on the theory of institutions for collective action developed by Ostrom’s research on common-pool resources to avert the tragedy of the commons. The latter expands to include the novel concepts of new commons, “commoning” and polycentric governance. Drawing on the analysis of what is new in these forms of organizing, we propose a comprehensive model, highlighting the integration of two sets of organizing principles—common good and collective action – and five problem-solving processes to explain the main dimensions of commons organizing. We contribute to business ethics literature by exploring the convergence between the ethical and economic approaches in the development of a commons organizing view. (shrink)

Transnational legal communication seeks to identify transnational legal regimes and attempts to establish channels and technics for comprehensible communication of the legal information to specified groups of recipients. It also strives to conclude about possible inconsistencies in law. The approach is based on the cooperation of scientists within the area of law and applied linguistics and the coordination of their efforts, in order to conduct research from various perspectives, share conclusions and develop more complete approaches as well as achieve and (...) mutually use more multilateral research results. It strives to reconcile legal research and linguistics research despite of their very different paradigms. The paper aims to explain the nature of legal communication and to establish its general research questions and objectives. The study is going to find an answer to the question what methods are to be used to communicate law comprehensively to its recipients and to draw conclusions on the consistency of legal regimes to be communicated. It accentuates that the solidarity necessary to achieve the objective of comprehensible and consistent law goes beyond the particular interests of individual sciences and is the foundation of the existence of the transnational legal communication community, non-depending on the place of living and the scope of practical knowledge. (shrink)

El artículo presenta algunos aportes a la constitución del concepto Comunidades de Práctica, el cual –proveniente del campo empresarial– al trasladarse a la investigación social abre nuevos horizontes de sentido sobre sus posibilidades y pertinencia. En la primera parte se esbozan los elementos metodológicos que, desde una investigación en curso, permitieron constituir y fortalecer una cp desde donde emergieron rutas comprensivas para configurar un marco teórico sobre el concepto en cuestión. La segunda parte muestra ciertos elementos importantes que ayudan a (...) construir un campo de compresión sobre las cp, primero mostrando la génesis reciente del fenómeno en las interacciones de la administración y los negocios; y, luego, se presentan las singularidades que aparecen al pensarse las cp, más allá de las técnicas en claro diálogo con la filosofía hermenéutica. Finalmente, a manera de conclusión, se proponen algunas posibilidades de resignificación de las cp en la investigación social. (shrink)

En se référant, implicitement, à des modèles conceptuels issus des industries manufacturières, la plupart des travaux d'économie et de gestion ont du mal à rendre compte de phénomènes, qui ont souvent émergé dans le secteur de la communication et se diffusent désormais dans le reste de l'industrie. A l'inverse, les auteurs ancrés dans la communication, les médias et la culture connaissent et ont étudié, depuis longtemps, ces situations désormais de plus en plus fréquentes dans les secteurs industriels et des services, (...) sans pourtant toujours réussir à relayer leurs analyses dans les débats théoriques plus généralistes. L'article s'attache à montrer, à partir de la gestion de projets, la fertilité du croisement des perspectives à la fois pour l'enrichissement des schémas théoriques généraux et pour une problématisation plus fine des situations à l'œuvre dans le champ de la communication. (shrink)

Organizations comprise many social communities which arguably contribute to organizational knowledge creation. Two of these are the widely discussed community of practice and the lesser known micro-community of knowledge. Within such organizational communities collegial relationships are formed and maintained, norms and expectations learned, experiences shared, and ideas articulated and developed. The quality of collegial relations fostered by such communities, together with the importance of productive dialogue, have been identified as key components in organizations with the capability for ongoing innovation. Although (...) communities of practice have long been recognized as contexts for both learning and the development of collegial relations, little attention has been paid to micro-communities of knowledge. Using examples from a micro-community of knowledge found in a small New Zealand-based IT company, I demonstrate the ways in which participants ‘do collegiality’ towards establishing relational engagement. An example of collegial interaction in a community of practice is provided by way of contrast. The article concludes by arguing that despite being two distinct interactional contexts, the repertoire of relational skills required and the potential for social learning through participation in these two kinds of communities renders them not only complementary, but tightly interdependent. (shrink)

This article aims to integrate discourse analysis of politically instrumental imagined identity geographies with the relational and territorial geography of the communities of praxis and interpretation that produce them. My case study is the international community of nationalist scientists who classified Europe’s biological races in the 1820s—1940s. I draw on network analysis, relational geography, historical sociology and the historical turn to problematize empirically how spatial patterns of this community’s shifting disciplinary and political coalitions, communication networks and power relations emerged, were (...) structured, persisted, changed, interacted and disappeared. I focus especially on core— periphery relations. I argue that if local historical spatial patterns affect those of later phenomena, geographies like that of European integration should be understood in the context of Europe’s complex historical cultural geography. Unlike discourse deconstruction alone, this complementary relational de-essentialization of geography can identify large-scale, enduring associations of cultural patterns as well as cultural flux and ambiguity. (shrink)