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In this article, we apply a distributed perspective on leadership to the study of co-responsibility and social sustainability in corporate volunteering. An approach to leadership as a distributed and collective phenomenon, in which leadership is shared, is highlighted as a method of developing a more responsible and people-focused approach to sustainability. Co-responsibility highlights the transition from individual to co-created responsibility, influenced by different actors and offering a wider approach to responsibility. The present qualitative study employs two corporate volunteering cases from Finland as an empirical context for distributing leadership. As a result, the study suggests three transitions in organizational life and leadership, including transition in values, organizing, and dynamism. The study contributes to the discussion of social sustainability by demonstrating how several transitions in terms of leadership are necessary to enable an emerging sense of co-responsibility in companies which is argued as the key to companies’ social sustainability.

Companies increasingly engage in corporate volunteering (CV), in which employees are encouraged to partake in societally beneficial activities that are organized by their employer in collaboration with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In addition to direct effects for CV beneficiaries, company–NGO relationships in CV also generate a variety of effects through the individuals and organizations involved, resulting in the emergence of social impact. This study examines the emergence of social impact within relationships between companies and NGOs in CV. Existing research on CV, social impact, and value creation in business relationships is employed to examine the social impact emerging from such relationships. Four cases of CV projects undertaken by companies with NGOs are analyzed. The present study concludes that social impact emerges in company–NGO relationships in CV throughout the duration of the relationship and the volunteering project episodes and through the interplay of value created at individual, organizational and societal levels.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how employee competences can be developed through corporate volunteering (CV). Specifically, this study focuses on diversity of volunteering studies categorized according to the type of beneficiaries and intensity of volunteer contact with them. The study examines how the beneficiary-employee relation influences the development of employee competences in CV projects.Design/methodology/approachIn this qualitative empirical study, interview data collected in Poland about the perceived effects of CV projects on employee competences was used.FindingsThe findings suggest that to understand the competences generated in CV, attention needs to be paid to the nature of the volunteering study itself. The study proposes four different logics of competence development in CV, based on the type of the beneficiary and contact with them.Research limitations/implicationsThe study builds on managers’ perceptions of competence development. For a holistic understanding, future research should include employees’ perceptions of the process. Also, more research is needed regarding national and organizational settings as factors in competence development through CV.Practical implicationsThe study suggests how companies could best engage in volunteering programs and improve existing ones to make them more beneficial for all parties involved.Social implicationsThe findings build the better business case for CV and other corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, i.e. they deliver rationales for business engagement in this regard.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the conceptual understanding of CSR activities by presenting four logics of competence development in CV.

Purpose This paper aims to examine corporate volunteering as a form of social responsibility carried out by companies in relationships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Applying the value creation concept, the success of such relationships is based on value created between the focal company, its employees engaging in the volunteer work and the collaborating NGO actors representing the beneficiaries of the volunteer work. However, how to meaningfully engage employees and strategically manage company–NGO relationships in corporate volunteering has received less scholarly attention. The study hence asks the question: How is mutual value created in corporate volunteering collaborations between business organizations and NGOs? Design/methodology/approach Two qualitative case studies of company–NGO relationships involved in corporate volunteer programs for social benefit in Poland and Finland are analyzed. Findings Corporate volunteering offers value creation opportunities for each of the three actors in the relationships, namely, the company, the NGO and the employees who participate in the volunteer work. Particularly, employment and volunteering relationships appear to be catalysts for the creation of mutual value in the organizational relationship between a company and NGO. Originality/value The present study contributes to the current understanding of company–NGO relationships by emphasizing the role of individual employee volunteers in creating relationship-level value. The study adds also to existing research on corporate volunteering by identifying the way value is created in company–NGO relationships within corporate volunteering.

PurposeThis study aims to understand how the coevolution of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and emerging economy institutions affects social and economic (in)equality in an ambiguous, emerging economy context from a political actor perspective.Design/methodology/approachQualitative in nature, the study builds on conversations with 20 political actors involved in the peacebuilding process in Myanmar/Burma. It analyzes their perceptions of interaction of MNEs and host economy institutions from a social constructionist viewpoint.FindingsThe study identifies four coevolution patterns which portray the evolving interaction between MNE activities and different elements of their host institutional environment as well as their consequences for social and economic (in)equality.Originality/valueThis study contributes to critical international business research on emerging economies by emphasizing the different and partly conflicting host institutions of various stakeholder groups involved in the coevolution of MNEs and host institutional environments. The more nuanced conceptualization of the complex institutional environment enables the analysis of inequality as a direct and indirect outcome of MNE–institution interaction. Thus, the study connects to the business and human rights discussion and provides insight into the consequences of MNEs’ adoption of social and environment standards.

PRME Chapter Nordic sees itself as an actor in the development of society. PRME Nordic Chapter aims at providing a space for the dissemination of ideas and best practices between participating schools. Its members also aim at contributing to PRME and the advancement of responsible management education beyond its regional borders. Collaboration is a key value in the Nordic context and PRME Nordic Chapter members aim at continuously improving their dialogue and engagement for responsible management education. In this chapter, our members acknowledge the work in progress and share some inspiring practices. Some examples of collaboration are further outlined - such as co-designing a Nordic carbon literacy training, participating to Responsible Management Research Conferences, engaging students across Scandinavia, increasing digital shared resources, sharing strategies and good practices to help accelerate a transition across all Nordic business schools.

Purpose Business relationships are considered long-term and stable. Furthermore, over time, business relationships are expected to become and remain “institutionalized”. The undertone is that this process is deterministic and inevitable. While the authors do not question the long-term nature of business relationships, they argue that the process of “institutionalization” requires more construct clarity. Consequently, they ask the following: What is the source of resilience in business relationships, and how are these relationships maintained over time? Design/methodology/approach To unravel these questions, the authors conducted an historical case study of a business relationship between a government buyer and a software seller extending over two decades. Findings The authors found that while the network around the business relationship is crumbling and all odds are in favor of relationship dissolution, the active maintenance work of key individuals in the relationship prevented detrimental effects and resulted in not only its continuation but also an increased degree of institutionalization. Research limitations/implications The authors contribute to the Industrial Network approach (INA) by providing a non-deterministic approach to the typically taken-for-granted end phase of business relationships. Practical implications The findings illustrate that the process of institutionalization is manageable but requires hard work, highlighting managers as the principle vehicle of relationship maintenance. Originality/value The authors provide construct clarity around the process of “institutionalization”. In fact, they regard the process as reverse compared to the early interpretation in the INA literature in which a business relationship is assumed to start as a “clean slate” and then begins to represent the industry codes of practice over time. They found that “institutionalization” implies that a business relationship is no longer compared with nor is comparable to the institutional prescriptions; in contrast, the relationship has established its own rules and norms, which have been taken for granted by the buyer and seller organization.

Responsibility, as a crucial notion in pursuing the SDGs, is an important theme on the education development agenda in business schools around the world. Our study focuses on responsibility as mindset instead of extensive knowledge base and assumes the development of shared understanding of responsibility among participating actors as the main target for responsibility education. Based on empirical data from a master’s level business course our research paper shows how a responsibility mindset among business students can be facilitated through the creation of shared understanding. More specifically, we aim to answer the following research questions: How to facilitate the creation of shared understanding for a responsible mindset in higher business education? Our findings point at the inherently dynamic and dialogic nature of shared understanding of business responsibility. Creating shared understanding of responsibility is not a linear learning process but the continuous iteration of (re-)creating individual and shared understanding. Shared collaborative learning enables individuals to continuously connect and scrutinize their understandings (discipline specific knowledge) with a bigger picture of responsibility (other disciplines’ specific knowledge). That way, business leaders become responsibility agents who embrace responsibility as a mindset with a collective, and continuously evolving (i.e., never finished) nature.

Covid-19 pandemic has caused a massive transformation in K-12 settings towards online education. It is important to explore the factors that facilitate online teaching technology adoption of teachers during the pandemic. The aim of this study was to compare Learning Management System (LMS) acceptance of Finnish K-12 teachers who have been using a specific LMS as part of their regular teaching before the Covid-19 pandemic (experienced group) and teachers who started using it for emergency remote teaching during the pandemic (inexperienced group). Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology framework, a self-report questionnaire was administered to 196 teachers (nexperienced = 127; ninexperienced = 69). Our findings showed no difference between the two groups of teachers in terms of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, LMS self-efficacy and satisfaction. However, the experienced group had higher behavioural intention to use LMS in the future, reported receiving higher online teaching support and displayed higher online teaching self-efficacy in terms of student engagement, classroom management, instructional strategies and ICT skills. For the experienced group, the most significant predictor of satisfaction with LMS was performance expectancy whereas for the inexperienced group, it was the effort expectancy. In terms of behavioural intention to use LMS in the future, the most significant predictor was the performance expectancy for both groups. Further, support was also a significant predictor of behavioural intention for the inexperienced group. Overall, our findings indicate that teachers should not be regarded as a unified profile when managing technology adoption in schools. peerReviewed

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While ‘sustainability’ in management education is mostly addressed from a technical perspective, the emotional and ‘being’ aspects can be key for creating a new mindset. In this paper the authors build on a conceptual model for developing a sustainability mindset, and provide an example of how this was applied in the design of an undergraduate course on Managing Multinationals, at Oulu Business School, the University of Oulu, Finland. Addressing the knowledge, systems thinking, emotional aspects, the tacit paradigms and the values we adhere to, students were led on a journey of discovery that created deep learning. This paper shows how the model for developing a sustainability mindset can be adapted and tailored to specific pedagogical contexts.

Purpose : The aim of this paper is to identify benefits of corporate volunteer programs gained on employee behaviors’ side. Specifically, the following research question is posed: what benefits of corporate volunteer projects are there observed by employees participating in them? Methodology/approach : The paper is based on a qualitative study conducted in the form of semi-structured in-depth individual interviews with employees participating in volunteer programs. Findings : The study shows that corporate volunteering leads to positive effects on employees, including increased work meaningfulness, competence development and strengthen interpersonal relationships at work. Simultaneously, the study suggests that work meaningfulness plays focal role in the overall process. Implications : Results of the study deliver practical implications for companies implementing corporate volunteering. Volunteer programs should be organized in a way giving employees full autonomy in crafting their projects. The programs should also support and intensify employee interactions and favor volunteer actions requiring wide range of skills. Originality/value: The study contributes to theory development in the field of both corporate social responsibility and organizational behavior. Specifically, it gives an insight on how responsible business practices may strengthen employees’ sense of meaningfulness of work and subsequently improve their competences and mutual relations.

Severe socio-economic issues that threaten peace, life or wellbeing of humans in specific regions of the world cannot be solved by any single actor. Wide networks of political, business, governmental, non-profit and humanitarian organizations are to be involved to change existing practices. Despite conflicting interests and competing behavior, involved organizations need to act collectively to initiate the change of commonly accepted practices, i.e. institutions. This is the space in the present study for examining network mobilization as a collective means to change institutions. Our aim is to answer the question: How are networks mobilized in crisis management to initiate institutional change processes in socio-economically turbulent contexts? We provide a framework of network mobilization for institutional change built on the IMP rooted network mobilization research and institutional entrepreneurship discussion. The framework is reflected upon by means of insights from an interview-based case study with representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in worldwide humanitarian peace-building. We identify, firstly, incentivizing, reticent and adaptational behaviors of network mobilizers to utilize legitimacy and relationship sediments as mobilization enablers. Secondly, these behaviors help network mobilizers to overcome actor visibility and unpredictability as mobilization obstacles in turbulent contexts.

Prior literature suggests that dynamic capabilities enable, on the one hand, firms to respond successfully to the changes in the markets, and on the other hand, to embrace firms’ ability to shape their business environments. However, existing studies have not fully considered how some firms within the same industry are able to shape markets, and why others need to adapt to these changes in a Kirznerian manner. We make an attempt, based on contemporary literature on the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities, to explain how resource allocation between marketing and R&D function — as one of the microfoundations and as a central contributor to innovation — influences the sustainability of competitive advantage and, consequently, a firm’s ability to create or respond to exogenous shocks. Findings from our multiple-case study on internationalizing SMEs indicate that investments in marketing and R&D functions per se are a necessary though not sufficient condition for building dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage. Rather, the extent to which companies are able to follow their own strategies is closely tied to the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities.

Sound is processed for therein enhancing wanted sound with respect to unwanted sound. The sound is distributed over a plurality of parallel pass bands. In each channel, possibly with excepting the lowest frequency channels, the envelope of the respective signals in that frequency band is detected. Next, the envelope, or in the lowest frequency channels, the signal itself is preferentially filtered for enhancing signals at the fundamental frequency of the wanted sound. Subsequently, as far as applicable, the signal filtered is modulated with the envelope found for the channel in question and all channel outputs are summed.

In a device for and a method of encoding a first signal (f0), for example a speech parameter such as the pitch, as a function of time, to form a second signal (FIG. 2), a third signal (k) is derived from the first signal. The third signal is a measure of the curvature of the first signal as a function of time. The extrema (such as k(t1) in FIG. 1b) in this third signal are determined and the second signal is generated in the form of a sequence of information blocks (B1, B2, . . . ), of which one information block (such as B3) contains time information corresponding to the instant (t3) at which an extremum occurs in the third signal.