STREAM 16: GOVERNING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES TO DRIVE CHANGE

Description

The world is changing radically. The concurrent effects of megatrends (such as digitalization, demographic growth, protectionism), the sustainability crisis (shown by climate change, resource depletion, and increasing pollution), and the external shocks (like the global outbreak of the Covid-19 or the financial crisis) are determining exponential changes, which is often harder and harder to be tackled by companies (Ferraro, Etzion, & Gehman, 2015; DiVito, van Wijk, & Wakkee, 2021). Companies, both large and SMEs, are called upon to give their contribution to face such grand challenges (Scherer & Voegtlin, 2020). However, they often lack appropriate decision-making mechanisms to create long-term value for all stakeholders and therefore do not effectively embrace the opportunities associated with economic, environmental, and social emerging challenges (Larres & Kelly, 2021). At the same time, a growing number of firms are adopting different governance mechanisms able to monitor and oversight the different forces that are shaping our society’s future. For instance, a first mechanism is the attribution of responsibility with regards to social and environmental concerns to the corporate apex (Burke, Hoitash, & Hoitash, 2019; Orazalin, 2020). Through the introduction of a sustainability committee, it is possible to make companies, and more specifically directors, responsible as regards sustainability. Another way through which companies are governing social and environmental issues consists of understanding corporate stakeholder interests and incorporating these latter in corporate governance decision-making processes (Mason & Simmons, 2014; Schneider & Scherer, 2015). Such solutions are just a few of the many groundbreaking ways through which companies are changing their decision-making mechanisms to drive change.

Thus, the purpose of this stream is to facilitate cross-fertilization of ideas across disciplines, to ultimately understand if and how innovative corporate governance mechanisms can be implemented to drive change and better shape our society’s future. Therefore, we invite scholars to reflect, theorize, and apply rigorous methodological approaches answering material questions on sustainability and corporate governance. Examples of questions to be addressed are the following:

• Which innovative corporate governance mechanisms have been recently adopted to face the recent grand challenges?

• How do innovative corporate governance mechanisms change decision-making processes at the corporate apex? Is there any difference between large corporations and SMEs?

• How do innovative decision-making processes at the corporate apex affect firm-level outcomes? Is there any difference between large corporations and SMEs?

• What is the role of internal and external corporate dynamics in establishing corporate governance mechanisms that take into account stakeholders’ interests?

• Does the institutional context play a role in influencing the adoption of innovative corporate governance mechanisms able to better shape our society’s future?

These questions are suggestive and not exhaustive. We welcome a wide variety of perspectives and methodological approaches.

References

Burke, J. J., Hoitash, R., & Hoitash, U. (2019). The heterogeneity of board-level sustainability committees and corporate social performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(4), 1161-1186.

DiVito, L., van Wijk, J., & Wakkee, I. (2021). Governing collaborative value creation in the context of grand challenges: A case study of a cross-sectoral collaboration in the textile industry. Business & Society, 60 (5), 1092-1131.

Ferraro, F., Etzion, D., & Gehman, J. (2015). Tackling grand challenges pragmatically: Robust action revisited. Organization Studies, 36 (3), 363-390.

Larres, P., & Kelly, M. (2021). A Framework for Authentic Ethical Decision Making in the Face of Grand Challenges: A Lonerganian Gradation. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-13.

Mason, C., & Simmons, J. (2014). Embedding corporate social responsibility in corporate governance: A stakeholder systems approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 119 (1), 77-86.

Orazalin, N. (2020). Do board sustainability committees contribute to corporate environmental and social performance? The mediating role of corporate social responsibility strategy. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29 (1), 140-153.

Scherer, A. G., & Voegtlin, C. (2020). Corporate governance for responsible innovation: Approaches to corporate governance and their implications for sustainable development. Academy of Management Perspectives, 34 (2), 182-208.

Schneider, A., & Scherer, A. G. (2015). Corporate governance in a risk society. Journal of Business Ethics, 126 (2), 309-323.