IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/214273.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Board-level codetermination: A driving force for corporate social responsibility in German companies?

Author

Listed:
  • Scholz, Robert
  • Vitols, Sigurt

Abstract

We examine the relationship between board-level codetermination and corporate social responsibility in German companies, engaging with two distinct literatures. Most quantitative studies of codetermination focus on its economic impact, with little attention to other outcomes. Studies of corporate social responsibility rarely consider the role of worker representatives. Our new measure of the strength of codetermination, the Mitbestimmungsindex (MB-ix), shows a positive relationship with ‘substantive’ policies such as the adoption of targets for reducing pollution, but not with ‘symbolic’ policies, such as membership of the UN Global Compact. We therefore shed new light on the role of codetermination and provide a more differentiated view of the spread of what has been termed ‘explicit’ corporate social responsibility in Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Scholz, Robert & Vitols, Sigurt, 2019. "Board-level codetermination: A driving force for corporate social responsibility in German companies?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 25(3), pages 233-246.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:214273
    DOI: 10.1177/0959680119830566
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/214273/1/Full-text-article-Scholz-et-al-Board-level-codetermination.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0959680119830566?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geraint Harvey & Andy Hodder & Stephen Brammer, 2017. "Trade union participation in CSR deliberation: an evaluation," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 42-55, January.
    2. Scholz, Robert & Vitols, Sigurt, 2016. "Der Mitbestimmungsindex MB-ix," Mitbestimmungsreport 22, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    3. Uwe Jirjahn, 2011. "Ökonomische Wirkungen der Mitbestimmung in Deutschland: Ein Update," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 131(1), pages 3-57.
    4. Kinderman, Daniel & Lutter, Mark, 2018. "Explaining the growth of CSR within OECD countries: The role of institutional legitimacy in resolving the institutional mirror vs. substitute debate," MPIfG Discussion Paper 18/2, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. S. Sethi & Donald Schepers, 2014. "United Nations Global Compact: The Promise–Performance Gap," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(2), pages 193-208, June.
    6. Scholz, Robert & Vitols, Sigurt, 2018. "Der MB-IX in börsennotierten Unternehmen: Verankerung der Mitbestimmung im letzten Jahrzehnt," Mitbestimmungsreport 43, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    7. Laura Schons & Maria Steinmeier, 2016. "Walk the Talk? How Symbolic and Substantive CSR Actions Affect Firm Performance Depending on Stakeholder Proximity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(6), pages 358-372, November.
    8. Gregory Jackson & Androniki Apostolakou, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Western Europe: An Institutional Mirror or Substitute?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(3), pages 371-394, July.
    9. Giertz, Jan-Paul & Scholz, Robert, 2018. "Strategische Personalarbeit ohne eigenständigen Personalvorstand?," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 71(2), pages 140-149.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simon Jäger & Benjamin Schoefer & Jörg Heining, 2021. "Labor in the Boardroom," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(2), pages 669-725.
    2. Anna Shevyakova & Eleonorа Munsh & Malika Arystan, 2019. "Towards diversification of the economy of Kazakhstan via information support for the tourism industry," Insights into Regional Development, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 1(2), pages 138-154, June.
    3. Chyz, James A. & Eulerich, Marc & Fligge, Benjamin & Romney, Miles A., 2023. "Codetermination and aggressive reporting: Audit committee employee representation, tax aggressiveness, and earnings management," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    4. Laszlo Goerke, 2022. "Trade unions and corporate social responsibility," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(1), pages 177-203, March.
    5. Vitols, Sigurt, 2021. "Board Level Employee Representation and Tax Avoidance in Europe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Ahead-of-, pages 1-1.
    6. Andrea Bernardi, 2019. "Using the capability approach and organizational climate to study occupational health and safety," Post-Print hal-02163019, HAL.
    7. Vitols Sigurt, 2023. "Board Level Employee Representation and Tax Avoidance in Europe," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 13(4), pages 457-478, November.
    8. Scholz, Robert, 2021. "Labour in the Board and Good Work: How to Measure and Evidence From Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 219-243.
    9. Andrea Bernardi, 2019. "Using the capability approach and organizational climate to study occupational health and safety," Insights into Regional Development, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 1(2), pages 155-170, June.
    10. Gregorič, Aleksandra, 2022. "Board-level worker representation," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1136, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Laszlo Goerke & Nora Paulus, 2024. "Collective Bargaining about Corporate Social Responsibility," IAAEU Discussion Papers 202401, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Scholz, Robert & Vitols, Sigurt, 2018. "Co-determination: A driving force for corporate social responsibility in German companies?," Discussion Papers, Research Group Globalization, Work, and Production SP III 2018-304, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    2. Scholz, Robert, 2017. "Der MB-ix und "Gute Arbeit" - Was wir messen können: Wirkungen der Mitbestimmung auf Personalstruktur und Arbeitsbedingungen," Mitbestimmungsreport 32, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    3. Elisa Giuliani & Federica Nieri & Andrea Vezzulli, 2019. "BEST IN CLASS BUT BIG WRONGDOERS: Exploring the financial performance and human rights infringe ments nexus in large emerging country companies," Discussion Papers 2019/250, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    4. Khine Kyaw & Mojisola Olugbode & Barbara Petracci, 2017. "The Role of the Institutional Framework in the Relationship between Earnings Management and Corporate Social Performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(6), pages 543-554, November.
    5. Gregory Jackson & Virginia Doellgast & Lucio Baccaro, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Labour Standards: Bridging Business Management and Employment Relations Perspectives," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 3-13, March.
    6. Weisheng Lu & Meng Ye & K.W. Chau & Roger Flanagan, 2018. "The paradoxical nexus between corporate social responsibility and sustainable financial performance: Evidence from the international construction business," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5), pages 844-852, September.
    7. Francesca Conte & Agostino Vollero & Claudia Covucci & Alfonso Siano, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility penetration, explicitness, and symbolic communication practices in Asia: A national business system exploration of leading firms in sustainability," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1425-1435, May.
    8. Mavis Adu-Gyamfi & Zheng He & Gabriel Nyame & Seth Boahen & Michelle Frempomaa Frempong, 2021. "Effects of Internal CSR Activities on Social Performance: The Employee Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-28, June.
    9. Alan Bandeira Pinheiro & Gabriel Gusso Mazzo & Gabriele da Cunha Lopes & Manuel Castelo Branco, 2023. "A Bird’s Eye View: Uncovering the Impact of Stakeholder Pressure on Sustainable Development Goal Disclosure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-15, November.
    10. Uwe JIRJAHN & Stephen C. SMITH, 2018. "Nonunion Employee Representation: Theory And The German Experience With Mandated Works Councils," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(1), pages 201-233, March.
    11. Rapp, Marc Steffen & Wolff, Michael & Hennig, Jan C. & Udoieva, Iuliia, 2019. "Mitbestimmung im Aufsichtsrat und ihre Wirkung auf die Unterenhmensführung: Eine empirische Analyse vor dem Hintergrund der Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise," Study / edition der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf, volume 127, number 424, June.
    12. Al-Shaer, Habiba & Uyar, Ali & Kuzey, Cemil & Karaman, Abdullah S., 2023. "Do shareholders punish or reward excessive CSR engagement? Moderating effect of cash flow and firm growth," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    13. Ali Uyar & Simone Pizzi & Fabio Caputo & Cemil Kuzey & Abdullah S. Karaman, 2022. "Do shareholders reward or punish risky firms due to CSR reporting and assurance?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1596-1620, July.
    14. Eduardo Ortas & Isabel Gallego‐Álvarez & Igor Álvarez, 2019. "National institutions, stakeholder engagement, and firms' environmental, social, and governance performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(3), pages 598-611, May.
    15. Wei Li & Weining Li & Veikko Seppänen & Timo Koivumäki, 2022. "How and when does perceived greenwashing affect employees' job performance? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1722-1735, September.
    16. Anthony Goerzen & Michael Sartor & Kristin Brandl & Stacey Fitzsimmons, 2023. "Widening the lens: Multilevel drivers of firm corporate social performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(1), pages 42-60, February.
    17. Adijati Utaminingsih & Sony Heru Priyanto & John J.O.I. Ihalauw & Linda Kusuma, 2020. "Green Business Behaviour, Green Technologies, and Sustainability in SMEs," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(1), pages 417-424.
    18. Elbasha, Tamim & Avetisyan, Emma, 2018. "A framework to study strategizing activities at the field level: The example of CSR rating agencies," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 38-46.
    19. Pei Sun & Jonathan P. Doh & Tazeeb Rajwani & Donald Siegel, 2021. "Navigating cross-border institutional complexity: A review and assessment of multinational nonmarket strategy research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(9), pages 1818-1853, December.
    20. Heloïse Berkowitz & Marcelo Bucheli & Hervé Dumez, 2017. "Collectively Designing CSR Through Meta-Organizations: A Case Study of the Oil and Gas Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(4), pages 753-769, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:214273. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.