title: Exploring the antecedents and consequences of corporate environment performance for sustainable development

authors: Islam, Tiasha

abstract: Corporations are significant contributors to climate change, and increasing public awareness has led scholars to investigate Corporate Environmental Performance (CEP) and its relationship with sustainability. The empirical research on CEP remains limited, particularly regarding the antecedents (such as Board Composition Index) and consequences (such as Corporate Financial Performance) of CEP with impacts of several moderating factors (such as stakeholders, social media sentiment, corporate reputation, and national culture). This study aims to fill the gaps in extant literature by employing a multi-country dataset and rigorous econometric analysis to examine the objective of this thesis – exploring the antecedents and consequences of CEP. Corporate Environmental Performance, Board Composition Index and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) are the key variables that define the main hypothetical relationships explored in this thesis. CEP refers to corporate efforts to mitigate environmental risks, optimise resource utilisation, and reduce emissions. Board Composition Index refers to a composite of attributes of a corporate board, and Corporate Financial Performance refers to the measurement of a company's financial health and its ability to generate profits. In addition, this thesis investigates the moderating impact of several factors, such as community and regulatory stakeholders, on the relationship between BCI and CEP; the moderating impact of culture, management control strategies (MCS), Corporate Reputation and Social Media Sentiment on the relationship between CEP and CFP. The research is structured into three key parts, representing three articles that align with the key focus of the thesis. The first article investigates the antecedents of CEP, focusing on the composition of the board of directors and stakeholders' interests in CEP.  Stakeholder theory is the primary framework used in this article. The second article explores the consequences of CEP by analysing social media sentiment and corporate reputation. Drawing on the Resource-Based view, the article illustrates how firms can achieve a competitive advantage through enhanced CEP in dynamic environments.  In addition, Attribution Theory is employed to explain public perceptions of corporate sustainability efforts and their influence on social media sentiment, which in turn affects environmental performance. Article three examines the roles of national culture and proactive management control strategies in shaping CEP outcomes. All the articles in the thesis use panel datasets employing different regression techniques to test the proposed models. The thesis provides both theoretical and practical contributions. The research contributes to extant literature by offering valuable theoretical and practical insights that would interest academics and practitioners. Through a comprehensive methodological approach, including developing a Board Composition Index (BCI) and examining the joint impacts of stakeholders, the study provides new insights into how these variables influence CEP. Moreover, exploring the joint effect of social media sentiment and corporate reputation brings new understandings of how firms’ environmental performance influences financial performance. Additionally, exploring cultural influences and environmental management strategies deepens the knowledge of their role in the CEP-CFP relationship, offering practical guidance for managers in multinational corporations.

text: Exploring the antecedents and consequences of corporate environment performance for sustainable development Corporations are significant contributors to climate change, and increasing public awareness has led scholars to investigate Corporate Environmental Performance (CEP) and its relationship with sustainability. The empirical research on CEP remains limited, particularly regarding the antecedents (such as Board Composition Index) and consequences (such as Corporate Financial Performance) of CEP with impacts of several moderating factors (such as stakeholders, social media sentiment, corporate reputation, and national culture). This study aims to fill the gaps in extant literature by employing a multi-country dataset and rigorous econometric analysis to examine the objective of this thesis – exploring the antecedents and consequences of CEP. Corporate Environmental Performance, Board Composition Index and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) are the key variables that define the main hypothetical relationships explored in this thesis. CEP refers to corporate efforts to mitigate environmental risks, optimise resource utilisation, and reduce emissions. Board Composition Index refers to a composite of attributes of a corporate board, and Corporate Financial Performance refers to the measurement of a company's financial health and its ability to generate profits. In addition, this thesis investigates the moderating impact of several factors, such as community and regulatory stakeholders, on the relationship between BCI and CEP; the moderating impact of culture, management control strategies (MCS), Corporate Reputation and Social Media Sentiment on the relationship between CEP and CFP. The research is structured into three key parts, representing three articles that align with the key focus of the thesis. The first article investigates the antecedents of CEP, focusing on the composition of the board of directors and stakeholders' interests in CEP.  Stakeholder theory is the primary framework used in this article. The second article explores the consequences of CEP by analysing social media sentiment and corporate reputation. Drawing on the Resource-Based view, the article illustrates how firms can achieve a competitive advantage through enhanced CEP in dynamic environments.  In addition, Attribution Theory is employed to explain public perceptions of corporate sustainability efforts and their influence on social media sentiment, which in turn affects environmental performance. Article three examines the roles of national culture and proactive management control strategies in shaping CEP outcomes. All the articles in the thesis use panel datasets employing different regression techniques to test the proposed models. The thesis provides both theoretical and practical contributions. The research contributes to extant literature by offering valuable theoretical and practical insights that would interest academics and practitioners. Through a comprehensive methodological approach, including developing a Board Composition Index (BCI) and examining the joint impacts of stakeholders, the study provides new insights into how these variables influence CEP. Moreover, exploring the joint effect of social media sentiment and corporate reputation brings new understandings of how firms’ environmental performance influences financial performance. Additionally, exploring cultural influences and environmental management strategies deepens the knowledge of their role in the CEP-CFP relationship, offering practical guidance for managers in multinational corporations.

year: 2024-10-29

title: Professional online presence and learning networks: Educating for ethical use of social media

authors: Forbes, Dianne Leslie

subjects: teacher education

abstract: In a teacher education context, this study considers the use of social media for building a professional online presence and learning network. This article provides an overview of uses of social media in teacher education, presents a case study of key processes in relation to professional online presence and learning networks, and highlights issues and challenges for wider consideration. Specific practical illustrations are provided, relating experiences when starting out with social media, integrating coursework challenges for student teachers, and considering feedback and future planning. Social media is used in teacher education for sharing content, discussing, and collaborating. There are challenges and risks with social media in an academic context. Students require differentiated scaffolding depending on their expertise and confidence. In terms of social implications, professionals are warned to safeguard online reputation, while making proactive use of social media to enhance learning networks.

text: Professional online presence and learning networks: Educating for ethical use of social media In a teacher education context, this study considers the use of social media for building a professional online presence and learning network. This article provides an overview of uses of social media in teacher education, presents a case study of key processes in relation to professional online presence and learning networks, and highlights issues and challenges for wider consideration. Specific practical illustrations are provided, relating experiences when starting out with social media, integrating coursework challenges for student teachers, and considering feedback and future planning. Social media is used in teacher education for sharing content, discussing, and collaborating. There are challenges and risks with social media in an academic context. Students require differentiated scaffolding depending on their expertise and confidence. In terms of social implications, professionals are warned to safeguard online reputation, while making proactive use of social media to enhance learning networks.

year: 2017

title: Shifting tectonic plates of key discourses in New Zealand early childhood education policy (1989-2017):  A critical discourse analysis at the dawn of change

authors: Westbrook, Fiona

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
The findings of this thesis imply socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism are constantly competing with one another in the analysed policies that construct New Zealand ECE discourses and, as a consequence, influence practice. This plurality has the potential to hinder one discourse from gaining domination over the others. Their joint consumption's and conflicts appear to periodically lessen and strengthen neoliberalism’s power/knowledges across eras, administrations, policies and paragraphs, as exemplified in the updated curriculum. These findings imply that the ‘drivers’ of power are pivotal, hindering and strengthening these discourses which are both complementary and competing. Additionally, the thesis establishes implications regarding the rich complexities of discourses, which can conceal themselves in other discourses, calling for deeper critical reflection if some power/knowledges are to be reduced.

text: Shifting tectonic plates of key discourses in New Zealand early childhood education policy (1989-2017):  A critical discourse analysis at the dawn of change This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
The findings of this thesis imply socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism are constantly competing with one another in the analysed policies that construct New Zealand ECE discourses and, as a consequence, influence practice. This plurality has the potential to hinder one discourse from gaining domination over the others. Their joint consumption's and conflicts appear to periodically lessen and strengthen neoliberalism’s power/knowledges across eras, administrations, policies and paragraphs, as exemplified in the updated curriculum. These findings imply that the ‘drivers’ of power are pivotal, hindering and strengthening these discourses which are both complementary and competing. Additionally, the thesis establishes implications regarding the rich complexities of discourses, which can conceal themselves in other discourses, calling for deeper critical reflection if some power/knowledges are to be reduced.

year: 2018