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Ethics Trumps Culture? A Cross-National Study of Business Leader Responsibility for Downsizing and CSR Perceptions

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  • C. Lakshman
  • Aarti Ramaswami
  • Ruth Alas
  • Jean Kabongo
  • J. Rajendran Pandian

Abstract

Downsizing remains a topic of great interest to both academics and practitioners. Yet, the impact of layoff decisions on perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has hardly been studied. We examine the impact of responsibility of business leaders making these layoff decisions, and characteristics of the downsizing implementation on convergence and divergence in (1) CSR perceptions, (2) victims’ perceptions of fairness, and (3) survivor commitment, in four countries. Using an experimental design, sixteen scenarios were distributed to (1) 163 managers in Estonia, (2) 152 MBA students in India and 125 MBA students in France, and (3) 186 (non-traditional) undergraduate students in the USA. Results suggest that when top managers are attributed with the responsibility for downsizing, the resulting perceptions of CSR are negative. A similar pattern of results is obtained for victims’ perceptions of fairness and survivor commitment. In addition, although there are differences in effect-size based on differences in power distance, these results hold good (are similar) across the four countries, from four different society clusters. We discuss implications, limitations, and future research directions. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • C. Lakshman & Aarti Ramaswami & Ruth Alas & Jean Kabongo & J. Rajendran Pandian, 2014. "Ethics Trumps Culture? A Cross-National Study of Business Leader Responsibility for Downsizing and CSR Perceptions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 101-119, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:125:y:2014:i:1:p:101-119
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1907-8
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    1. Kihun Kim & Zulfiquer Ali Haider & Zhenyu Wu & Junsheng Dou, 2020. "Corporate Social Performance of Family Firms: A Place-Based Perspective in the Context of Layoffs," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 235-252, November.
    2. Joana Margarida Sequeira Neto & Etienne Mullet, 2018. "Perceived Acceptability of Organizational Layoffs and Job Alliances During a Recession: A Mapping of Portuguese People’s Views," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1149-1157, November.
    3. Lakshman Chandrashekhar & Linh Chi Vo & Rani S. Ladha, 2015. "Equity Portfolio Incentives to CEOs for Downsizing: Differential impacts on survivors vs. victims in three countries," Working papers 169, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.

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