Submitted by Marlene Aparecida de Souza Cardozo (mcardozo@pucsp.br) on 2016-08-27T18:02:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruna Mazzer Nogueira.pdf: 418701 bytes, checksum: 11957f3efac0c000d36d74cc72c622c4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-27T18:02:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruna Mazzer Nogueira.pdf: 418701 bytes, checksum: 11957f3efac0c000d36d74cc72c622c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This is a theoretical research that aims to identify approaches between the following theories: Semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce, historical-cultural of Lev S. Vygotsky, the complex theory of Edgar Morin and the connectivism of Siemens and Downes, prioritizing the issues surrounding education in the contemporary context. The method adopted included careful readings of the existant literature regarding the mentioned theories, the use of reading records and a case study that together allowed the careful and systematic analysis of the materials, as well as the organization of some of the key concepts of each theory, relevant to further discussions. The importance of the social nature of man was highlighted and related to its development. Language is understood as fundamental in the human development process and has been addressed here in a specific way, with emphasis on learning new words, considered linguistic signs, in a foreign language. It was analyzed and presented examples of both literature and real life, this experienced by the researcher, which allowed the establishment of approaches and reflections on the theories adopted. Finally, it became evident the need to promote an education able to reconcile different strategies, ideas and experiences of successful learning, recognizing the complexity of the phenomena and driving more discussions and studies for the existence of progress in the classroom and online education / Trata-se de uma pesquisa teórica que tem por objetivo identificar aproximações entre as teorias Semiótica de Charles Sanders Peirce, histórico-cultural de Lev S. Vigostski, o pensamento complexo de Edgar Morin e o conectivismo de Siemens e Downes, priorizando as questões que envolvem a educação no contexto contemporâneo. O método adotado contou com um cuidadoso levantamento bibliográfico das teorias mencionadas, a utilização de fichas de leitura e um estudo de campo que, juntos, permitiram a análise cuidadosa e sistemática dos materiais, além da organização de alguns dos principais conceitos de cada teoria, pertinentes às discussões posteriores. A importância do caráter social do homem foi destacada e relacionada ao seu desenvolvimento. A linguagem é compreendida como fundamental no processo de desenvolvimento humano e foi aqui abordada de maneira específica, com destaque para aprendizagem de palavras em idioma estrangeiro, consideradas signos linguísticos. São apresentados e analisados exemplos tanto da bibliografia quanto real, este vivenciado pela pesquisadora, que permitiram o estabelecimento de aproximações e reflexões sobre as teorias interacionistas adotadas. Por fim, tornou-se evidente a necessidade de se favorecer uma educação capaz de conciliar diferentes estratégias, ideias e experiências de aprendizagens de sucesso, reconhecendo a complexidade dos fenômenos e impulsionando mais discussões e estudos para a existência de progressos na Educação presencial e online

This study focused on Corporate Community Involvement Disclosures (CCID), a theme usually disclosed under Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures (CSRD) in annual reports. The primary aim of the research is to investigate the genuineness and raison d'être of CCID in annual reports. To do this the researcher adopted a holistic approach employing an extensive theoretical framework, which integrates Legitimacy, Stakeholder, Agency, Signalling and Semiotics theories and asking three main research questions. Firstly, what are the motivations for CCID in annual reports? Secondly, what is the information content of CCID in annual reports? And lastly, how real is CCID in annual reports? That is can CCID be read and construed as a real measure of corporate community development (CCD)? Using content analysis and a quality score index the study examined a panel dataset covering the period from 1999 to 2009. The data was collected from a sample of 803 annual reports of 73 UK companies taken from the FTSE 350 companies and cutting across all ten industries of the Industrial Classification Benchmark (ICB) Index. Generally the study is more of a quantitative study with hypotheses developed and tested with panel data regression models in order to provide answers to the three research questions. However, due to the sensitivity of the third research question, in addition to panel regression, the researcher performed a qualitative analysis of question three using semiotics. The study provided evidence to show that CCID as disclosed in annual reports have an undertone of reputation/impression management like other CSR disclosures (CSRD). The community activities reported do not seem to address the expectations of the local communities per se; rather the disclosures seemed to be targeted at a wider stakeholder group that is likely to offer immediate reward for such disclosures. Similarly result from semiotic analysis revealed that signification of reality is either doubtful or unreal for most companies sampled. The study is unique as it is the first to explore the reality of CCID as it appears in annual reports using a combination of a panel study approach and semiotics. In addition a major contribution of the study is that it explored the ways in which multiple theoretical underpinnings can inform research by developing a CCID Meta-theory model and thus provided a robust and enriched analysis and unique insights into the CCID phenomenon.