(Press-News.org) Chestnut Hill, MA (2/1/2011) – More than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies commit themselves to corporate social responsibility initiatives in order to protect themselves against negative information. But these moves don't serve as a strong insurance policy against bad press and criticism, according to a report in the current edition of the Journal of Service Research.
The authors found that general corporate social responsibility in and of itself will not shield a company from criticism or negative information because consumers separate ethical/social issues from product or service quality issues in their minds, according to the researchers, who surveyed more than 800 firms and 100 individuals.
The protection corporate social responsibility offers is largely limited to social or ethical issues with the company. It does little to combat negative information relating to a company's product or service quality. To do so, a firm must make itself more service quality oriented and focus its concern on the final outcome of a product or service.
The authors also studied the effects of a firm's consumer base. If a firm has a consumer base of experts, it should focus on its service quality orientation. However, if a firm's consumers are mostly novices, it should focus more on corporate social responsibility to mediate any negative information. Co-authors of the report are:
Andreas Eisingerich is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Imperial College Business School in London.
Gaia Rubera is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University.
Matthias Seifert is a Professor of Quantitative Methods in Operations and Technology at the IE Business School in Madrid.
Gunjan Bhardwaj is with the Boston Consulting Group at their Stuttgart office.
INFORMATION:
The Journal of Service Research is edited by Katherine Lemon, professor of marketing at Boston College's Carroll School of Management; it is published by Sage in Thousand Oaks, California.
As armor against criticism, corp. social responsibility no substitute for product quality
2011-02-02
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
February 2011 Geosphere highlights
2011-02-02
Boulder, CO, USA - The February 2011 Geosphere includes two articles designated for the latest Geosphere theme, "New developments in Grenville geology: In honor of James McLelland." Other topics include 3-D characterization of rocks, ash, minerals, lava, and so forth through various technical means: X-ray computed tomography, Stereo Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray micro-fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, and terrestrial LiDAR. Also studied: the La Silla and Todos Santos Formations, Mexico, Death Valley, the south-central Andes, and the Nellis Dunes Recreation Area.
Keywords: ...
Teens with HIV at high risk for pregnancy, complications
2011-02-02
Teenage girls and young women infected with HIV get pregnant more often and suffer pregnancy complications more frequently than their HIV-negative peers, according to new research led by Johns Hopkins investigators.
A report on the multi-center study, based on an analysis of records from 181 patients with HIV, ages 13 to 24, treated at four hospitals over 12 years, will be published in the Feb. 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The findings are alarming for at least two reasons, the investigators say. First, teen pregnancies — planned or ...
More doctors must join nurses, administrators in leading efforts to improve patient safety, outcomes
2011-02-02
Efforts to keep hospital patients safe and continually improve the overall results of health care can't work unless medical centers figure out a way to get physicians more involved in the process.
"Physicians' training and perspectives on patient care make their contributions to improvement efforts essential," says Peter J. Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., a Johns Hopkins patient safety expert and co-author of a commentary published in the Feb. 2 Journal of the American Medical Association. "But the work of improving quality currently rests primarily with hospital administrators ...
Johns Hopkins researchers develop safer way to make induced pluripotent stem cells
2011-02-02
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found a better way to create induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—adult cells reprogrammed with the properties of embryonic stem cells—from a small blood sample. This new method, described last week in Cell Research, avoids creating DNA changes that could lead to tumor formation.
"These iPS cells are much safer than ones made with previous technologies because they don't involve integrating foreign viruses that can potentially lead to uncontrolled, cancerous cell growth," says Linzhao Cheng, Ph.D., an associate professor of medicine in ...
Research shows good cop beats bad cop
2011-02-02
Even the most horrible criminals feel guilt, and according to new research from the University of Montreal, playing on that sentiment might be a good way to extract a confession. In order to gain a better understanding of why and how criminals admit to their crimes, Michel St-Yves, a forensic psychologist and lecturer, and lead author Nadine Deslauriers-Varin, both of the university's School of Criminology, worked with 221 prisoners from a federal penitentiary, analyzing the conditions under which they did or didn't confess.
The study findings highlighted the predominant ...
Painful hip fractures strike breast cancer survivors
2011-02-02
CHICAGO --- A hip fracture is not common in a 54-year-old woman, unless she is a 54-year-old breast cancer survivor, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. Researchers found that a combination of early menopause due to breast cancer treatment and common drugs used to treat breast cancer, could be weakening the bones of breast cancer survivors once they hit middle age, leading to hip fractures.
Results of the study are published in the February 2011 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
Hip fractures are rare in people under 70. Yet, Northwestern Medicine physician ...
New state scorecard on children's health care finds wide geographic disparities
2011-02-02
New York, NY, February 2, 2011—Two years after the reauthorization and expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a new Commonwealth Fund state-by-state scorecard evaluating how the health care system is working for children finds that federal and state action on behalf of children has helped preserve, and even expand, health coverage for this group, despite the severe recession. Yet wide differences persist among states when it comes to health insurance coverage, affordability of health care for families, children's receipt of preventive care and treatment, ...
GoodLife Team Recruits Real Estate Veteran Stuart Sutton, Opens Williamson County Office
2011-02-02
The GoodLife Team, Austin's most tech-savvy real estate firm, proudly announces the addition of 30-year real estate veteran Stuart Sutton. Officially joining the team in January, Sutton and his agents will serve all GoodLife Team clients in Williamson County, Texas.
Sutton is now headquartered at the newest GoodLife Team office in Georgetown, Texas. This second location will help the firm expand its reach beyond Austin to better serve clients across the Central Texas region.
Stuart Sutton, an expert agent working in real estate since 1981, believes in the GoodLife ...
Near Fatal Car Accident Victim Lived with Severe Foot and Nerve Damage Until A Naples Surgeon Changed His Life
2011-02-02
Few years ago Scott suffered from an unfortunate auto-accident that completely changed his life forever. Way back in 1991, his left foot got severely damaged due to multiple fractures which made him exposed to a permanent nerve damage and deformity. This precisely affected common peroneal nerve. The result was a severe dysfunction in the foot all at the age of 19.
Even though the damage was intense, Scott thought himself to be fortunate to be living. He had multiple fractures on the left foot and ankle; he was relieved that the damage did not affect his head. He stayed ...
Yellowfin launches Mobile Business Intelligence Android App
2011-02-02
Yellowfin, a leader in Mobile Business Intelligence (BI), has released a dedicated android application that gives users the ability to run and access Yellowfin reporting and analytics from their android device, anywhere, anytime.
"Yellowfin's native android application allows you to interact with all your latest business data the same as you would from your PC," said Yellowfin CEO, Glen Rabie.
"Users have full access to Yellowfin's world-class BI features on-the-go. You're able to filter results, drill down and through data, comment on and email reports to make critical ...