Corporations are increasingly using social media as a tool for communicating Corporate Social Responsibility. Marketing researchers have conducted ample research on the topic, however, a communication perspective is missing. In order to fill this gap and gain a nuanced understanding of how corporations are communicating CSR and potentially enacting power relations, this thesis focuses on linguistic elements in CSR- related Facebook posts. A content analysis was performed on the Facebook pages of three oil corporations, covering a total of 120 posts. Results demonstrate that all three companies aim for engagement with the audience, using various semantic and sensory interactivity elements, and maintaining an informal writing style. Despite the latter seemingly contradicting the assumption that corporations are enacting power, there are elements that support this claim. The corporations implement a constraint of content in their posts through the use of abstract writing, and include a constraint on positions through the narrative styles of accounting and advertisement, which offer limited encouragement for participation. Regarding rhetoric, the ethos included in the posts carried significant interconnection with the CSR topics discussed, through which the companies seemed to enforce constraints of content. Shell and Total emphasize certain environmental issues, while not focusing on other impacts. BP does not not target environmental issues and mainly highlights positive social impact. Although the enactment of power is not present in each of the linguistic structures of the posts, there are elements that indicate the presence of power relations, which could offer groundwork for further research.

Retributive attitudes are deeply held and widespread in the general population and most legal systems incorporate retributive elements. It is probably also the dominant theory of punishment among contemporary philosophers of criminal justice. However, retributivism relies on conceptions of free will and responsibility that have, for millennia, fundamentally divided those who have thought seriously about the subject. Our legal system upholds the principle that the responsibility of the offender has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt, before the accused can be punished. In view of the intractable doubts surrounding the soundness of retributivism’s very conception of responsibility, my thesis argues that it is ethically dubious to punish individuals for solely retributive reasons. Instead, my thesis proposes that a person should only be punished if the main theories of punishment agree that punishing that person is appropriate – I call this ‘the convergence requirement’. This approach, I argue, is in accordance with the considerations underlying the beyond reasonable doubt standard. In addition to considering the question of ‘whom to punish’ my thesis considers what methods of responding to criminal behaviour are acceptable. In particular, it attempts to explain, without appealing to the contested notions of free will or retributive desert, what is problematic about ‘manipulative’ methods of dealing with criminal offenders (focussing in particular on the possibility of modifying their behaviour through neurological interventions). The final part of this thesis also gives an overview of some of the practical implications for Scots criminal law of taking doubts about free will and retributivism seriously. Given the severe treatment that offenders undergo within the Scottish penal system (e.g. deprivation of liberty, stigma) and the high rate of recidivism, it is important to consider whether our current penal practices are justified, what alternatives are available and what goals and values should guide attempts at reforming the system.

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Den globala företagsmarknaden utgörs idag till 99 procent av SME-företag (Inyang 2013) där många upplever implementeringen av CSR-arbete som förvirrande. Några av de största svårigheterna är hur CSR-arbetet ska få en tydlig struktur och vilka utvecklingsmöjligheter som finns. Det råder även forskningsmässig förvirring kring den grad av ansvar mindre företag är skyldiga att ta gällande CSR-arbete samt hur det ska utföras. Åtta av tio företag anser sig arbeta med CSR-relaterade aktiviteter men av dem är det endast 22 procent som mäter resultaten som uppnås (Blom 2014). Tre svenska SME-företag inom textilindustrin inriktade på försäljning till företagskunder, även förkortat B2B från engelskans business to business, undersöks i denna studie i syfte att kartlägga deras CSR-aktiviteter. Till hjälp har en CSR-strategimodell utformats med inspiration från tidigare modeller med avsikt att bedöma potentiellt behov av att förbättra och utveckla arbetet med CSR. Det teoretiska material som ligger till grund för rapporten är hämtat från tidigare forskning rörande CSR i SME-företag och strategimodeller för SME-företag. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom intervjuer med anställda på företagen och detta material har legat till grund för kartläggningen av företagets CSR-arbete. Studien visar att de undersökta SME-företagen bedriver ett aktivt CSR-arbete utifrån deras personella kapacitet. Det arbete som utförs har en stark anknytning till företagsledningens personliga intresse för CSR vilket är direkt kopplat till hur väl CSR integreras i affärsstrategin. De företag som har en uttalad strategi och målsättning för CSR-arbete är de mest framgångsrika i att utvärdera och mäta resultatet av deras aktiviteter. Studien visar även på likheter och olikheter i hur SME-företag arbetar med CSR. Resultatet visar att alla delar av CSR-arbetet är beroende av varandra och att företagen måste arbeta med samtliga för att få ett komplett och fungerade CSR-strategiarbete.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) har sedan 1950-talet varit ett fenomen som studerats och omdefinierats otaliga gånger. Det blir allt viktigare för företag inom de flesta sektorer att integrera CSR i den dagliga verksamheten. Än idag finns dock ingen enhetlig definition och det finns undersökningar som visar att företag upplever att det är svårt att veta hur man enligt praxis implementerar ett CSR-arbete. Vidare utgör små och medelstora företag (SMF) en signifikant del av världens företag, och de har därmed en betydande påverkan av ett lands ekonomi. Vidare dominerar SMFs både ekonomin generellt och textilindustrin mer specifikt. Syftet med denna studie har således ämnat bidra till en fördjupad diskussion kring SMFs inom textilindustrin och deras arbete med, samt motiv till, CSR. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med fem olika företag som går under definitionen SMF och är verksamma inom textilbranschen i Sverige. Den insamlade empirin har analyserats med hjälp av två väl inarbetade teorier; legitimitetsteorin samt intressentteorin. Utöver dessa har tidigare forskning på området tillämpats vid analysen. Detta har resulterat i ett konstaterande att det sociala och miljömässiga ansvaret som tar sig uttryck hos företagen är lika brett som hittills framtagna definitioner av CSR.

In today's society there is an increasing globalization. This may create a challenge for publicly- owned firms to make its stocks more attractive in the market for the investors all around the world. One method firms could use to attract new investors is through engagement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities; which has in the recent years received a lot of notable attention. On the occasion that there exist different types of CSR activities it would be beneficial for firms to receive broader knowledge about the different impacts that the different activities have on a firm's stock price. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the literature by investigating if different types of CSR activities have different degree of impact on a firm’s stock price; and if so, which type of activity that would be more preferable for firms to undertake in order to increase their stock price. The effect of a firm’s engagement in CSR activities was studied by the use of an event study. The event study was centered on a firm’s announcements of CSR activities of type environmental, ethical and philanthropic. All the firms considered in the study are American firms and they were all listed on the New York stock exchange (NYSE). The time period used in the study were the years between 2006 and 2016. However, the year of 2008 was excluded because of the financial crisis. To measure whether CSR has an effect on a firm’s stock price a t-test was conducted based on the cumulative average abnormal return (CAAR). A sign test was also performed based on the number of positive CAR’s in the estimation window compared to those in the event window. The cumulative abnormal return (CAR) was also considered in order to draw further conclusions. The study found that a firm’s engagement in CSR did overall, have a positive effect on a firm’s stock price. Further, by studying the results from the various activities; the results show that a firm’s engagement in environmental and ethical CSR activities also have a positive effect on the stock price. Meanwhile, it appeared that philanthropic CSR had no impact on the stock price. To answer the question of which type of CSR activities that is the most beneficial for a firm to engage in if they intend to increase its stock price is to invest in environmental CSR activities.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has an ever-increasing role in the way commercial businesses operate. Team sport organisations are not immune to this trend. CSR is a strategic issue for sport organisations, with professional teams across a range of sports and national contexts now modifying their organisational structure by establishing charitable foundations tasked with delivering their CSR content. These structural changes inevitably bring in new organisational actors who, in varying degrees, influence ̀the actual implementation of CSR in the professional sports team context. Organisational complexity is therefore increasing regarding CSR, as is the need to capture its elements at both cross-organisational and individual levels. This is especially important given that, unlike mainstream (corporate) foundations that deal directly with a ‘parent’ company, professional sport leagues often mandate the implementation of CSR through central funding mechanisms. This in turn emphasises the intricacy of the process and the dynamics amongst organisational actors at various levels. To date, no studies have attempted to address this complexity. The present thesis aims to help fill the gap by examining the managerial decision-making process in the organisational context of charitable foundations established by English professional football clubs. The current study employs a grounded theory methodology as it aims to develop a substantive theory of how managers responsible for the formulation and implementation of CSR-related programmes in English football make professional decisions. The research utilises the Straussian variant of grounded theory, which accepts that humans shape their institutions as much as institutions shape people. The study also seeks cognitive similarity, a concept that implies some form of similar attribution of meaning, understanding or interpretation amongst individuals in multiple organisations. Although its purpose was to develop an individual-based substantive theory grounded in the way managers make decisions regarding CSR, throughout the focus has been on decision-making itself rather than on the individuals who facilitate this process. The study is populated with the top two divisions of English football and employs two data collection techniques: organisational documents and semi-structured interviews. The fieldwork took place in three different phases, with the first ̀consisting of two sub-phases. Phase 1a emphasised the analysis of organisational documents (a total of 25 documents from 16 football organisations), while the following phases of the fieldwork were based on constant comparative data analysis from 32 interviews. The theoretical framework that emerged from this study is one of assessable transcendence; in a conceptually abstract fashion, ‘assessable transcendence’ concerns a process that, fortified ̀by passion, contingent on trust, sustained by communication and substantiated by factual performance, enables the formulation and implementation of CSR-related programmes in this context. The social process that emerged from this study, therefore, consists of an intrinsic (that is, passion) and an extrinsic (that is, trust) stimulus, both of which are central components of the micro-social process transcending. These two stimuli, however, require the support of both internal and external communication (abstractly expressed through the micro-social process manoeuvring), and thus all three together form a ‘coalition’ which can enhance both business and social performance (largely expressed by the first ̀two micro-social processes, namely safeguarding and harmonising). Accordingly, two interrelated aspects of the decision-making process constitute a common thread in this research: (a) the recognition that social consciousness stimulates the process of assessable transcendence in an indispensable and limitless way, and (b) an understanding that transcendence cannot occur without either continuous achievement or the dissemination of concrete ‘CSR impact’ in social and business forms alike (hence assessable). The significance of this doctoral thesis for the sport management literature is four-fold. First, it focuses on the individual level of analysis, thereby offering a framework that explains the decision-making of those individuals responsible for the application of CSR in professional team sport organisations. By doing so, it bridges the micro/macro divide by integrating the micro-domain’s focus on individuals (i.e., foundation managers) with those of the meso- and macro- domains. Second, it moves away from mono-theoretical approaches that have been mainly used for the examination of CSR in the sporting context. By doing so, it illustrates that different, and often opposing, theoretical approaches may be needed in order to fully capture and theoretically explain the way in which the CSR practice occurs. Third, it shifts the focus of scholarly activity away from CSR content-based research towards more process-oriented approaches. CSR content research does little to explain how professional teams achieve and maintain such positioning through deliberate and trial-and-error CSR actions initiated by the individuals therein. Fourth, an in relation to the previous point, it employs a process-oriented methodology (namely, grounded theory) whose utilisation in sport management research has been either non-existent or a ‘pick and mix’ practice. By doing so, the current thesis responds to calls for internal consistency and methodological coherence, thereby adding to the limited number of studies that have utilised this methodology in a rounded manner. The theoretical framework presented in this dissertation has emerged from exploratory study. As such, the four micro-social processes, their associative meanings and, more importantly, the four principal concepts that hold assessable transcendence are regarded as tentative and require substantiation through further research. To this end, a number of research propositions are offered that can serve as a starting point towards a continued exploration of those moderating and mediating factors on the formulation and implementation of CSR in team sport organisations.

In the last four decades, luck egalitarianism has emerged as a hotly debated theory of distributive justice. The tenet, in its most normative sense, calls for distribution or assistance when circumstances of disadvantage arise from bad luck that is independent of human influence. Disadvantages that can be traced back to individual choice and responsibility, on the other hand, are left for the sufferer to bear. In this paper, I argue that luck egalitarianism should be abandoned as a standard for determining whether a disadvantage should be addressed, because the assumption that there are instances of disadvantage completely attributable to individual choice is flawed. Brute luck, or luck that emerges from beyond human control, influences most human outcomes, making it difficult to confidently attribute outcomes to option luck, or luck that stems from human choice. Without option luck, luck egalitarianism becomes obsolete as the principle rests on the distinction between brute and option luck.

This research studies the eight principles of sustainability applied in Project Management. To be more precise the research fulfils four objectives which are: firstly, to review and identify key principles of sustainability in project management from existing literature; secondly, to adopt a multiple case study method to assess the applicability of the principles in project management; thirdly, to determine the barriers that impede certain principles to be applied in projects and the resulting trade-offs; and lastly, to refine the concept of sustainability in project management.The study adopts a subjectivist ontological viewpoint and an interpretivist epistemological outlook. The paper deductively studies the research question and adopts a qualitative mono-method research design, with a multiple case study strategy. The project case studies analysed belong to six different industries namely Pharmaceutical, Information Technology (IT), Automotive, Transportation, Furniture and Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). All case studies fulfil the criteria of being multinational organisations, operating in the private sector, having sustainability as a strategic pillar and projects executed in developed countries with a similar macroeconomic climate. The data has been collected through the semi-structured interview technique and examined using a thematic analysis. The results show that not all eight principles of sustainability are implemented in project management despite of multiple proactive endeavours of engaging in social and environmentally focused business practices. The two principles that show a limited applicability in project management are values and ethics as well as consuming income and not capital.The theoretical contribution of the research is realised through the first collective analysis of the eight principles of sustainability and their implementation in project management through empirical case studies. An additional contribution is through the selection of case studies from industries that have not been examined before. The practical implication of the research is to offer guidance to organisations on what principles they need to build their sustainability project management practices on and to point out the commonly faced barriers and trade-offs.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: While most people acknowledge the dignity of fellow humans, atrocities that deny the dignity of people are rampant in our world. The ongoing ignorance and aberrations of the dignity of human beings in the world might mean that there is still not clarity on what respect for the dignity of others really mean, how it should be practiced and whether human dignity is an entitlement or a responsibility. Human dignity was not always bestowed to every individual. In ancient times dignity was reserved for the strongest individual in and later was extended to certain classes, groups and nations like the monarchy and clergy, the Egyptians and Romans. The Renaissance brought a new consciousness of the worth of man. But despite this awareness, and the advent of a human rights culture as is found in the writings of modem philosophers like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant, who all support the notion of human dignity, liberty and human rights, gross human rights violations still took place during the twentieth century. Stalin used the Russian people to create a successful socialistic state; Hitler exterminated all those who obstructed his ideal of creating a pure Aryan race, while Verwoerd legalized racial discrimination in South Africa and Namibia. As a result of the atrocities in Europe, especially during World War II, The United Nations was established with the aim to oversee and address human rights violations in the world. Human rights and respect for human dignity are included in the Bill of rights of the Constitutions of America, South Africa and Namibia. Health care providers acknowledge the rights of patients by respect for the autonomy of patients. Patients are autonomous persons and health care providers enable patients to take autonomous action. Autonomous action means that a patient will act with understanding, intention and without coercion. Paternalism is only justified when it serves to protect the patient or protect the rights of others. Health care providers practice autonomy by facilitating informed consent, by providing truthful information, by upholding confidentiality, to protect privacy of patients and to treat patients with respect. There is little uncertainty that people can claim the right to human dignity because persons have intrinsic worth as unique beings that are irreplaceable and exist as an end in themselves. Holy Scripture confirms that humans are created in the image of God. International human rights instruments and national constitutions provide people with the statutory right to human dignity and enable people to legally claim this right. But human dignity is also a responsibility because claiming a right has a reciprocal obligation on others not to violate the claimed right, but also requires from persons to value their own lives. Over reliance on science and rational thinking may negate human dignity because scientists do not always consider the needs of persons. The examples of world leaders like Gandhi, King and Mandela have also shown that one can earn human dignity through respectful conduct towards others. Protagoras of Abdera was aware of human worthiness as right and responsibility as long back as the fifth century Be, and this awareness still exists today. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ten spyte daarvan dat meeste mense die menswaardigheid van ander erken, misken gruweldade in die wereld steeds die waardigheid van baie mense. Die miskenning van menswaardigheid mag beteken dat daar steeds onduidelikheid is oor wat respek vir die menswaardigheid van ander werklik beteken, hoe dit gepraktiseer moet word en of menswaardigheid 'n reg of 'n verantwoordelikheid is. Menswaardigheid was nie altyd aan alle persone verleen nie. In die antieke beskawing was menswaardigheid grootliks gereserveer vir die sterker persone, en later vir sekere klasse, groepe en nasies, soos die monargie en geestelikes, die Egiptenare en Romeine. Die Renaissance het 'n nuwe bewuswording van menswaardigheid gebring. Maar ten spyte van hierdie bewuswording en die koms van die menseregtekultuur is die werk van moderne filosowe soos John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau en Immanuel Kant, wat almal die gedagte van menswaardigheid, vryheid en menseragte ondersteun, het gruwellike menseregte skendings steeds plaasgevind gedurende die twintigste eeu. Stalin het die Russiese volk gebruik om 'n suksesvolle sosialistiese staat te skep, Hitler het probeer om almal wat sy ideaal bedreig het om 'n egte nie-Joodse Kaukasiese nasie te skep, te vermoor, terwyl Verwoerd rassediskriminasie gewettig het in Suid-Afrika en Namibië. As gevolg van die gruweldade in Europa, veral gedurende die Tweede Wereldoorlog, het die Verenigde Nasies tot stand gekom om die menseregteskendings in die wereld te monitor en aan te spreek. Die Konstitusies van Amerika, Suid-Afrika en Namibië, erken menseregte en die respek vir menswaardigheid. Ook in gesondheidsorg word die regte van die pasiënt beskerm deur die beginsel van respek vir die outonomie van pasiënte. Pasiënte is outonome persone en gesondheidsorg werkers maak dit moontlik vir pasiënte om outonome handelinge uit te voer. Outonome handelinge beteken dat die pasiënt sal handel met intensie en sonder dwang en dat die handeling ten volle verstaan word. Paternalisme is alleen geregverdig wanneer dit die regte van die pasiënt of ander persone beskerm. Gesondheidsorg werkers fasiliteer outonomie van pasiënte deur ingeligte toestemming te verkry, pasiënte nie te mislei nie, vertroulikheid te handhaaf, privaatheid van die pasiënt te verseker en deur pasiënte te respekteer. Daar is min onsekerheid dat persone op die reg tot menswaardigheid kan aanspraak maak want mense het inherente waarde as mense wat nie vervang kan word nie en wat in hulself 'n bestaansdoel het. Die Skrif bevestig dat die mens na die beeld van God geskape is. Internasionale menseregte instrumente en nasionale konstitusies maak voorsiening vir die wettige reg tot menswaardigheid en maak dit vir mense moontlik om wettiglik op hierdie reg aanspraak te maak. Mense het egter nie net 'n reg tot menswaardigheid nie maar ook 'n verantwoordelikheid. Aanspraak op 'n reg tot menswaardigheid impliseer 'n wedersydse verantwoordelikheid dat ander die reg nie mag skend nie, maar vereis ook die verantwoordelikheid dat persone waarde aan hul eie lewens sal heg. Oorwaardering van die wetenskap en rasionaliteit mag ook menswaardigheid ontken, omdat menslike behoeftes nie altyd in ag geneem word deur wetenskaplikes nie. Voorbeelde van wêreldleiers soos Gandhi, King en Mandela bewys dat menswaardigheid ook verwerf kan word deur ander respekvol te behandel. Protagoras of Abdera was reeds in die vyfde eeu voor Christus bewus van menswaardigheid as reg en verantwoordelikheid, en hierdie bewussyn is steeds geldig vandag.