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Corporate social responsibility has become an increasingly important topic within the workplace. This subject continues to garner further attention and scrutiny, especially with regards to public relations firms and their CSR-related engagements because of how practical motivations for charitable giving may blend with the nature of their business. Public relations professionals were interviewed to uncover information regarding each firm's CSR programs and level of engagement, in addition to textual analysis that included the PR firms' websites, social media presence, and what the media has said about the firms' CSR efforts. Findings revealed five cross-company patterns with regard to CSR made by the following PR firms: Edelman, Weber Shandwick, and FleishmanHillard. These themes—Citizenship Initiatives, Corporate Engagement, Global Communities, Social Involvement, and Sustainable Investments—identify the concepts and ideas that form the foundation of these CSR programs, and shed light on the reasons why these firms participate in CSR, specifically as it relates to company image and employee relationships, and may suggest that these themes form both the reasoning for participating in CSR, and the aspects of CSR that attract employee attention

Nathan Phillip Stout

In my dissertation, I explore the connection between cultural membership and moral responsibility. In particular, I consider what sorts of mitigating excuses, if any, are available to perpetrators of what we take to be serious wrong action due to their unique cultural circumstances. I utilize real-life case studies, and apply various philosophical theories of moral responsibility to these examples. One such theory--offered by Susan Wolf--suggests that these "cultural defendants" may not be responsible for their participation in morally wrong practices due to the possibility that they may have been rendered by their cultures unable to recognize and/or appreciate that these practices were in fact wrong. This would supposedly allow us to claim that they were not culpable for their resulting ignorance or for their morally wrong actions which resulted from acting in accordance with their (actually false) beliefs. I argue that this approach to understanding the relation between moral responsibility and cultural membership is seriously flawed, and provides us with counter-intuitive results about the case studies in question. Consequently, I next examine theories of responsibility which suggest that responsibility may be mitigated not because of an alleged inability to recognize the truth, but rather due to the alleged reasonability of the beliefs of the perpetrators. Lawrence Vogel and Neil Levy offer versions of this strategy. They argue that, because certain morally wrong practices (such as slavery) were endorsed by the societies of certain individuals, their resulting beliefs in the propriety of their actions were epistemically reasonable. It is argued that these persons should not be considered culpable for holding their actually false beliefs or for acting in accordance with them. I argue that the strategy is in many ways preferable to Wolf's inability thesis, yet it nonetheless suffers from ambiguity. The final portion of my project explores the connection between the epistemic status of a belief and a person's moral culpability for holding and acting upon it. I outline the grounds upon which the subjects in the case studies can be held morally culpable for their epistemic mistakes and for their failure to develop and exercise epistemic virtues.

Appraisal theories of emotion assert that guilt arises from the evaluations one ill makes about one's behavior. Perpetrators experience guilt when they view themselves as responsible for harm caused to their victims. Interpersonal theories of emotion hold that guilt is a function of relational factors, including the need to repair relationships. Theorists argue that guilty feelings often arise in spite of appraisals, and that perpetrators feel guilty because of a need to communicate reconciliatory messages to their victims. These two views of guilt are generally seen as mutually exclusive. This study proposed integrating both views of guilt into a single, interactive theory of guilt that includes both appraisals and interpersonal concerns and that asserts that guilt varies as a function of the appraisals one makes about one's own and others' behavior, the nature of the relationship between perpetrators and victims, the perspective from which one views events, and the passage of time. The main question asked was: when taking into account these factors, is guilt better accounted for by an appraisal, interpersonal , or the newly proposed integrative view of guilt? One-hundred forty-seven male and 168 female university students were presented with scenarios depicting the interaction of two people who were friends or enemies and were directed to adopt the perspective of perpetrators, victims, or were not given instructions to adopt a perspective. In each scenario, a perpetrator acted to inflict harm that was either unintentional or angrily intended. Participants then rated perpetrators' responsibility appraisals, emotional responses, and forgiveness needs. Additionally, participants were asked to rate how responsible perpetrators believed their victims believed them to be. Correlational analyses and AN OVA were used to test the effects of the factors in the proposed model on ratings of guilt. Although partial support was found for both the appraisal view and the interpersonal view of guilt, results provided the strongest support for the interactive view of guilt. Discussion focused on the role of appraisals, relational factors, perspective, and time in guilty feelings and the implications of these findings for further research.

This research quantifies the mediating effects of consumer satisfaction on the social responsibility dimensions of philanthropy, economics, environmental, ethical, and legal regarding the behavioral outcomes of consumer loyalty while developing a new model (small business social responsibility, SBSR) to measure these effects. The purpose of current study is to provide a contemporary perspective of the influence of organizational social responsibility strategy on consumer behavior regarding three specific characteristics: enterprise size (small business), population demographic (Generation Z), and type of industry (restaurant industry). The questionnaire was developed, modified, and designed to measure the mediating effects of consumer satisfaction on SBSR initiatives and the behavioral outcomes of consumer loyalty. Data were collected from January 15 to March 15, 2022. The sample for this study consisted of 233 students from a large public university in the southwestern United States. The study found social responsibility initiatives do impact consumer behaviors, although not all the initiatives studied had a significant effect on consumer satisfaction and ultimately on consume loyalty. Environmental initiatives had the strongest significance levels on both consumer satisfaction and consumer loyalty. Conversely, the initiatives of economics and legal had no significant influence of both consumer satisfaction and consumer loyalty. The study gave evidence that managers should expect higher consumer behavior levels if they invest in social responsibility intiatives, especially environmental initiatives. As well, the study developed a model for future research which can measure and identify the social responsibility initiatives which small businesses can utilize to influence consumer behaviors.

This thesis investigates the effectiveness of communication between assurors and assurance report users, and the role that assurance reports play in this process. It comprises two behavioural experiments undertaken in the context of: (i) wording changes to the audit report (developed product) using shareholders as participants; and (ii) the role of assurance and type of assurance provider for corporate social responsibility reporting (evolving product), using financial analysts as participants. In both studies effectiveness of communication is examined in terms of report users?? perceptions and investment decision-making. The theoretical framework used in these studies is adapted from a communications model developed by Shannon and Weaver (1949), and supplemented by psychology research focused on source credibility (Birnbaum and Stegner, 1979). Two key elements of the communication process are recognised; the: (i) message transmitted; and (ii) source of the message. The first element is considered in the first experiment; the second element in the second study. Useful feedback is provided to standard-setters. From the first study, report users?? perceptions are not impacted by changes to the wording of the audit report. However, in the second experiment they are affected by differences in the source of the message. In terms of trustworthiness, financial analysts perceive the credibility of the source of corporate social responsibility information to be significantly greater when assured. For a company in an industry with stronger incentives to report positive corporate social responsibility information, they perceive the credibility (trustworthiness, overall credibility) of the source of the information to be significantly greater when assured. They also discern differences between types of assuror whereby the credibility (trustworthiness, expertise, overall credibility) of the source of information is perceived to be greater when assured by a professional accountant than a sustainability expert. A contribution of these experiments is the analysis of report users?? investment decision-making, as well as their perceptions. Differences in the message and source of the message for assurance reporting have no impact on report users?? investment decisions. Differences in characteristics of report users (familiarity with reports, extent to which reports are understandable) appear to impact report users?? perceptions and merits further examination.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / This dissertation aims to examine the manner in which the concept of autonomy (jiritsu) is treated in modern and contemporary Japanese literature. This examination will be performed by analysing the autonomous attitude of a contemporary Japanese writer Nakagami Kenji (1946–1992). This dissertation focuses on examining Nakagami Kenji’s ambivalent attitude towards his act of writing. We will explore the manner in which his act of writing appears to be a paradox between self-identification and the integration into the collective. Then, we will observe the possibility in which Nakagami’s ambivalent attitude is extended to cover Maruyama Masao’s relative definition of autonomy and Karatani Kōjin’s interpretation of Immanuel Kant’s notion of freedom and responsibility. Nakagami’s attempt is certainly not confined to only his works. The notion of autonomy may be applied to perceive a similar thought that was represented by previous writers. We will also examine various never-ending autonomous attempts expressed by Sakaguchi Ango, Miyazawa Kenji and Nakahara Chūya. Moreover, we will analyse how Nakagami’s distrust of the modern Japanese language and his admiration of the body as an undeniable object are reflected in his major novels in detail and attempt to extend this observation into the works of the theatrical artists in the 1960s such as Betsuyaku Minoru, Kara Jūrō, Hijikata Tatsumi and Terayama Shūji and contemporary women writers such as Tsushima Yūko, Takamura Kaoru, Tawada Yōko and Yoshimoto Banana. These writers and artists struggled to establish their autonomous freedom as they encountered the conflict between their individual bodies that personifies their personal autonomy and the modern Japanese language that confines them in the fixed and submissive roles in present-day Japan. In this dissertation, I would like to conclude that Nakagami Kenji’s ambivalent attitude towards his act of writing can be an eternal self-legislation, that is, his endless attempt to establish autonomous freedom, which evolves from the paradox between the individual (body) and the collective (language).

This study attempts to achieve two things. Firstly it contextualizes corporate citizenship drawing on scholarly, government, media, legal and business discourses which when viewed as a whole, reveals the importance of exchange as a central determinant in how all the major themes or subfields of corporate citizenship function and subsequently become valued within public discourse. Secondly, it reports on exploratory action research where I as a researcher occupied a central role in understanding and contributing towards how organizational settings socially construct and evolve corporate citizenship in real time through various exchange behaviour, drawing from four years field research within BP and its interactions with the external world. This research contributes to new knowledge by building a rare contextual understanding into how cultural change evolves over time within an organization, from its public face, through policy, down into employee and stakeholder reactions, including identifying the crucial role played by Cultural bridges’ in shifting entrenched organizational culture towards embracing new, more sustainable ways of doing business, and additionally how practitioners can legitimately act as a researcher in facilitating this process by assisting an organization to move from simple, transactional relationships to more sustainable integrated social, financial and environmental exchange between business and its broader context. Importantly, this research develops entirely new theoretical models for understanding the social application and commercial value of corporate citizenship to both business and society.

官僚體制在當初原創者韋柏的建構下，為了追求「效率」的價值而有了最完善的設計；相對的是，在整體官僚體制的運作下，產生了諸如：形式主義、非人化等諸多病態現象。新公共行政的興起，不僅對原先的價值受到了質疑，爾後的運作弊病更造成我們對官僚體制的刻板印象，官僚更是變成「無效率」的代名詞。在我們批判官僚體制的同時，竟也不自覺受制於形式程序，形式程序的滿足固不足以保證公共服務的品質，而不完全形式程序、形式程序的崇拜以及被動的服務，更在在顯示行政主體的異化，公共服務於是在此異化過程中產生質變；若　　假設官僚必然存在並對人產生某種程度的控制，那何不進而瞭解「控制」甚至「宰制」的根源。 　　一九六０年代末期新公共行政學派興起特別強調民主行政典範，揭示社會公平、正義、弱勢關懷等價值，解構了傳統行政典範效率至上的權威。此公共行思潮的轉變觸動了對行政人員忠誠義務的反省，一方面，理性概念的課責產生無法解決的道德困境，也拒絕了道德主體對個人責任的承擔，行政人員只是官僚體制權威的工具﹔另方面，行政人員基於公民身份或對公共利益認知的責任意識，主動參與決定公共目的過程，客觀責任勢將作某種程度妥協，政治權威的絕對性也會受到侵害﹔所以，民主行政對公共行政定位有了新的詮釋，更為突顯出主客觀責任衝突的論題，主客觀責任的衝突與平衡實隱現於「官僚體制的控制」與「行政人員自由」的弔詭中。行政生活領域持續性的不確定性和不可測度性，行政人員的角色多重，在不同的系絡有不同的角色扮演與期待；在這樣的前提下，官僚體制運作的主體「行政人員」的角色扮演，面臨了兼具「公民」、「公共服務的提供者」以及「官僚體制命令服從者」的三方角色，自然在外部機制官僚體制的課責上與內部機制主觀責任的認知上不乏衝突以及矛盾。M.Finer與C.Friedrich認為調和內部機制和外部機制才能使行政責任具有廣泛的回應性，M.Harmon亦主張責任的內、外向度調和才具有互惠關係；於此，思考並解決責任衝突論題對於踐行行政運作是必要且重要的。另外，基於對公共行政人員寄予的厚望，期待行政人員能了解肩負的公民責任意識，跳脫傳統工具性的角色定位，體悟行政責任源自公共服務的使命感，該是涵蓋更多的責任承諾與對良心倫理的堅持，凡此總總遂激發本論文之研究動機。 　　本文架構配合章節之安排，茲將各章內容要點概說如下： 　　第一章緒論：鋪陳本論文之研究動機與目的，研究範圍與假定、研究方法架構等。 　　第二章官僚體制與行政責任之理論：此章乃對官僚體制包括敘述六大特徵、責任相關的結構因素作界定、並指陳官僚體制對人性的貶抑；另外就客觀責任、主觀責任相關之文獻作縱覽，歸納修正出本文主、客責任衝突立論之焦點。 　　第三章主、客觀責任衝突之根源：本論文之研究立場，本章欲探索客觀責任建構之侷限性，先行批判實證論之偏執及傳統行政對理性課責的盲信態度，再行說明新公共行政所揭示的多元價值，衝擊傳統行政責任的反思；最後，以行政者公民身份的關鍵，點醒公民行政者公民資格的實踐，於責任衝突困境中，明辨自身所該堅持的責任與義務。 　　第四章責任衝突調適之相關論題：本章立論的焦點係由官僚體制變革方向與行政倫理出發，循環推衍出公共空間的建構，有助於調適行政人員責任衝突困境。公共空間的建構激勵行政者彼此對話、互動、判斷、裁量，透過社群形成的自然凝聚力，將使主觀責任適用更為妥當；再者，討論理論落實於我國行政現況頗具實質意義，專業團體的成立適度帶動行政者交流與互動，給予行政人員在行政責任實踐上有「自主判斷的空間」與「彈性主張的權利」。 　　第五章結論：提出本文回顧及限制，最後分享研究所得並提供未來研究建議。