ARC: Community: ELMAR: Posting areas: society: call

Related ARContent: J Bus Ethics

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JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS

Call for Papers
Special Issue on Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America

The Journal of Business Ethics announces the call for papers for a special issue on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Latin America. The deadline for submission is January 31, 2009.

Purpose of the special issue

In the United States of America, CSR ranks high on the agenda. But what about CSR in Latin American countries? To date, there is limited evidence reported in literature on CSR in this part of world. There also are differences in interpretation about the meaning of CSR between the English-speaking part of the world and other parts of the world. This may partly be explained by the fact that changes such as information technology, forces of globalization, increased competition, demanding customers, etc. are likely not to have the same influence on CSR in all contexts.

This special issue examines CSR in Latin America, a region where governments are being characterized as less involved in creating or enforcing social, legal, ethical, and discretionary obligations for companies compared to governments in other parts of the world. Such more limited degree of involvement means that we experience a variety of other actors (local, community, and multinational) that are engaged in initiatives to fulfill societal needs some of which can be deemed as having a ‘CSR’ flavor or orientation. Appropriate CSR initiatives could be conditioned and influenced by historical, social, cultural, and others factors. Previous frameworks describing how to design and implement CSR might not work in Latin America because these have been developed in another context or because they fail to incorporate collaboration and cooperation with particular societal partners.

This special issue seeks to address these gaps in literature and bring new ways of achieving with CSR. Specific topics in relation to implementation of CSR may include, but are not limited to:

• CSR in Latin America: a historical overview
• Theoretical frameworks of designing, implementing, and controlling CSR programs
• Core CSR concepts and key relationships and influences on CSR practices
• Core CSR concepts and their measurement equivalence and applicability across Latin American countries and U.S. / European countries
• Managing CSR in a Latin context; managing CSR across different cultural contexts
• CSR through networks / communities / multinationals / grassroots movements, and their relations to businesses.
• CSR in different industries
• The roles and motivations of foreign-based actors (companies, non-governmental organizations, etc.) in the development, implementation, and promotion of CSR
• The role of employees in the success of CSR programs, for example top management and front-line employees
• CSR as a key factor for increasing performance outcomes; the value added by CSR (to the company, to the consumer, and to the wider community)
• Best practices of CSR; lessons from case studies of companies’ CSR programs; lessons from companies that have succeed with CSR and from companies that have failed
• Benchmarking CSR practices in Latin America
• Critical approaches to develop and assess the impact of CSR

Preference will be given to empirical papers (both qualitative and quantitative) although theoretical papers that offer comprehensive frameworks of CSR in a Latin American context are also welcome. As the Journal of Business Ethics appeals to both an academic and business audience, all submissions should include implications for practitioners.

Processes for the submission of papers

Papers submitted must not have been published, accepted for publication, or presently be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Submissions should be about 6,000 words in length. Copies should be submitted via email Word attachment (in one file including all figures and tables) to both guest editors. To be eligible for review the paper must be set up according to the journal’s guidelines. For example, the first page must contain the paper’s title, as well as full contact information for the authors. For additional guidelines, please see the "Notes for Contributors" from a recent issue of the Journal of Business Ethics, or see the home page at

http://www.springer.com/east/home?SGWID=5-102-70-35739432-detailsPage=journal|description.

The papers must employ standard English. Suitable papers will be subjected to a double-blind review; hence authors should not identify themselves in the body of the paper.

Please address questions to both guest editors:

Professor Adam Lindgreen
Department of Marketing and Business Strategy
Hull University Business School
Cottingham Road
Hull HU6 7RX
The UK
E-mail: a.lindgreen@hull.ac.uk

Dr José-Rodrigo Córdoba-Pachón
School of Management
The Royal Holloway
University of London (from September 2008 onwards)
Email: r_cordoba@hotmail.com

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