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In this paper, we take a framing perspective to corporate environmental irresponsibility and focus it on the community of place as one among the most affected, yet rarely examined, stakeholders. In particular, we take a framing microprocess perspective, to study how interactions within a community of place affect a mobilization after corporate environmental irresponsibility. We elicit two framing microprocess, losses display and scale augmentation, and show how they significantly, though differently, affect a mobilization. In so doing, we enrich our understanding of how communities of place mobilize, the types of, and venues, where interactions take place in a community of place—and how these affect a mobilization.

Researchers have endeavoured to explore how hybrid organizations navigate conflicting institutional demands. Yet, the role of time has often been neglected. We address this oversight through a longitudinal comparative case study, where we investigate how time and stakeholder engagement shape hybrid organizations’ capacity to secure support from stakeholders adhering to different logics. Grounding our insights in the literatures on hybrid organizations and stakeholder management, we reveal how stakeholder demands that appear to be incompatible when analysed from a short-term perspective can be seen as paradoxical when addressed with a long-term perspective. We also find that the development of this paradoxical perspective is facilitated by stakeholder engagement. Finally, we show that a long-term perspective helps hybrid organizations manage symbolic and substantive actions with the appropriate sequence and timing. Together, this evidence contributes to research by providing a better understanding of temporality and how it influences the effectiveness of organizations in responding to divergent stakeholder demands.

The different chapters of this book represent a first attempt to acknowledge how ethics influences the antecedents, outcomes, and processes associated with social innovation and social enterprises. In this concluding chapter we elaborate on each chapter’s contributions to suggest some avenues for future research in the fields of social innovation and social enterprises and to reconnect them to broader theoretical research streams. Research in (social) entrepreneurship can investigate how different ethical drivers motivate and shape socially entrepreneurial initiatives; organizational scholars should instead study how different ethical motives influence coordinating mechanisms within social enterprises and in cross-sectoral partnerships. Accounting research can investigate how to measure social impact taking into account the ethical expectations of multiple stakeholders, beneficiaries included. Strategy research can disentangle the ethical challenges and opportunities associated with different scaling strategies of social innovations and social entrepreneurial initiatives. Scholars can also adopt an organizational behavioral perspective to disentangle how ethical values and sense of purpose influence decision making processes in business initiatives aimed at addressing societal problems. While presenting these broad avenues for further research, in this concluding chapter we also suggest specific research questions inspired by the various contributions of this book.

In this introductory chapter, we problematize social enterprises and social innovation as ontological distinct phenomena which, however, have a common ethical ground. We advance that this communality needs to be acknowledged and investigated in order to allow for a holistic and deeper understanding of these phenomena. In particular, we suggest that recognizing the ethical roots of social innovation and social enterprises can favor a deeper understanding of how different ethical paradigms influence the functioning of social enterprises and social innovations, while also shedding new light on the tensions that might emerge when business organizations address in innovative ways deep seated societal problems. Based on this acknowledgement we then introduce the different chapters constituting this book. We summarize each chapter, and emphasize how each of them contributes to a better understanding of the ethical challenges and opportunities associated with social enterprises and social innovation.

Social movement organizations that engage directly in commercial activities face the particular challenge of mobilizing movement activists and commercial actors simultaneously. In a seven-year case study of a Sicilian anti-racket social movement organization that uses commercial activities to combat Mafia racketeering, we show how strategic framing enables such dual mobilization. Our findings show that original anti-racket social movement frames were modified through a process of strategic frame brokerage that incorporated, through interaction, the distributed interpretations of tourists, tourism service providers, and anti-racket activists. As a result of this process, original social movement frames were retained, transformed, or managed through selective referral. We discuss the implications of our findings for research on processes of frame development, social enterprise, and commercialization as a “mobilizing technology” for social movements.

A key challenge for hybrid organizations is managing to recombine the different institutional logics they incorporate while navigating complex, fast-changing environments. To examine how hybrids address this issue, the authors analyze the evolution of the Italian fiscal police – the Guardia di Finanza – from its foundation in 1862. Building on this unique case of a fiscal law enforcement agency that incorporates public fiscal and military logics, the authors propose that hybrid organizations can integrate the different logics they incorporate on the basis of four mechanisms. The mechanisms of upward and downward vertical integration trigger the integration of different logics throughout the entire organization. Integrated horizontal task extension and integrated horizontal competency extension enable an organization to manage a broader range of tasks while it develops the competencies that environmental complexity demands. These four mechanisms interact and, when properly managed, reinforce each other. With this chapter, the authors contribute to research on the processual nature of organizational hybridity and to broader research on the role of structures and competencies in dealing with environmental complexity.

The lack of suitable feeds for echinoculture has led to use natural resources already widely exploited by human activities. To move towards a higher sustainability of echinoculture, this study proposes a sustainable feed for Paracentrotus lividus. Two experimental formulations were obtained using discarded endive (Cichorium endivia) leaves and anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) industry discards in different proportions, and agar as a binder. The evaluation of the feed stability showed that the feed was stable for 72hr, allowing a suitable feeding for sea urchins. Both formulations showed a proper nutritional value and fatty acid profile, corresponding to the features of the main ingredients and resulting suitable for echinoculture. A bioenergetic trial was carried out to measure daily ingestion rate, absorption efficiency and gonado-somatic index in sea urchins. They resulted also palatable and well absorbed by sea urchins, especially that one with higher fish content. At the end of the experiment, an increase in gonado-somatic index was also recorded. Despite further analysis is needed to assess the performance of the feed in terms of gonad yield and quality, these encouraging results indicate that food industry discards may be suitable alternative ingredients for the production of sustainable feeds for sea urchin aquaculture.

In this study, we investigate how different internal and external stakeholders influence the innovation strategy of a social enterprise to adopt product, process, and partnership innovations that impact either social or commercial performance. Relying on survey data from a sample of work integration social enterprises, we find that in situations of turbulence, administrative leaders do not significantly influence the innovation strategy of a social enterprise. Instead, board members and external stakeholders seem to play a role. Our study contributes to strategic and business ethics research on social enterprises and, more broadly, to the literature that explores how business organizations combine social value creation and wealth generation.

Development of sustainable aquaculture practices is a suitable solution to reduce the pressure on overexploited stocks of the Mediterranean sea urchin, Paracentrotus lividus, and to respond to the increasing market demand. To move forward the Blue Growth and following the principles of circular economy, a three-month feeding experiment was conducted to test a sustainable feed based on food processing discards on sea urchins. Two feed formulations differing on the proportions of the two main ingredients (endive outermost leaves and European anchovy discards in a ratio of 60:40 and 80:20 respectively) were prepared and tested on P. lividus gonad yield, development and quality. The results were compared with those of wild sea urchins to assess the differences with natural patterns. Both feed formulations promoted gonad growth resulting in a significantly higher percentage increase in gonad biomass compared with wild specimens (490%, 330% and 78% increase in gonad weight in the feed 60/40, 80/20 and wild sea urchins respectively). Similarly, GSI of reared sea urchins varied by about 3–12% and 14% for sea urchins fed with feeds 80/20 and 60/40 respectively, while that found in wild sea urchins varied by about 3–5%. Gonad development was also boosted by the provision of the sustainable feed, as sexual maturation was faster in reared specimens than in wild ones. At the end of the trial, reared sea urchins showed also a very high (> 90%) frequency of marketable gonad colour. Lastly, the formulation with a more balanced vegetal/animal ratio (feed 60/40) gave the best results overall, combining the highest GSI and the best gonad colouration. Outcomes of this study confirm the suitability of food processing discards as ingredients for sea urchin feeds, although further research is needed to evaluate the effects on nutritional quality and organoleptic features of sea urchin gonads.

Small-sized specimens (test diameter: 16.64 ± 0.93 mm, mean ± SE) of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus were fed with fresh discards of the lettuce Lactuca sativa during a 24-week experiment in a sea-based system. At the end of the experiment, stock survival was high (88.8 ± 6.6%). Sea urchin test diameter and total weight grew by 35% and 56%, respectively, while gonad somatic index, after an initial decrease, increased by 3.2%. Moreover, more than 90% of specimens achieved the gonad colour that the market demands. These results support the exploitation of L. sativa as the main ingredient in a manufactured diet for echinoculture of P. lividus. Employing diets formulated with discard ingredients, combined with a low-cost sea-based rearing system, could be a suitable approach for sustainable management of echinoculture.

This paper explores how organizations dealing with institutional complexity manage internal tensions triggered by environmental turbulence. Based on a longitudinal, comparative study, we extend previous research that has identified collaboration and formalization as possible mechanisms to reconcile organizational tensions in such situations. We show that neither of these mechanisms is sufficient in itself to resolve tensions. Rather, it is the structured interaction between collaboration and formalization that allows organizations to successfully blend logics and reconcile their conflicting demands. On the basis of our findings, we develop a process model that explains how organizations change in response to environmental turbulence.

This study explores social enterprises’ strategies for addressing mission drift. Relying on an inductive comparative case study of two Italian social enterprises, we show how stakeholder engagement combined with social accounting can successfully support a social venture to re-balance its positioning between wealth generation and social value creation. Indeed, stakeholder engagement helps the internal actors of a social enterprise to rationalize and embody pro-social values previously abandoned, while social accounting reinforces this embodiment process by showing the reintroduced social commitment of the social enterprise to external audiences. Conversely, strategies focused only on social accounting and without significant engagement of external stakeholders prove to be unsuccessful in counterbalancing mission drift because they fail to activate the necessary process of internal re-introduction and operationalization of pro-social values and objectives.

In this paper, we explore the empirical phenomenon of large multinational corporations (MNCs) acquiring socially oriented enterprises, such as the Unilever–Ben & Jerry’s, and the L`Oréal-The Body Shop takeovers. When focusing on these cases, we argue that variance in organisational identity orientations, as the dominant logic of managers within the acquiring organisations, determines whether MNCs consider the transaction not only in financial terms, but also decide to adopt “social technology” in the form of CSR-related organisational practices from the acquired unit. We argue that in turn based on a “match” with the organisational identity of the acquired unit, managers will opt to adopt CSR practices more fully or selectively, and in more substantial or symbolic ways. With these propositional arguments we not only aim to contribute to the literature on CSR adoption by MNCs, but we also set out to develop theory on the widespread but so far undocumented phenomenon of MNCs “buying CSR” by acquiring socially oriented enterprises.

We use experiments in high schools in two neighborhoods in the metropolitan area of Palermo, Italy to experimentally support the argument that the historical informal institution of organized crime can undermine current institutions, even in religiously and ethnically homogeneous populations. Using trust and prisoner's dilemma games, we found that students in a neighborhood with high Mafia involvement exhibit lower generalized trust and trustworthiness, but higher in-group favoritism, with punishment norms failing to resolve these deficits. Our study suggests that a culture of organized crime can affect adolescent norms and attitudes that might support a vicious cycle of in-group favoritism and crime that in turn hinders economic development.

Este artículo contiene 8 páginas, 4 figuras., Experiments have shown that increasing dissolved CO2 concentrations (i.e. Ocean Acidification, OA) in marine ecosystems may act as nutrient for primary producers (e.g. fleshy algae) or a stressor for calcifying species (e.g., coralline algae, corals, molluscs). For the first time, rapid habitat dominance shifts and altered competitive replacement from a reef-forming to a non-reef-forming biogenic habitat were documented over one-year exposure to low pH/high CO2 through a transplant experiment off Vulcano Island CO2 seeps (NE Sicily, Italy). Ocean acidification decreased vermetid reefs complexity via a reduction in the reef-building species density, boosted canopy macroalgae and led to changes in composition, structure and functional diversity of the associated benthic assemblages. OA effects on invertebrate richness and abundance were nonlinear, being maximal at intermediate complexity levels of vermetid reefs and canopy forming algae. Abundance of higher order consumers (e.g. carnivores, suspension feeders) decreased under elevated CO2 levels. Herbivores were non-linearly related to OA conditions, with increasing competitive release only of minor intertidal grazers (e.g. amphipods) under elevated CO2 levels. Our results support the dual role of CO2 (as a stressor and as a resource) in disrupting the state of rocky shore communities, and raise specific concerns about the future of intertidal reef ecosystem under increasing CO2 emissions. We contribute to inform predictions of the complex and nonlinear community effects of OA on biogenic habitats, but at the sametime encourage the use ofmultiple natural CO2 gradients in providing quantitative data on changing community responses to long-term CO2 exposure., This work contributes to the University of Palermo FFR-A project and the EU-FP7 MedSeA project (grant agreement no. 265103) to M.M.

Building on previous research on the collaborative root of corruption, we propose and conclude that people cheat more when they collaborate with another person in comparison with an artificial inte...

This paper analyzes the case of Made in Carcere, an innovative social enterprise providing jobs to one of the most marginalized groups in society: convicted women. Relying on an extensive database that covers 8 years of activity, we propose a micro-level analysis of the processes adopted by Made in Carcere to foster the integral human development of convicted women, its target stakeholders. We show that this complex effort has successfully unfolded through two macro-processes: creating a safe space for experimentation and allowing convicted women to bridge their experience to the outside reality. Our work provides evidence of an organization that successfully confronts the restrictive and dehumanizing setting of prisons by means of market mechanisms that can foster convicted women’s integral human development.

Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) were transplanted from a reference site (Syracuse harbour) to an impacted site (Augusta Bay) from January to July 2013 to assess the biochemical response of caged mus- sels to high trace element and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contamination, using lipid and fatty acid (FA) biomarkers. Sediment and mussels were analysed to assess contaminant bioavailability in the study sites and bioaccumulation in mussel tissue. Trace elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, Zn) and PAHs were significantly higher in mussels from Augusta than in those from Syracuse, mirror- ing the different environmental contamination. The biological impact quotient (BIQs), which indicates the potential biological impact of mussel-accumulated contaminants, reflected the highest contaminant concentrations found in Augusta and their temporal trend, which increased from the start of the exper- iment to 3–4 months after transplanting, followed by a decrease, as indication of mussel detoxification processes. Lower condition index (CI) and phospholipids (PL), as well as higher total (TL) and neutral lipids (NL) in mussels from Augusta, indicated the occurrence of a physiological and biochemical stress response to pollutant exposure and accumulation. Differences in FA composition, especially polyunsat- urated (PUFA), essential (EFA) and non-methylene interrupted dienoic (NMID) FAs between the study sites revealed the occurrence of stress-induced lipid peroxidation, followed by compensatory/adaptive processes in Augusta mussels. The marked increase in bacterial biomarkers, mainly cyclopropyl (CY) FAs, reflecting the greater bioaccumulation of chemicals in the Augusta mussels, may be the result of bacterial infections or symbiosis with bacteria involved in detoxification processes.

Institutions that are controlled by organized crime are particularly change resistant. Sicilian society, for instance, has been dominated by the Mafia for more than 150 years, and our paper present...

Anticipated verbal feedback in a dictator game has been shown to induce altruistic behavior. However, in the ultimatum game which, apart from generosity, entails a strategic component since a proposer may (rightly) fear that the responder will reject a low offer, it remains an open question whether anticipated verbal communication can be effective in increasing offers. We implement a between-subjects experimental design in the ultimatum game with strategy method manipulating the form of anticipated verbal communication (no communication, one-sided communication from proposers and two-sided communication) and find that offers are significantly higher in the presence of anticipated two-sided communication. However, anticipated one-sided communication from proposers has no effect on offers, suggesting, as found in previous studies, that it is the anticipation of feedback that is relevant.

The empowerment of marginalized individuals implies solutions both affecting the conditions which impede self-determination and stimulating the individuals to take choices. In Italy, for instance, ...

WOS:000346891200002 (Nº de Acesso Web of Science) Business firms have been explained as internal markets or as communities. To be sustainable, however, they need to reconcile these two constituting elements that have mainly been touted as opposite and part of a dualistic relationship. We suggest that organizations may, in alternative, view market and community as part of a duality, interdependent and mutually constituting processes that may not only contradict each other but also enable one another. The implications of a duality view for business ethics, which articulates market and community elements in a fruitful, mutually enabling relationship, are considered, and duality is presented as a way of transcending what is commonly viewed as opposition, moving organizations both in the direction of humane and competitive finalities

This article analyzes the issue of organizational transparency through the lens of Thomas Aquinas’ ethics. It provides moral justification for current claims about corporate transparency and sheds light on the ethical values and virtues affecting information disclosure decisions. Transparency is conceptualized as an informational mechanism necessary for performing the virtues of truthfulness, justice, and prudence. This article extends the organizational transparency and corporate social responsibility literatures by providing an alternative moral justification grounded in virtue-based theory, which extends our understanding of the information disclosure decisions made by management.

The behavioural deficit of hatchery reared (HR) fish used for stock enhancement is the main cause of their low survival in the wild. In this study the effects of predator and shelter conditioning on survival and dispersal of HR white seabream ( Diplodus sargus ) released at sea were investigated. The hypotheses were that conditioned white seabream would avoid predators more efficiently and would be more capable to shelter, showing higher survival and smaller dispersal than naive fish. Six thousand HR white seabream (6.32 ± 0.93 cm total length) were allocated in twelve plastic tanks and divided in four experimental groups: three groups were conditioned with a predator, a refuge or both, while one group was left unconditioned and used as a control. The conditioning phase lasted 30 days and was conducted using live conger eels as predators and pyramids of perforated bricks as refuges. Flight initiation distance (FID) and time to shelter (TS) were used as response variables to test the effects of conditioning in the arena, using a dummy conger eel. The effect of conditioning on post-release survival and dispersal was assessed through the monitoring of 1465 tagged seabream belonging to the four experimental groups, released at sea. Underwater visual census was used as monitoring technique. The sighting rate (SR) (sighted fish / released fish × 100) and the distance ( D ) of each sighted fish from the release site were used as proxies for post-release survival and dispersion, respectively. In the arena, conditioned seabream showed significantly higher FID and lower TS than naive fish. At sea, the estimated post-release survival of conditioned seabreams (SR = 9.4%) was almost twice as much as that of naive individuals (SR = 5.5%). The dispersal of HR seabream acclimated to refuges from the release site ( D = 2.4 ± 3.1 km) resulted lower than in naive fish ( D = 3.7 ± 4 km). This study indicates that predator and shelter conditioning of HR white seabream is an effective practise to increase their post-release survival at sea, and our findings provide support for effective stock enhancement initiatives.

This article presents the results of the longitudinal study of Addiopizzo, a successful anti-bribery organization founded in Sicily in 2004. It analyzes how this organization has used information disclosure as a strategy to fight adverse environmental conditions and the immoral activities of the Sicilian Mafia. This article extends the business ethics and corporate social responsibility literature by showing how multi-level strategic information disclosure processes can help gain organizational legitimacy in adverse social environments and successfully fight against social resistance to change, low levels of moral imagination and attacks from criminal organizations. This article provides an additional contribution to the literature by linking the three research streams on corporate transparency, the fight against corruption, and organizational legitimacy. The results of this research also contribute to the special issue of the EBEN AC 2010, "Which values for which organizations", since it provides a unique example of an organization capable of spreading the values of social justice and honesty in a difficult social environment plagued by Mafia.

This paper investigates the ethical issues surrounding the concept of Internet neutrality focusing specifically on the correlation between neutrality and fairness. Moving from an analysis of the many available definitions of Internet neutrality and the heterogeneity of the Internet infrastructure, the common assumption that a neutral Internet is also a fair Internet is challenged. It is argued that a properly neutral Internet supports undesirable situations in which few users can exhaust the majority of the available resources or in which specific types of applications and services cannot be developed or properly deployed. The solution offered to these shortcomings is based on (1) an environmental approach to the Internet, (2) the four guiding principles of Floridi’s Information Ethics and (3) a principle called ‘Information Diversity’. The paper is divided into six sections. Section 1 briefly presents the debate concerning the concepts of network and Internet neutrality. Section 2 poses a general and unifying definition of Internet neutrality based on the critical assessment of several domain-specific approaches to the problem of neutrality. Section 3 is dedicated to the analysis of the relationship between Internet neutrality and the ethical principle of fairness. Section 4 introduces Floridi’s Information Ethics, the definition of Information Diversity and an analysis of how they can be used to address the limitations of Internet neutrality. Section 5 summarises the ethics of Internet neutrality and Information Diversity defining their relationship. Section 6 reviews the arguments presented in the paper clarifying the foundational role played by Information Diversity and Information Ethics in Internet policy-making activity.

Transparency in business and society is one of the challenges raised in the encyclical Caritas in Veritate by Benedict XVI. This paper focuses on the issue by extending the literature on business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and corporate transparency in two dimensions. First, it reviews the understanding and framing of the transparency issue in Caritas in Veritate and in a selection of relevant Catholic Social Teaching (CST) publications. Second, this paper provides normative indications for corporate transparency decisions which reflect four permanent principles of CST, that is, the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, and respect for the human being. Inasmuch as human beings are worthy of love for their own sakes, the dimension of gift should always be present in relationships among them. This paper also provides insights for further studies on corporate transparency and the impact of religion on business ethics and corporate social responsibility.

Much of the ethical debate on peer-to-peer (P2P) focuses on the use of this technology for unauthorized and illegal sharing of copyrighted materials. This fixation has led some to believe that P2P is an intrinsically unethical technology. However, P2P has a much wider significance than the unauthorized circulation of copyrighted material. Scholars therefore need to evaluate the global ethical effects of P2P architecture on society, as opposed to focusing on the specific implementations of this architecture. Several criteria have been proposed for the assessment of these implications, ranging from the effects of P2P on the technological progress of a society to its influence on the development of virtuous interactions. This article contributes to this debate by presenting a new approach, which distinguishes between local effects (content related) and systemic effects (communication modality related) of the use of P2P and focuses on the latter. Employing Floridi's information ethics, it considers whether or not P2P is an ethical technology, in a global sense.

This paper contributes to the debate on online trust addressing the problem of whether an online environment satisfies the necessary conditions for the emergence of trust. The paper defends the thesis that online environments can foster trust, and it does so in three steps. Firstly, the arguments proposed by the detractors of online trust are presented and analysed. Secondly, it is argued that trust can emerge in uncertain and risky environments and that it is possible to trust online identities when they are diachronic and sufficient data are available to assess their reputation. Finally, a definition of trust as a second-order property of first-order relation is endorsed in order to present a new definition of online trust. According to such a definition, online trust is an occurrence of trust that specifically qualifies the relation of communication ongoing among individuals in digital environments. On the basis of this analysis, the paper concludes by arguing that online trust promotes the emergence of social behaviours rewarding honest and transparent communications.

The business value of information technology is an enduring research question. This research provides new insights to better understand the mechanisms supporting this relation by analyzing the impact of knowledge management tools (KMTs) on the performances of business units involved in inter-firm collaborative innovation projects. We extend current literature by developing and empirically testing a model where: (1) the use of KMTs is affected by critical organizational variables, (2) KMTs can impact the innovation and financial performances of business units. We find that mutual trust and culture for change do not affect the extent of the use of KMTs, while collaborative experience and naturalness in using ICTs as substitutive of face-to-face contacts have a significant impact. Moreover, we show that a more intense use of KMTs has a direct positive effect on new product performance and speed to market, as well as on financial performance. Yet, only new product performance acts as an indirect conduit linking KMT use and financial performances. This article provides a discussion and perspectives of further research concerning the impact of KMTs on innovation practices in inter-firm collaborative environments.

In this paper we explore how adaptations in organizational structures can enable a hybridization process. We provide a longitudinal investigation of the evolution of the structural arrangements and...

This paper studies how problem framing by research and development groups, in particular the extent of problem decomposition, impacts knowledge replication processes conducted through the use of virtual simulation tools (VSTs). It presents the results of a comparative study of two research and development groups working on the design of hybrid propulsion systems. The research contributes to the literature on strategy and innovation in four ways. First, we identify three organizational and strategic factors affecting the problem framing decision. Second, we analyse the impact of problem framing on the use of VSTs and the related effect on knowledge replication processes. Third, we show the emergence of a new VST-driven knowledge replication process, i.e. functional replication. Fourth, we explain how VST-driven knowledge replication processes can attenuate the dangers related to the adoption of modular design strategies and address the replication vs. imitation dilemma.

How can firms support their customers' collaborative, social responsibility initiatives - and especially pro-environmental, firm-customer collaborations? Does corporate transparency affect customers' willingness to undertake pro-environmental collaborative programs? This study addresses these questions in relation to the US residential electricity market. It focuses on the impact of customers' perceptions of the utility's degree of transparency and on the willingness to engage in pro-environmental behavior (PEB) related to electricity consumption. The responses of 1257 interviewees from US households to questions related to their electricity suppliers are analyzed through structural equation models (SEMs) using latent variables. Results show that customers' perceptions of an electricity utility's transparency affect their willingness to collaborate in environmental programs, and that the degree of perceived transparency of the utility is related to customers' environmental awareness.

Pushing through a logical continuum of closed- to open-system views of organizations necessarily changes the conceptualization of a firm from a strongly bounded entity to a configuration of networks and sub-networks, which exists and operates in a larger systemic network configuration. We unfold a classification of management processes corresponding to views of the firm along the closed/open-systems continuum. We examine ethical issues that are likely to devolve from these classes of management processes, and we suggest typical means by which managers will attempt to control their firms’ exposure to such issues. The final class of management processes examined focuses on the achievement of outcomes that are mutually satisfactory in the set of networks and sub-networks that constitute the focal firm, and that support the sustainability of the whole system. The article contributes to organizational theory, business ethics, and computer and information ethics by providing a comprehensive analysis of the impact of managerial views of the firm and of networks – virtual, social, informational – on managerial processes and on our understanding of how business ethics issues are linked to perceptions of what a firm is, does, and can do.

This special issue on network ethics offers 15 scholarly articles from a variety of disciplines and fields of study, all aimed at exploring some important aspect of how networks develop, enact, and enforce ethical norms. The articles are ordered according to the levels of analysis each deals with, ranging from the cognitive/intra- personal to the systemic/societal. Taken together, these articles provide a fresh look at how networks are changing the way business is done and the way we think about ethics.

This paper analyzes the opportunities offered by information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the related ethical issues, within the transparency practices of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Based upon a one-year study of a European NGO, the Italian Association of Blind People, it presents compelling empirical evidence concerning the main ethical, social and economic challenges that NGOs face in the development of more transparent relationships with the public and the related role of ICTs, in particular, the organization's website. This study shows that, although the attempt to be completely transparent has great ethical value, ICT-enabled information disclosure is limited by privacy and security concerns and by pressure from financial supporters and benefactors and potential NGO competitors who vie for grants and donations. The paper provides some implications and suggestions for managers of NGOs and policy makers.

The term "corporate transparency" is frequently used in scholarly discussions of business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR); however, it remains a volatile and imprecise term, often defined incompletely as "information disclosure" accomplished through standardized reporting. Based on the results of empirical studies of organizational behaviors, this paper identifies a new set of managerial practices based on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and particularly Internet-based tools. These practices are resulting in what can be termed "dynamic transparency." ICT allows for an informational environment characterized by two-way exchange between corporations and their stakeholders, which fosters a more collaborative marketplace. It is proposed that such dynamic information sharing, conducted by means of ICT, drives organizations to display greater openness and accountability, and more transparent operations, which benefit both the corporations and their constituents. One of the most important outcomes that will accrue to consumers and other individuals is the "right to know," especially about corporate strategies and activities that might directly affect their quality of life. This paper demonstrates that dynamic transparency is more desirable and more effective than the more common "static transparency" where firms' information disclosure is one-way, usually in response to government regulation. We present three ethical arguments to justify the implementation by business firms of dynamic transparency and demonstrate that their doing so is related to CSR and to augment and complement stakeholder engagement and dialogue. The paper concludes with a summary of the possible limits to and the problems involved in the implementation of dynamic transparency for corporations, and suggests some strategies to counter them.

This study evaluated the exploitation of unprocessed agricultural discards in the form of fresh vegetable leaves as a diet for the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus through the assessment of their effects on gonad yield and quality. A stock of wild-caught P. lividus was fed on discarded leaves from three different species (Beta vulgaris, Brassica oleracea, and Lactuca sativa) and the macroalga Ulva lactuca for 3 months under controlled conditions. At the beginning and end of the experiment, total and gonad weight were measured, while gonad and diet total carbon (C%), nitrogen (N%), δ13C, δ15N, carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins were analyzed. The results showed that agricultural discards provided for the maintenance of gonad index and nutritional value (carbohydrate, lipid, and protein content) of initial specimens. L. sativa also improved gonadic color. The results of this study suggest that fresh vegetable discards may be successfully used in the preparation of more balanced diets for sea urchin aquaculture. The use of agricultural discards in prepared diets offers a number of advantages, including an abundant resource, the recycling of discards into new organic matter, and reduced pressure on marine organisms (i.e., macroalgae) in the production of food for cultured organisms.

Analyses of fatty acids from the dorsal muscle of Acipenser naccarii × A. baerii sturgeon hybrid were carried out. The data were compared with those reported in the literature for other sturgeons reared for human consumption. This hybrid would seem to be of great nutritional interest, its flesh being more beneficial for human health than those of other cultured sturgeons. In fact, the level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) was very high (34.7 ± 0.67%), being similar to that of monounsaturated fatty acids (37.9 ± 0.83%). Moreover, the PUFAs- n 3/PUFAs- n 6 ratio (6.74) was noticeably higher in this hybrid than in the other cultured sturgeon species. There were also high contents of EPA (C20:5 n 3) and DHA (C22:6 n 3), the two most important essential fatty acids for human health. The linolenic acid (C18:3 n 3) is the metabolic precursor of the PUFAs- n 3, and it is important also in human metabolism. In A. naccarii × A. baerii hybrid we found higher C18:3 n 3 values than in other sturgeon species cultured for commercial purposes.