Abstract
As globalisation inevitably marches forward, organisations grow in scale and economic power drawing upon environmental and social resources that have implications on the sustainability and wellbeing of our planet. At the same time, sovereign governments become increasingly ineffective at protecting resources and maintaining environmental and social balance across national boundaries. Henceforth, not only do businesses play a critical role in helping solve many of our complex and global challenges, but businesses also bear the obligation to remediate many of the same challenges. Corporate responsibility (CR) requires firms to undertake actions that contribute to social or environmental good beyond self-interest and legal compliance. In this chapter, we contribute to the theme of this book—Values and Corporate Responsibility: CSR and the Sustainable Development Goals—by sharing our perspectives on the importance of executive values in shaping enterprises’ CR practices. Making use of a ‘values-theory’ lens and drawing on stories from Canadian executives, this chapter highlights how executives’ values have come to the fore and shaped their views concerning CR practice.
Additionally, these stories highlight the vital link between executives’ values and CR adoption: the more robust the values, the stronger the individual’s belief in their ability to drive change without influence from external constraints. This chapter concludes by advocating for the need to emphasise and integrate management values into all levels of further and higher education. Personal reflexivity and immersive experiential learning should be championed to help strengthen and raise awareness of individuals’ values and that the personal growth process is an essential driver for positive change.
All vignettes are adopted from Chow, “The Influence of Executives’ Values on Corporate Responsibility Adoption” (DBA thesis, Henley Business School, 2018).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abelson, Robert. “Conviction.” American Psychologist 43, no. 4 (1988): 267–275.
Ackoff, Russell. “On Learning and the Systems that Facilitate It.” Reflections: The SoL Journal 1, no. 1 (1999): 14–24.
Alteer, Ahmed M., Sofri B. Yahya, and Md H. Haron. “Auditors’ Personal Values and Ethical Judgement at Different Levels of Ethical Climate: A Conceptual Link.” Journal of Asian Scientific Research 3, no. 8 (2013): 862–875.
Bansal, Pratima. “From Issues to Actions: The Importance of Individual Concerns and Organizational Values in Responding to Natural Environmental Issues.” Organization Science 14, no. 5 (2003): 510–527.
Bardi, Anat, and Shalom Schwartz. “Values and Behaviour: Strengths and Structure of Relations.” Society for Personality and Social Psychology 29, no. 1 (2003): 1207–1220.
Barkema, Harry, Xiao-Ping Chen, G. Gerard George, Y. Yadong Luo, and Anne Tsui. “West Meets East: New Concepts and Theories.” Academy of Management Journal 58, no. 2 (2015): 460–479.
Basu, Kunal, and Guido Palazzo. “Corporate Social Responsibility: A Process Model of Sensemaking.” The Academy of Management Review 33, no. 1(2008): 122–136.
Bauman, Zygmunt. Times, Liquid. “Living in an Age of Uncertainty”. (Cambridge: Polity, 2007).
Baumeister, Roy F., and Kathleen D. Vohs. “The Pursuit of Meaningfulness in Life,” in Handbook of Positive Psychology, eds. Charles R. Snyder and Shane J. Lopez. (Oxford University Press, 2001), 608–618.
Berle, Adolf A. “For Whom Corporate Managers are Trustees: A Note.” Harvard Law Review 45, no. 8 (1932): 1365–1372.
Besio, Cristina, and Andrea Pronzini. “Morality, Ethics, and Values Outside and Inside Organizations: An Example of the Discourse on Climate Change.” Journal of Business Ethics 119, no. 3 (2014): 287–300.
Bollier, David, Stephanie Weiss, and Kirk O. Hanson. “Merck & Co., Inc.(A).” Business Enterprise Trust (1991).
Bruyaka, Olga, Hanko K. Zeitzmann, Isabelle Chalamon, Richard E. Wokutch, and Pooja Thakur. “Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Orphan Drug Development: Insights from the US and the EU Biopharmaceutical Industry.” Journal of Business Ethics 117, no. 1 (2013): 45–65.
Cannella, Bert, Sydney Finkelstein, and Donald C. Hambrick. Strategic leadership: Theory and research on executives, top management teams, and boards. New York: Oxford University, 2009.
Carroll, Archie B. “A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Performance”. Academy of Management Review 4, no. 4 (1979): 497–505.
Carter, Suzanne M., and Charles R. Greer. “Strategic Leadership: Values, Styles, and Organizational Performance.” Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 20, no. 4 (2013): 375–393.
Chattopadhyay, Prithviraj, William H. Glick, C. Chet Miller, and George P. Huber. “Determinants of Executive Beliefs: Comparing Functional Conditioning and Social Influence.” Strategic Management Journal 20, no. 8 (1999): 763–790.
Chow, Candice. “The Influence of Executives’ Values on Corporate Responsibility Adoption” (DBA thesis, Henley Business School, 2018).
Colbert, B., D. Wheeler, and R. E. Freeman. “Focusing on Value: Reconciling Corporate Social Responsibility, Stakeholder Theory and Sustainability in a Network World.” Journal of General Management 28, no. 3 (2003): 1–28.
Crane, Andrew. “Corporate Greening as Amoralization.” Organization Studies (Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG.) 21 no. 4 (2000): 673.
Dickson, Marcus W., D. Brent Smith, Michael W. Grojean, and Mark Ehrhart. “An Organizational Climate Regarding Ethics: The Outcome of Leader Values and the Practices that Reflect Them.” The Leadership Quarterly 12, no. 2 (2001): 197–217.
Ditlev-Simonsen, Caroline D., and Atle Midttun. “What Motivates Managers to Pursue Corporate Responsibility? A Survey Among Key Stakeholders.” Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 18, no. 1 (2011): 25–38.
Dodd Jr., E. Merrick. “For Whom are Corporate Managers Trustees.” Harvard Law Review 45 (1931): 1145.
Donaldson, Thomas. Corporations and Morality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982.
Dunphy, Dexter, Suzanne Benn, and Andrew Griffiths. “Setting the Agenda for Corporate Sustainability,” in Organizational change for corporate sustainability, eds. Suzanne Benn, Melissa Edwards, and Tim Williams. (London: Routledge, 2003).
Elizur, Dov, and Abraham Sagie. “Facets of Personal Values: A Structural Analysis of Life and Work Values.” Applied Psychology 48, no. 1 (1999): 73–87.
England, George W. “Personal Value Systems of American Managers.” Academy of Management Journal 10, no. 1 (1967): 53–68.
Ewin, Robert E. “The Moral Status of the Corporation.” Journal of Business Ethics 10, no. 10 (1991): 749–756.
Fassin, Yves. “The Reasons Behind Non-ethical Behaviour in Business and Entrepreneurship.” Journal of Business Ethics 60, no. 3 (2005): 265–279.
Finkelstein, Sydney, and Donald C. Hambrick. “Top-Management-Team Tenure and Organizational Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Managerial Discretion.” Administrative Science Quarterly 35 (1990): 484–503.
Finegan, Joan. “The Impact of Personal Values on Judgments of Ethical Behaviour in the Workplace.” Journal of Business Ethics 13, no. 9 (1994): 747–755.
Friedman, Milton. “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits.” The New York Times, September 13, 1970.
Ghoshal, Sumantra. “Bad Management Theories are Destroying Good Management Practices.” Academy of Management Learning & Education 4, no. 1 (2005): 75–91.
Giddens, Anthony. The Constitution of Theory. (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984).
Goodpaster, Kenneth E., and John B. Matthews. “Can a Corporation have a Conscience.” Harvard Business Review 60, no. 1 (1982): 132–141.
Gorlin, Euginia I., and Reinier Schuur. “Nurturing Our Better Nature: A Proposal for Cognitive Integrity as a Foundation for Autonomous Living.” Behavior Genetics 49 no. 2 (2019): 154–169.
Grojean, Michael W., Christian J. Resick, Marcus W. Dickson, and D. Brent Smith. “Leaders, Values, and Organizational Climate: Examining Leadership Strategies for Establishing an Organizational Climate Regarding Ethics.” Journal of Business Ethics 55, no. 3 (2004): 223–241.
Hahn, Tobias, Frank Figge, Jonatan Pinkse, and Lutz Preuss. “A Paradox Perspective on Corporate Sustainability: Descriptive, Instrumental, and Normative Aspects.” Journal of Business Ethics 148, no. 2 (2018): 235–248.
Hambrick, Donald C., and Phyllis A. Mason. “Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers.” Academy of Management Review 9, no. 2 (1984): 193–206.
Hambrick, Donald C., Sydney Finkelstein, and Ann C. Mooney. “Executive Job Demands: New Insights for Explaining Strategic Decisions and Leader Behaviors.” Academy of Management Review 30, no. 3 (2005): 472–491.
Hartman, Laura P., Patricia H. Werhane, Cynthia E. Clark, Craig V. Vansandt, and Mukesh Sud. “Strategic Global Strategy: The Intersection of General Principles, Corporate Responsibility and Economic Value-Added.” Business and Society Review 122, no. 1 (2017): 71–91.
Hemingway, Christine A., and Patrick W. Maclagan. “Managers’ Personal Values as Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility.” Journal of Business Ethics 50, no. 1 (2004): 33–44.
Hitlin, Steven. “Values as the Core of Personal Identity: Drawing Links between Two Theories of Self.” Social Psychology Quarterly (2003): 118–137.
Hlady-Rispal, Martine, and Vinciane Servantie. “Deconstructing the Way in Which Value is Created in the Context of Social Entrepreneurship.” International Journal of Management Reviews 20, no. 1 (2018): 62–80.
Hofstede, Geert. “Culture and Organizations.” International Studies of Management & Organization 10, no. 4 (1980): 15–41.
Hollensbe, Elaine, Charles Wookey, Loughlin Hickey, Gerard George, and Cardinal Vincent Nichols. “Organizations with Purpose.” Academy of Management Journal 57, no. 5 (2014): 1227–1234.
Huang, Shihping Kevin. “The Impact of CEO Characteristics on Corporate Sustainable Development.” Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 20, no. 4 (2013): 234–244.
Kakabadse, Nada K., Cécile Rozuel, and Andrew Kakabadse. “Environment: Who is Responsible and How to Govern It?” in Corporate Social Responsibility Reconciling Aspiration with Application, eds. Andrew Kakabadse and Mette Morsing. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
Kluckhohn, Clyde. “The Scientific Study of Values,” in University of Toronto Installation Lectures: 3 lectures, eds. Kluckhohn Frye and Wigglesworth. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1958).
Kluckhohn, Florence R., and Fred L. Strodtbeck. Variations in Value Orientations. (Row, Peterson & Co, 1961).
Lincoln, Douglas J., Milton M. Pressley, and Taylor Little. “Ethical Beliefs and Personal Values of Top Level Executives.” Journal of Business Research 10, no. 4 (1982): 475–487.
Locke, Edwin A. “Goal Theory vs. Control theory: Contrasting Approaches to Understanding Work Motivation.” Motivation and Emotion 15, no. 1 (1991): 9–28.
Maio, Gregory, Lindsay Allen, and Mark M. Bernard. “Addressing Discrepancies between Values and Behavior: The Motivating Effect of Reasons.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 37, no. 2 (2001): 104–117
Mazutis, Daina D. “The CEO Effect: A Longitudinal, Multilevel Analysis of the Relationship between Executive Orientation and Corporate Social Strategy.” Business & Society 52, no. 4 (2013): 631–648.
McWilliams, Abagail, and Donald Siegel. “Corporate Social Responsibility: A Theory of the Firm Perspective.” Academy of Management Review 26, no. 1 (2001): 117–127.
Meglino, Bruce M., and Elizabeth C. Ravlin. “Individual Values in Organizations: Concepts, Controversies, and Research.” Journal of Management 24, no. 3 (1998): 351–389.
Melé, Domènec, and Manuel Guillén Parra. “Intellectual Evolution of Strategic Management and Its Relationship with Ethics and Social Responsibility.” Working Paper, IESE Business School, 2006.
Olie, René, Ad van Iterson, and Zeki Simsek. “When do CEOs versus Top Management Teams Matter in Explaining Strategic Decision-Making Processes? Toward an Institutional View of Strategic Leadership Effects.” International Studies of Management & Organization 42, no. 4 (2012): 86–105.
Orlitzky, Marc, Frank L. Schmidt, and Sara L. Rynes. “Corporate Social and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis.” Organization Studies 24, no. 3 (2003): 403–441.
Pant, P. Narayan, and Ran Lachman. “Value Incongruity and Strategic Choice.” Journal of Management Studies 35, no. 2 (1998): 195–212.
Papagiannakis, Giorgos, and Spyros Lioukas. “Values, Attitudes and Perceptions of Managers as Predictors of Corporate Environmental Responsiveness.” Journal of Environmental Management 100 (2012): 41–51.
Posner, Barry Z. “Another Look at the Impact of Personal and Organizational Values Congruency.” Journal of Business Ethics 97, no. 4 (2010): 535–541.
Posner, Barry Z., and Warren H. Schmidt. “Values and the American Manager: An Update.” California Management Review 26, no. 3 (1984): 202–216.
Rokeach, Milton. The Nature of Human Values. (New York: The Free Press and Collier Macmillan, 1973).
Schreck, Philipp. “Reviewing the Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility: New Evidence and Analysis.” Journal of Business Ethics 103, no. 2 (2011): 167.
Schwartz, Shalom H., and Wolfgang Bilsky. “Toward a Universal Psychological Structure of Human Values.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 53, no. 3 (1987): 550.
Schwartz, Shalom H. “An Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values.” Online Readings in Psychology and Culture 2, no. 1 (2012): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1116.
Schwartz, Shalom H. “Are There Universal Aspects in the Structure and Contents of Human Values?.” Journal of Social Issues 50, no. 4 (1994): 19–45.
Schwartz, Shalom H., Jan Cieciuch, Michele Vecchione, Claudio Torres, Ozlem Dirilen-Gumus, and Tania Butenko. “Value Tradeoffs Propel and Inhibit Behavior: Validating the 19 Refined Values in Four Countries.” European Journal of Social Psychology 47, no. 3 (2017): 241–258.
Simon, Charles. Building a Successful Voluntary Culture. (Vermont: J.L. Publishing, 2009).
Singhapakdi, Anusorn, and Scott J. Vitell. “Personal and Professional Values Underlying the Ethical Judgments of Marketers.” Journal of Business Ethics 12, no. 7 (1993): 525–533.
Steg, Linda, Jan Willem Bolderdijk, Kees Keizer, and Goda Perlaviciute. “An Integrated Framework for Encouraging Pro-environmental Behaviour: The Role of Values, Situational Factors and Goals.” Journal of Environmental psychology 38 (2014): 104–115.
Sturm, Rachel E. “Decreasing Unethical Decisions: The Role of Morality-Based Individual Differences.” Journal of Business Ethics 142, no. 1 (2017): 37–57.
Swanson, Diane L. “Toward an Integrative Theory of Business and Society: A Research Strategy for Corporate Social Performance.” Academy of Management Review 24, no. 3 (1999): 506–521.
Tenbrunsel, Ann E., and Kristin Smith-Crowe. “13 Ethical Decision Making: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going.” The Academy of Management Annals 2, no. 1 (2008): 545–607.
“The Global Wealth Report 2019”. Credit SUISSE. Accessed October 30, 2019, https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html.
Trevino, Linda Klebe. “Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactionist Model.” Academy of Management Review 11, no. 3 (1986): 601–617.
Van Marrewijk, Marcel, and Marco Werre. “Multiple Levels of Corporate Sustainability.” Journal of Business Ethics 44, no. 2–3 (2003): 107–119.
Verplanken, Bas, and Rob W. Holland. “Motivated Decision Making: Effects of Activation and Self-Centrality of Values on Choices and Behavior.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82, no. 3 (2002): 434.
Vogel, Ryan M., Jessica B. Rodell, and John W. Lynch. “Engaged and Productive Misfits: How Job Crafting and Leisure Activity Mitigate the Negative Effects of Value Incongruence.” Academy of Management Journal 59, no. 5 (2016): 1561–1584.
Waddock, Sandra. “Integrity and Mindfulness: Foundations of Corporate Citizenship.” Journal of Corporate Citizenship 1 (2001): 25–37.
Waldman, David A., and Donald Siegel. “Defining the Socially Responsible Leader.” The Leadership Quarterly 19, no. 1 (2008): 117–131.
Wiener, Yoash. “Commitment in Organizations: A Normative View.” Academy of Management Review 7, no. 3 (1982): 418–428.
Woodward, Ian, and Samah Shaffakat. “Understanding Values for Insightfully Aware Leadership.” INSEAD Working Papers Collection, no. 2016/05/OBH, 2016, pp. 1–58.
Yin, Juelin. “Institutional Drivers for Corporate Social Responsibility in an Emerging Economy: A Mixed-Method Study of Chinese Business Executives.” Business & Society 56, no. 5 (2017): 672–704.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chow, C.C., Kakabadse, N.K. (2020). Personal Values and Corporate Responsibility Adoption. In: Farache, F., Grigore, G., Stancu, A., McQueen, D. (eds) Values and Corporate Responsibility. Palgrave Studies in Governance, Leadership and Responsibility. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52466-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52466-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-52465-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-52466-1
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)