This dissertation introduces a social exchange perspective of intention to quit and examines the relationship of several work-related and non work-related variables with intention to quit. Specifically, the relationships between the following ? perceived organizational support (POS), perceived supervisor support (POS), family responsibility, kinship responsibility ? and intention to quit were examined. POS and PSS were examined to provide a better understanding of the role each plays in the development of intention to quit. Family responsibility and kinship responsibility were examined because prior research has generally ignored the role each may play in the development of intention to quit. A cross-sectional design was utilized and data was collected from three prison sites within the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) using a questionnaire. Correctional officers at each of the three sites were asked to complete a questionnaire, were told their participation was voluntary and their responses would be held in complete confidentiality, and were given time during working hours to complete the questionnaire. The data collection yielded 392 usable questionnaires. Hierarchical regression was used to analyze the hypotheses. By utilizing social exchange theory, this dissertation provided a broader theoretical perspective of intention to quit by allowing the inclusion of work-related and non work-related variables. The results provided support for the role POS and PSS play in the development of intention to quit. Specifically, POS and PSS do not appear to have a direct effect on intention to quit. Rather, the relationship seems to be fully mediated by job satisfaction and organizational commitment. No support was found indicating family responsibility or kinship responsibility had an effect on intention to quit. However, possible limitations concerning the measurement of family responsibility and kinship responsibility were noted and further development of these measures may be necessary.

Abstract   Date 2010-05-28   Level: Bachelor thesis in international business 15 hp   Authors:   Moa Ekerhed  Mariana Sandvall   Birth year 1986   Birth year 1988   Supervisor:            Susanne Sandberg   Commissioned by: SIDA   Project: Minor field study Title: Corporate social responsibility – A case study of three Swedish MNC`s in the emerging Peruvian market   Purpose: The purpose with this thesis is to gain understanding of how Swedish multinational corporations work with CSR in an emerging market. We will study what kind of CSR they are implementing on the market and how their surrounding environment influences them. From a theoretical perspective we will analyze the impact of the stakeholders and how they gain legitimacy, further how this is taken into practice. Method: The research is built upon a qualitative method where the primary data was studied from conducting several interviews concerning corporate social responsibility and sustainability practices. The research was conducted with an abductive research approach. The three companies that were examined were SKF, Atlas Copco and Securitas. We also performed interviews with the Nordic Chamber of Commerce and the Swedish General Council in Peru.   Conclusions: Our conclusion is that the CSR concept is very in time and companies are nowadays raising more awareness of CSR issues and implementing more CSR and sustainability practices. The stakeholders are becoming more important than ever and in order to gain legitimacy companies have to work hand in hand with their stakeholders and surrounding environment to be able to achieve a sustainable future. CSR is vital for the sustainability and plays a significant role for the future of corporation’s existence and progress.   Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, sustainability, stakeholder, legitimacy, the Peruvian market and cooperation.

This thesis is an examination of the financial consequences of corporations engaging in socially responsible activities. It is motivated by the recognition that a socially responsible approach can fundamentally change the conduct and operation of business, which in turn may have a significant impact on financial outcomes both for individual companies as well as the wider economy. If social responsibility improves financial performance then managers, investors and society at large can have confidence that these activities increase prosperity as well as social welfare, making them unequivocally desirable. Four empirical studies were undertaken of different but related financial aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR), specifically; the determinants of social responsibility and the effect of social responsibility on profitability, market value and stock return. In chapter two corporate social responsibility was found to be consistently and positively related to company size and certain industry characteristics, in particular companies that deal directly with the public (rather than with other companies) and companies in extractive and regulated industries were associated with a greater engagement in CSR. Although in some instances a positive link was found between return on assets and subsequent levels of corporate social responsibility the results were not consistent suggesting that higher than average profitability is not a prerequisite or consistent spur to additional social responsibility. A new methodology was also deployed, system GMM as another way of assessing the corporate social responsibility / corporate financial performance relationship; this gave broadly similar results. Chapter three assessed the relationship between social responsibility and responsibility on profitability. There was a positive significant association with return on assets but generally insignificant results when return on sales was used as the measure of financial performance. This may indicate that social responsibility is materially associated with a better utilisation of the internal assets used by a business but that this does not extend to obtaining better margins from external customers. Alternatively it may indicate that CSR has no consistent unambiguous effect on financial results or finally that it is difficult to witness an effect by using a cross sectional approach. To more directly assess if social responsibility has an impact on financial performance a time series analysis was also carried out, no significant result was found. However given the degree of inertia in corporate social responsibility the five years of data available is unlikely to be a sufficiently long to detect any effect. Chapter four contains a study of the effect of corporate social responsibility on market value. This uses value relevance methodology which is a relatively new approach and has the advantage of both directly addressing the principal concern of critics of CSR, that it impairs shareholder wealth. On average corporate social responsibility was found to be associated with higher market value and by implication a better level of profit and/or lower levels of risk. The final empirical study in chapter five examined the role of corporate social responsibility and risk as a way of parsing the result in the previous chapter and assessing whether investor cash flow or risk was the cause of enhanced market valuations. This also has the advantage of directly looking at stock returns which is a prime concern of ethical investors. Three different methodologies were used; in each case the effect noted was small and generally not significant, suggesting that social responsibility has little discernible effect on risk and hence stock return in the UK. Overall it appears that corporate social responsibility is associated with greater market value but that no consistent unambiguous significant association between corporate social responsibility and profitability could be found using a cross sectional study. The methodologies used in the various chapters are quite different and there are also obvious differences between market value and profitability, however a more consistent result should be expected. When more extensive data sets become available a longer run time series analysis should provide additional information on the effect of corporate social responsibility on financial performance and provide a useful adjunct to this study.

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Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov continually challenges the reader with variations of this concept: “Heart of my heart, my joyful one you must know that verily each of us is guilty before everyone, for everyone and everything” (289). The challenge is twofold: how does one envision this utterance moving from the realm of philosophical abstraction to an ontology of responsibility, and what is the obligation I am failing to account for regarding everyone and everything? Contained in this utterance of guilt before all is the relationship between the individual and others; it posits an intrinsic alterity. The Brothers Karamazov does not depict the ethicality of alterity as a secular responsibility, but rather a profoundly Christian one aimed at refuting atheistic Sensualism. Chronologically, then, I will examine how the novel depicts the moral depravity of sensualistic philosophy, how alterity is an ethical demand of responsibility, how it functions as an ontological posturing prior to behavioral acts and cognition, and finally as one that it is inherently religious. Thus, this essay serves as model of how Emmanuel Levinas’s theory of the Other, could be applied to the extant of The Brothers Karamazov. / text

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The Intellectual Achievement Responsibility (1AR) questionnaire was administered to 1292 English school pupils aged 9.8 to 12.5 years. The 51 teachers of those pupils were asked, first, to assess their pupils' degree of acceptance of responsibility for school successes and failures, and secondly, to what they attributed the strength of educational motivation of each pupil. A questionnaire was then given to 57 trainee-teachers to find what they would say to children who had failed to do some work successfully for (as the trainees thought) various different reasons. The teachers proved poor judges of acceptance of responsibility in their pupils. Also, they never referred to this as a factor influencing motivation. Teachers concentrated on influences not amenable to change. When trainees were induced to attribute pupil failure to unchangeable influences, they would make comments to pupils that were less helpful and motivating than otherwise.

In this thesis first, I investigate the link between firms’ environmental and social disclosures (ESD) and their profitability, as well as establish the direction of causality between the two. Second, I examine the association between ESD with firms’ market value, employee productivity and carbon eco-efficiency respectively. Finally, I examine the relations among firms’  CSR  related  board attributes, CSR strategy and their environmental and social performance (ESP). The first empirical chapter shows that firms with higher profitability tend to provide more ESD, which is consistent with the accounting- and economics- based arguments that ESD involve a real as well as an opportunity cost that more profitable firms with higher slack resources are better able to afford. The results regarding market value analysis show that overall ESD, in particular social disclosures matter to investors. Investors appear to be placing higher values on firms seen to be behaving in a socially responsible manner. Presumably, more responsible behaviour in the social arena reflected in higher disclosure helps to mitigate the information asymmetry, and hence the perceived social risk of the firm. Investors thus place higher values on such firms. The evidence on the link between  firms’  ESD  and  their  ESP measures supports this explanation. Specifically, I find that more social (environmental) disclosure in prior year reflects better social (environmental) performance as captured by higher employee productivity (more carbon eco-efficiency) in the current year. The results of the final empirical chapter show that boards having certain CSR- conducive attributes, particularly independent directors, women directors, and directors with financial expertise on the audit committee, are more likely to develop a multi-pronged CSR strategy which in turn translates into superior environmental and social performance. Furthermore, I find that firms with better ESP tend to further strengthen their board CSR orientation. In other words, the analysis suggests the presence of a positive and cyclical link between CSR orientation, firm CSR strategy, and firm environmental and social performance.

Social accountability describes the extent to which a medical education institution’s research, service and education make a difference to the health status of the community in which they work. An individual practitioner is expected to attain a range of graduate attributes and competencies many of which enable a responsive approach to practice in society.

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