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When companies face a crisis, they sometimes deliver blame-shifting communications, trying to shift blame onto another actor to protect their reputation. While previous research has considered how different features of the message affect its persuasiveness, little is known about whether specific senders can blame more effectively. This paper aims to contribute to research in this domain through an investigation of the sender’s social perception as a critical moderator to the persuasiveness of blame shifting.

The authors conduct four between-subjects scenario experiments to test the research hypotheses. In each experiment, participants are presented with a realistic crisis scenario and the crisis communications delivered by the company. The authors assess the extent to which perceptions of the sender influence the message’s ability to reduce negative word-of-mouth intentions and to increase purchase intentions.

The authors show that blame shifting is more likely to be effective when deployed by senders that are small (Study 1) or have a positive CSR track record (Study 2). Furthermore, The authors find that even large senders can successfully deploy blame shifting if they can benefit from being known for their CSR programs (Study 3). Finally, the authors show that the effect of blame shifting depends on the receiver’s level of concern about the crisis: stakeholders significantly concerned by the crisis reject blame-shifting communications (Study 4).

Further research should examine the impact of information about brand competence on blame-shifting effectiveness. Further research is also needed to explore sender effects for other defensive crisis communication strategies such as denial or the use of excuses or justifications.

The study offers critical information for marketers considering the use of defensive crisis communications strategies such as blame shifting.

The study extends the understanding of how sender effects influence blame-shifting communications. The analysis allows us to clarify why this strategy is effective for certain senders and certain receivers while, for others, it tends to backfire. Blame shifting backfires for large senders unless they can boast a strong CSR record.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is going through a critical period that challenges its capacity to respond to social and environmental crises, which could be associated with the growing Corporate Hypocrisy (CH) phenomenon. This study aims to identify the theoretical perspectives of the scientific literature on CH as a contemporary phenomenon concerning CSR.

We adopted a sequential mixed-method approach in this study. First, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the publications on the Web of Science database. Subsequently, we performed a content analysis of CH with CSR.

The literature review revealed two main research paths: the first deals with the perceptions of hypocrisy; the second relates to the company’s responsibility for disclosure. In addition, we found that researchers use different expressions to refer to the gap between discourse and action in organisations. Some authors suggest subtle differences between these terms, while others use them interchangeably. The causes of this phenomenon vary according to the facets of hypocrisy and the negative implications for the reputation and credibility of companies.

This study contributes to understanding the dissociation between CSR statements and practices. To this end, it combines and collates the literature on a phenomenon studied from different sides using numerous designations.

Brand crisis has become an increasingly common phenomenon recently. While corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays a role in mitigating the negative consequences of brand crisis, it is not always effective, especially for foreign companies. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the differential effects of CSR on brand crisis, considering the impact of country of origin and consumer ethnocentrism.

This study used a 2 (country of origins: domestic vs foreign) × 2 (consumer ethnocentrism: high vs low) × 2 (CSR: before vs after related information is presented) between-subjects experiment to simulate a brand crisis. A fictional WeChat Moment posting was used as a stimulus. Data from 210 Chinese respondents were analyzed.

When consumer ethnocentrism is high, the impact of CSR on consumer attitude toward the company undergoing a crisis was greater for domestic than for foreign companies. Conversely, for consumers with low ethnocentrism, the effectiveness of CSR in attenuating the negative impact of the brand crisis (i.e. the insurance-like effect of CSR) was insignificant across domestic and foreign companies.

This study extends the prior literature and clarifies the unclear results of previous studies on the effect of CSR on brand crisis by examining the impact of country of origin and consumer ethnocentrism. Novel insights into the insurance-like effect of CSR in brand crises were obtained.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of Islamic tourism intention on local tourists.

This research used quantitative methods. Online questionnaires were distributed and collected from those who know about Islamic tourism, have visited Islamic tourism in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, and people who have the intention to visit Padang City as an Islamic destination. A total of 405 valid responses were gathered using non-probability purposive sampling and snowball sampling methods.

The results show that reputation significantly affects brand equity in terms of Islamic tourism for the satisfaction of local tourist. In addition, reputation significantly affects trust, intention significantly affects reputation and intention significantly affects trust regarding the impact of Islamic tourism on local tourist satisfaction.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the originality of this research is that it is the first to integrate the dimensions of brand equity (awareness, image, quality, value and loyalty) mediated by trust and reputation towards Islamic tourism intention.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the ontological assumptions regarding the concept of agency and sociality within business networks in the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP) research by refining these assumptions with a relational sociological (RS) perspective. This paper reinforces the robustness of the actors-resources-activities (ARA) model with an in-depth investigation of the actor dimension, where local interactions between interdependent individuals play a central role in building common futures within business networks through organisational reflexivity.

This conceptual paper investigates the social ontology of research. It challenges the implicit assumptions of IMP research regarding agency and sociality within business networks with a problematisation strategy (Sandberg and Alvesson, 2011). Combining IMP views on agency with the RS perspective, it sets this combined framework as an alternative for the analysis of sustainability and ethics within business networks.

Combining IMP research and an RS perspective allows us to extend the knowledge of sociality within business networks, highlighting the centrality of meaning sharing in the process of network change. By focusing on symbolic interaction processes, an RS perspective contributes to a deeper theoretical understanding of the relationship between local communication and business network patterns. Combined with an IMP perspective on agency, it provides researchers with an alternative conceptual framework for examining sustainability by considering ethics and leadership dialectically.

RS is still an emerging stream within sociology, characterised by diverse views. Not all relational sociologists, as scientists, feel obliged to engage with sustainability research. Thus, the paper is a two-sided invitation to IMP researchers and relational sociologists to delve into the adaptation processes in business networks in highly uncertain environments.

RS focusing on the centrality of communication in local interactions, business network researchers can show that organisational leaders are not the ones with a charismatic vision isolated from any natural and social environment; rather, they are the people with “the capacity to assist the group to continue acting ethically, creatively and courageously in the unknown” (Stacey,2013).

Adopting an RS perspective on agency in business networks can help managers and researchers determine how business networks can be managed in a more sustainable way. Combined with a dialectical and processual understanding of ethics, the IMP-RS perspective emphasises day-to-day local communication practices within and between organisations that challenges microeconomic views on nature, strategy, ethics and leadership. This paper thus places the social at the centre of sustainability approaches.

From an RS perspective, business networks are analysed as patterns of interactions between many organisations and individuals. The value of this conceptual paper is in showing that change within business networks is negotiated through local interactions and symbolic communication between individuals. Thus, it suggests the need to combine the individual and the organisational levels to analyse agency within business networks and to examine the adaptation of business networks to sustainability.

This study aims to test whether the perceptions of graduates of accounting-related degrees on the implications of companies’ commitment to sustainable development strategies can be influenced by certain factors associated with their previous training and characteristics.

The study is based on measuring and analyzing the assessment carried out by a sample of students graduating in degrees that include accounting subjects for five consecutive years, from 2016–2017 to 2020–2021, both inclusive. Nonparametric statistical tests are used to determine the type of association between the factors that characterize the graduates and their degree of agreement with the training they received and its relationship with their role in implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability strategies in the company.

The study’s significant findings reveal that the respondents’ perception of the training they received and their opinion of certain benefits provided by sustainable development and CSR strategies in organizations are positively related. This insight is crucial, as it suggests that the training graduates receive plays a pivotal role in shaping their understanding and support for sustainability. The respondents’ opinions do not vary depending on their personal and/or work characteristics, except in the type of contract, as significant differences are observed between the self-employed and temporary or nonworking workers and between those with a permanent contract and those who are linked to the company with a temporary contract.

In a field where most studies focus on employee–employer relationships and human resource management policies, this research stands out. It delves deeper, not just into employees’ perception of sustainability but also into the causes of this perception. It explores what factors may be influencing employees’ opinions on sustainability, and importantly, it extends this analysis to graduates who will be in charge of these issues. This work covers a significant gap in the research, incorporating the study of variables such as personal characteristics and work-related aspects of employees and the training received in accounting matters.

This study aims to identify the perception of people in a Portuguese company regarding the main barriers to the effectiveness of the existing performance measurement system (PMS) and whether those perceptions are dependent of people’s hierarchical levels, education levels, work shifts, gender and department.

Primary data was collected through structured interviews (adapted to three levels of interviewees in the company hierarchy) and Likert scale questionnaires. Descriptive statistical analysis of the collected data was performed as well as a chi-square test.

The results provide an insight on the perception of barriers to the PMS effectiveness in the company. After performing interviews and questionnaires it was possible to identify that the main perceived barriers were: poor communication system and issues on target definition, lack of trained resources, employee involvement, indicators understanding and use for improvement.

This study is the starting point to develop actions aiming to eliminate, or at least mitigate, the impact of the barriers on the PMS effectiveness.

PMSs play an essential role in an organization, so it is essential to identify what hinders its effectiveness. This study opens the discussion by diagnosing the company’s perception of the barriers to PMS effectiveness.

The purpose of this study is to develop an integrated conceptual framework to better understand the psychological pathways connecting consumer perceptions to purchasing intentions for premium sustainable products.

The study develops a conceptual model that theorizes relationships between consumer perceptions of a firm’s innovation, competitive advantage, sustainable practices and stakeholder orientation. It proposes that stakeholder orientation mediates the effects of these perceptions on consumers’ willingness to purchase premium sustainable products. Additionally, lifestyle is hypothesized as a moderator. The model advances knowledge through eight testable propositions.

The conceptual framework specifies indirect, mediated and moderated relationships that have not been fully captured by past literature. It theorizes that perceptions of a firm’s innovation, competitive advantage from sustainable practices and stakeholder orientation indirectly influence purchase willingness through the mediating role of stakeholder orientation. Lifestyle is proposed to moderate these relationships.

This conceptual model offers insights for cultivating consumer perceptions that strengthen a firm’s stakeholder image and endorsement of premium sustainable products. Its validated theoretical lens and propositions can provide strategic guidance for addressing the challenges of higher price points for sustainable products through capturing psychological drivers of values-based decision-making. Future empirical assessment is recommended to validate the specified relationships in the model.

This study, based on signaling theory, examines the pre-recruitment employer branding strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. It investigates the relationship between spontaneous word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations for companies and prospective candidates' job application intentions. Specifically, the study explores serial mechanisms mediating the characteristics of company online career pages, including the perceived informativeness of online job advertisements (ads), candidates' preferences for its web approach to them and the company’s reputation.

Reflecting prospective candidates from students and young alumni of universities, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed on a sample of 737 individuals representing various fields of study from Greek universities.

The findings highlight the effectiveness of positive WOM recommendations during the initial stages of recruitment, particularly amidst COVID-19 challenges in the labor market, notably impacting young candidates. The study suggests that spontaneous WOM, originating from trustful sources, motivates job seekers to actively engage with the company’s web career channels, seeking information and favorable indications of the company’s approach toward its candidates. Positive WOM, combined with informative content and a friendly communication style, plays a critical role in shaping the company’s reputation. Consequently, this encouragement motivates individuals to start their job search efforts and consider applying for positions within the specific organization.

This research provides valuable empirical evidence in the pre-recruitment field, particularly in unforeseen crisis circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines how spontaneous, positive WOM from sources, like peers and alumni, significantly influences young job seekers' perceptions and preferences regarding the company’s career web channels as sources of information and signals about working conditions. The combination of positive WOM with informative content and a friendly communication style in the web approach plays a crucial role in shaping a positive company reputation. Consequently, this encourages candidates to consider applying for positions within the company.

This research contributes to pre-recruitment studies, especially amidst crises like COVID-19. It examines how positive WOM from trusted sources like peers and alma mater alumni influences young job seekers' views on the company’s career web channels. By emphasizing the importance of combining positive WOM with informative web content and a friendly communication style, the study offers insights into effective recruitment strategies. It highlights the significance of positive and spontaneous WOM in attracting young talent and its impact on job seekers' decision-making, even in uncertain conditions. Overall, it advances recruitment practices for attracting candidates.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the aspects of the organizational culture (OC) of companies operating in the Brazilian oil, gas and biofuels (O&G) sector based on semistructured interviews with managers of these organizations and its content analysis.

This research was conducted based on semistructured interviews with 12 managers of Brazilian O&G companies and analyzed with a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software, namely, MAXQDA™.

The results make it possible to obtain the perception of managers about OC, generally understood as a set of attributes and variables of social order, supported by the historical–culturalist theoretical approach. Information about the explicit and implicit manifestation of culture, as well as the evaluation of the most appropriate research instruments and metrics, were also obtained after the interviews.

This study presents detailed results about OC and its characteristics in the perception of managers of the O&G companies that operate in the Brazilian market.