This article examines whether and how the participation of women in the firm’s board of directors and senior management enhances financial performance. We use the Fama and French (1992, 1993) valuation framework to take the level of risk into consideration, when comparing firm performances, whereas previous studies used either raw stock returns or accounting ratios. Our results indicate that firms operating in complex environments do generate positive and significant abnormal returns when they have a high proportion of women officers. Although (...) the participation of women as directors does not seem to make a difference in this regard, firms with a high proportion of women in both their management and governance systems generate enough value to keep up with normal stock-market returns. These findings tend to support the policies currently being discussed or implemented in some countries and organizations to foster the advancement of women in business. (shrink)

The inconclusiveness of previous research on the association between gender diverse boards and corporate social performance has led us to revisit the question in light of stakeholder management and institutional theories. Given that corporate social responsibility is a multidimensional concept, we test the influence of GDB on various groups of stakeholders. By considering the interaction between stakeholders’ power and directors’ personal motivations toward the prioritization of stakeholders’ claims, we find that GDB are positively related to CSR dimensions that are related (...) to less powerful stakeholders such as the environment, contractors, and the community. However, GDB do not appear to have a significant impact on CSR dimensions that are associated with stakeholders who benefit from more institutionalized power, such as employees and customers. (shrink)

This study relies on environmental stewardship, a stakeholder-enlarged view of stewardship theory, and institutional theory to analyze the relationship between CEO compensation and firms’ environmental commitment in a worldwide sample of 520 large listed firms. Our findings show that environment friendly firms pay their CEOs less total compensation and rely less on incentive-based compensation than environment careless firms. This negative relationship is stronger in institutional contexts where national environmental regulations are weaker. Our findings have important theoretical meaning and practical implications. (...) Results show that CEOs do not necessarily act opportunistically; rather some of them may be willing to act as stewards of the natural environment and accept a lower, less incentive-based compensation from environment friendly firms. This study also provides evidence of the important influence of the institutional context in setting-up CEO compensation as the relationship is stronger when national environmental regulations are weaker. Our findings question the universal validity of agency theory in explaining CEO compensation. Compensation based on pecuniary incentives might be less indicated to motivate CEOs who feel rewarded by playing a stewardship role for environment friendly firms. When designing compensation for CEOs, compensation committees and external compensation advisors should consider psychological and institutional factors that might affect CEO motivation. (shrink)

Companies that are serious about corporate governance and business ethics are turning their attention to gender diversity at the most senior levels of business . Board gender diversity has been the subject of several studies carried out by international organizations such as Catalyst , the World Economic Forum , and the European Board Diversity Analysis . They all lead to reports confirming the overall relatively low proportion of women on boards and the slow pace at which more women are being (...) appointed. Furthermore, the proportion of women on corporate boards varies much across countries. Based on institutional theory, this study hypothesizes and tests whether this variation can be attributed to differences in cultural settings across countries. Our analysis of the representation of women on boards for 32 countries during 2010 reveals that two cultural characteristics are indeed associated with the observed differences. We use the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede to measure this construct. Results show that countries which have the greatest tolerance for inequalities in the distribution of power and those that tend to value the role of men generally exhibit lower representations of women on boards. (shrink)

This study investigates the effect of country-level emancipative forces on corporate gender diversity around the world. Based on Welzel’s theory of emancipation, we develop an emancipatory framework of board gender diversity that explains how action resources, emancipative values and civic entitlements enable, motivate and encourage women to take leadership roles on corporate boards. Using a sample of 6390 firms operating in 30 countries around the world, our results show positive single and combined effects of the framework components on board gender (...) diversity. Our research adds to the existing literature in a twofold manner. First, our integrated framework offers a more encompassing, complete and theoretically richer picture of the key drivers of board gender diversity. Second, by testing the framework empirically, we extend the evidence on national drivers of board gender diversity. (shrink)

This study assesses the causal relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and financial performance (FP). We perform our empirical analyses on a sample of 179 publicly held Canadian firms and use the measures of CSP provided by Canadian Social Investment Database for the years 2004 and 2005. Using the “Granger causality” approach, we find no significant relationship between a composite measure of a firm’s CSP and FP, except for market returns. However, using individual measures of CSP, we find a robust (...) significant negative impact of the environmental dimension of CSP and three measures of FP, namely return on assets, return on equity, and market returns. This latter finding is consistent, at least in the short run, with the trade-off hypothesis and, in part, with the negative synergy hypothesis which states that socially responsible firms experience lower profits and reduced shareholder wealth, which in turn limits the socially responsible investments. (shrink)

This study investigates the engagement of family firms in corporate social responsibility. We first compare their corporate social performance to non-family firms. Then, following recent evidence on the heterogeneity of family firms, we examine two factors that may influence CSP within family firms: the level of family control and the governance orientation of the country in which they operate. This research is based on a theoretical framework which considers both agency and socioemotional wealth influences on family firms CSR engagements. Overall, (...) we find that family firms exhibit lower CSP than non-family firms. But when focusing on family firms, our analyses show a curvilinear relationship between family control and CSP. At lower levels of control, family owners invest more in social initiatives to protect their SEW. Beyond a threshold level of control that we estimate at 36 % in our sample, economic considerations prevail over SEW and social performance starts decreasing. We also find that family firms operating in stakeholder-oriented countries are more attentive to social concerns than those operating in more shareholder-oriented countries. (shrink)

This article proposes and empirically tests a theoretical framework incorporating Reidenbach and Robin’s (J Bus Ethics 10(4):273–284, 1991 ) conceptual model of corporate moral development. The framework is used to examine the relation between governance and business ethics, as proxied by diversity management (DM), and financial reporting quality, as proxied by the magnitude of earnings management (EM). The level of DM and governance quality are measured in accordance with the ratings of Jantzi Research (JR), a leading provider of social and (...) governance research for institutional investors. This DM score is part of an index developed by JR that investment managers use to integrate DM criteria into their investment decisions. As expected, a negative relation between corporate DM development and financial reporting quality is found while controlling for other factors known in the literatures on governance and accounting choices to affect earnings quality. Despite some caveats presented in conclusion, this study contributes to the ethics, governance, and financial reporting literatures by studying the dynamics between governance and ethics in the prevention of EM. (shrink)

L'idéal universaliste, qui a traversé les siècles jusqu'à aujourd'hui en surplombant les traditions intellectuelles tant chinoise qu'européenne, a façonné un certain nombre de nos représentations et imposé l'idée d'une antinomie entre ce qui relève de l'universel et ce qui renvoie à l'existence du particulier. Outre ce que, à bien y regarder, cette incompatibilité supposée peut avoir de paradoxal, divers épisodes chinois ou européens montrent que, au cours de sa très longue histoire, l'universalisme a aussi entretenu des relations équivoques avec des (...) créations historiques instituant des communautés particulières, telle la nation. Et ce sont ses rapports, tantôt connivents, tantôt antagoniques avec un ensemble de constructions mentales ou historiques particularisantes que l'auteure envisage en première partie. A partir du XVIIe siècle, les deux universalismes évoluent dans une certaine interaction, au gré des rencontres de leurs divers représentants ou de moments de proximité intellectuelle : c'est cette histoire de leurs relations, longue de plus de quatre siècles, que retrace la seconde partie. Le dialogue né de cette interaction, marqué par des méprises et incompréhensions, aura été quelque peu tortueux, mais néanmoins fructueux, dans la mesure où il aura favorisé une prise de conscience par chacun des deux universalismes... d'eux-mêmes. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage est une réédition numérique d’un livre paru au XXe siècle, désormais indisponible dans son format d’origine.

_Strategies of Deconstruction _ was first published in 1991. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. In the past two decades, the "movement" of deconstruction has bad tremendous impact on a number of academic, disciplines in the United States. However, its force has been rather limited in the field of philosophy, despite the fact that in Europe the practice of deconstruction emerged in (...) the work of philosophers. Although the reasons for this can be debated, two of the more obvious explanations are the mainstream Anglo-American philosophers rarely studied the German and French philosophical traditions in great detail, and deconstruction's focus on discourse and interpretation has made it more attractive to the literary and humanistic disciplines. With this context, _Strategies of Deconstruction _ focuses on the early work of Jacques Derrida, the French philosopher who introduced deconstruction in _Speech and Phenomena_,his study of Edmund Husserl, and _Of Grammatology_, and whose philosophical reputation stems in no small part from his work on Husserl. In examining the philosophical import of Derrida's theories of reading, text, and language, specifically as they related to _Speech and Phenomena_,J. Claude Evans makes careful reference to Husserl's own texts. His analysis indicates that there are many systematic irregularities in Derrida's study and that without those irregularities Derrida's conclusions cannot be substantiated. (shrink)

On est porté à sous-estimer le rôle authentiquement productif de la raison dans la Dialectique transcendantale de la Critique de la raison pure. Cet article propose une illustration de ce rôle à l'occasion des Paralogismes de la raison pure, qui ne sont rendus possibles que sur la base d'une fiction négative opérée à partir du sens interne. Cette illustration s'inscrit dans la perspective plus large d'une interprétation de la Dialectique transcendantale en vertu d'une théorie du schématisme, laissée au second plan (...) par Kant en raison de la prépondérance des motivations critiques.We tend to underestimate the authentically productive role of reason in the Transcendental Dialectic of the Critique of Pure Reason. This paper suggests an illustration of this role as it can be traced in the Paralogisms of Pure Reason, which themselves became possible on the basis of a negative fiction exerted toward the inner sense. This illustration is part of a larger perspective aiming at an interpretation of the Transcendental Dialectic on the ground of a theory of schematism, which is somehow overshadowed by Kant's critical intentions. (shrink)

La première partie de la grande étude de Husserl sur le thème de la Krisis a pour titre «La crise des sciences comme expression de la crise radicale de la vie de l'humanité européenne». Par cette formulation, on pourrait être porté à croire que Husserl voit dans la crise de la science la simple conséquence secondaire d'une crise beaucoup plus profonde se situant à l'échelle de l'humanité européenne entière. Et pourtant il n'en est rien. Dans la suite du texte, Husserl (...) s'applique à démontrer que le rapport d'implication entre l'humanité en crise et les sciences doit plutôt être considéré à l'inverse. Le problème de l'humanité européenne réside au premier chef dans cette crise des sciences; si bien qu'il est sans doute possible, dans un premier temps, de voir dans la crise des sciences une simple «expression » de la détresse de l'Europe, mais à y regarder de plus près, c'est celle-là qui est cause de la crise radicale de la vie de l'humanité européenne. (shrink)

Schelling fait remarquer que la théorie kantienne du mal radical repose fondamentalement sur un acte de liberté, ce qui n’est pas le cas chez Fichte. Dans cet article, nous voulons examiner le bien-fondé de la thèse de Schelling selon laquelle les conceptions kantienne et fichtéenne du mal moral présentent d’importantes divergences. Pour I’essentiel, en effet, la position de Fichte s’éloigne de celle de Kanten ce qu’elle réhabilite une certaine forme d’humanisme en réduisant le mal à l’inertie de l’être raisonnable fini (...) et à l’ignorance dans laquelle il a tendance à se maintenir. Contrairement à Kant donc, jamais Fichte ne pourra admettre que la pleine conscience de la loi morale laisse encore. ouverte la possibilité de choisir délibérément le mal.Shelling contends that Kant’s theory of radical evil, unlike Fichte’s, is fundamentally based on liberty. In this article, we wish to examine the relevance of Schelling’s thesis according to which the Kantian and Fichtean conceptions of moral evil bear important differences. Essentially, in deed, Fichte’s position differs from that of Kant in that it restores a certain form of humanism by reducing evil to the inertia of a finite rational being and to the ignorance in which it tends to persist. Thus, unlike Kant, Fichte could never admit that full consciousness of the moral law allows the possibility to choose evil deliberately. (shrink)

For several centuries prior to the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875, individual 'theosophers' in Britain and Europe were quietly in touch with one another all seekers of the inward way. Theosophic Correspondence (1792 1797) is a series of inspiring letters, personal and philosophic, exchanged during the climactic days of the French Revolution between Kirchberger, member of the Sovereign Council at Berne, Switzerland, and Saint-Martin, whom Kirchberger regarded as 'the most eminent writer . . . and most profound of (...) his age'. (shrink)

In spite of legislation enforcing standards of health and safety at work, at least in the West, sweatshops are still a feature of the business scene. The long term ethical aim must be clear, but there is a need for a gradual approach rather than an absolutist one. The author is completing his MBA at London Business School, and is of Lebanese origin with a background in finance.

This work explores ethic and moral issues in the medical field.

Tennessee State University's coach of women's track and field reflects on his life, career, and experience as a coach for the 1960, 1964, and 1980 summer Olympics.

Les débats entre libéraux sur la justice sociale ont beaucoup alimenté la réflexion contemporaine sur le revenu de base (ou allocation universelle). Cette notion est présentée ici comme relevant de « l’économie de l’égalitarisme libéral », dont le point d’ancrage se situe dans l’œuvre philosophique de Rawls. Celui-ci n’est certes pas partisan de l’allocation universelle, mais sa pensée offre néanmoins un cadre général adéquat pour l’étudier, en particulier par la hiérarchie des principes de justice qu’il défend (1). Au troisième niveau (...) de cette hiérarchie, l’interprétation à donner au « principe de différence » a suscité la controverse des « surfeurs de Malibu », par laquelle Van Parijs a pu défendre le caractère inconditionnel de l’allocation universelle (2). Reste alors à passer de la philosophie à l’économie du revenu de base, en montrant comment ce dernier peut être considéré comme une variante précise d’impôt négatif sur le revenu. A ce stade, une relecture de l’intuition de Friedman sur la question aboutit à considérer l’allocation universelle comme un « crédit d’impôt universel » (3). En conclusion, pour les démocraties libérales et dans le cas de la France, sont esquissées quelques observations prospectives sur une éventuelle application d’une telle conception du revenu de base (4). (shrink)

Les débats entre libéraux sur la justice sociale ont beaucoup alimenté la réflexion contemporaine sur le revenu de base (ou allocation universelle). Cette notion est présentée ici comme relevant de « l’économie de l’égalitarisme libéral », dont le point d’ancrage se situe dans l’œuvre philosophique de Rawls. Celui-ci n’est certes pas partisan de l’allocation universelle, mais sa pensée offre néanmoins un cadre général adéquat pour l’étudier, en particulier par la hiérarchie des principes de justice qu’il défend (1). Au troisième niveau (...) de cette hiérarchie, l’interprétation à donner au « principe de différence » a suscité la controverse des « surfeurs de Malibu », par laquelle Van Parijs a pu défendre le caractère inconditionnel de l’allocation universelle (2). Reste alors à passer de la philosophie à l’économie du revenu de base, en montrant comment ce dernier peut être considéré comme une variante précise d’impôt négatif sur le revenu. A ce stade, une relecture de l’intuition de Friedman sur la question aboutit à considérer l’allocation universelle comme un « crédit d’impôt universel » (3). En conclusion, pour les démocraties libérales et dans le cas de la France, sont esquissées quelques observations prospectives sur une éventuelle application d’une telle conception du revenu de base (4). (shrink)

Throughout his intellectual career, John Dewey was asking the question of relationships between knowledge of common sense and scientific knowledge. We propose to examine these relations in the light of a comparison with Thomas Reid, one of the founding authors of the modern philosophy of common sense. This comparison tries to set up what should be considered as a closer formulation of what knowledge consists in: a matter of attitudes, a set of dispositions. Such a convergent formulation equally means not (...) to bring into conflict or contradiction – in the style of a “dualism” – what are common sense and scientific knowledge. In so doing, it is thus necessary to reshape an operative distinction between those two kinds of “attitudes”; and this distinction is not ontological but decisively methodological, epistemological and, on a practical level, political. (shrink)

Peut-on interpréter le Cratyle sans recourir aux développements du Théétète et du Sophiste sur la proposition verbale ? L'exigence analytique, présentée pour la première fois par G. Ryle, autorise à examiner la prétention soit des noms, soit de leurs éléments phonétiques à jouer le rôle de « signifiants » authentiques. Could we give an interpretation of Cratylus without looking at the later dialogues (Theaetetus and Sophist) which carry Plato on to the concept of verbal proposition ? The requirements of analytical (...) philosophers (first, G. Ryle) lead us to examine the claim of the word or of its phonetic elements as genuine « significantes ». (shrink)

La référence à l'ordinaire, dans l'ordre du discours, dans les pratiques politiques, ou dans le domaine des sciences sociales, est moins fréquente que celle au " commun ", au " populaire ", ou au " quotidien ". La notion d'ordinaire est pourtant à la fois plus immédiate, et plus centrale. Elle s'oppose à la fois au " savant ", au " théorique ", à l' " historique " et au " tragique ". Mais l'ordinaire est-il si aisé à connaître et (...) à comprendre? Les analyses rassemblées dans ce volume partent, non d'une évidence partagée de l'ordinaire, mais d'une difficulté à penser l'ordinaire. Elles proposent, dans une démarche exploratoire, de clarifier l'idée d'une " politique de l'ordinaire ", et de confronter à cet effet des points de vue issus de plusieurs disciplines : philosophie, science politique, sociologie, anthropologie. Ce travail collectif rejoint des préoccupations récemment apparues pour le commun comme concept des sciences sociales. Sur le plan politique, la revendication de l'ordinaire et du commun permet de considérer autrement les problèmes de la démocratie, de la communauté, de l'égalité, et d'examiner à nouveaux frais les termes du débat qui opposent, depuis longtemps, libertariens et communautariens. Sur le plan éthique, l'examen attentif des pratiques sociales communes, de nos conversations et gestes ordinaires, de l'ordre des interactions publiques ou privées, permet de réorienter le questionnement moral. (shrink)