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The climate crisis and the alarming loss of biodiversity require urgent action. One of the most popular tools to tackle these crises is offsetting, an accounting logic through which environmental damages can be compensated elsewhere with environmental benefits. Developed to help address the climate crisis, the carbon offsetting logic has also been transposed to address biodiversity loss. Biodiversity offsets permit the compensation of residual environmental damages through equivalent gains undertaken elsewhere. This article identifies three arguments that show why such a transposition is problematic. To explain the fundamental problem with biodiversity offsetting, the famous Lessing's "Nathan the Wise" Ring Parable (Ringparabel) is proposed as an allegoric interpretation of the biodiversity offsetting logic, stressing that unique entities lose their uniqueness and power once people try to replicate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the issue of ethics inflation in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The author expresses concern about the increasing demand for ethics in AI, as it leads to a devaluation of quality and substance. The author specifically criticizes the AI system Delphi, operated by the Allen Institute for AI, for its inflated and diluted concept of ethics. The author argues that ethics should be based on theoretical reflection and guided by reason, rather than being reduced to personal values or etiquette. The article emphasizes the importance of ethical theory and the need for informed ethicists to provide reasonable ethical judgments. [Extracted from the article]

The complex relationships between humans and AI-empowered machines have created and inspired new products and services as well as controversial debates, fiction and entertainment, and last but not least, a striving and vital field of research. The (theoretical) convergence between the two categories of entities has created stimulating concepts and theories in the past, such as the uncanny valley, machinization of humans through datafication, or humanization of machines, known as anthropomorphization. In this article, we identify a new gap in the relational interaction between humans and AI triggered by commercial interests, making use of AI through advertisement, marketing, and corporate communications. Our scope is to broaden the field of AI and society by adding the business-society-nexus. Thus, we build on existing research streams of machinewashing and the analogous phenomenon of greenwashing to theorize about the humanwashing of AI-enabled machines as a specific anthropomorphization notion. In this way, the article offers a contribution to the anthropomorphization literature conceptualizing humanwashing as a deceptive use of AI-enabled machines (AIEMs) aimed at intentionally or unintentionally misleading organizational stakeholders and the broader public about the true capabilities that AIEMs possess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates how contextual factors affect unethicality assessment of products. The research is conducted in the context of gifts and compares interpersonal gifts (IGs) and self-gifts (SGs) by examining individuals' reactions in front of unethical gifts. Five experiments investigate how individuals assess product unethicality differently, depending on the source of the gift, being the Self or a gifter. This research employs attribution theory to explain the differences between IGs and SGs and identify psychological distance as a boundary condition for the effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we posit that corporate political activities (CPA) such as lobbying make use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to advance instrumental goals. We juxtapose the theoretical foundations of the normative concept of political CSR and the strategic notion of nonmarket strategy to show that they are in opposition conceptually regarding the role of corporations in public policy. Using a systematic theoretical comparison along seven dimensions, we discuss the juxtapositions and identify the common ground of the two theories. Building on examples from the alcohol industry, we describe how CPA uses instrumental CSR to advance goals in public policy—we call this politicized CSR. Hence, we illustrate the shift from political to politicized CSR, a misuse of CSR for purposes of CPA, and discuss consequences for the theory and practice of public affairs and CSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the potential to transfer big data algorithms developed for ‘predictive policing’ to the field of corporate sustainability. To do so the paper starts with the thought experiment asking if major corporate scandals with disastrous environmental (BP Oil spill) or social (Rana Plaza building collapse) consequences, or global warming and floods could be prevented if big data driven predictive algorithms were in place. The article reviews first efforts to utilize big data for promoting sustainability and for reducing harm. By analogy the concept of ‘predictive policing’ is identified to be transferred to a concept called “Predictive Sustainability Control”. A systematic literature review on predictive policing is conducted. In a next step all parameters, characteristics, functional areas and processes, as well as legal and ethical issues of predictive policing were clustered and presented. Subsequently the concept is developed out of the clustered themes and criteria (Table 1) and a definition is provided: Predictive Sustainability Control is the use of analytical techniques to identify subjects for mutual deliberation, supervision and intervention with the goal of preventing future harm related to environmental, social and governance issues, solving past scandals, and identifying potential actors/corporations of unsustainable activities and their stakeholders in the near future. Furthermore three functional areas ( sustainability management, stakeholder partnership and regulatory integration ) are defined and the concept is operationalized in a big data driven environment (Fig. 1). In the operationalization the concept of a digital ‘planetary nervous system’ is proposed and eXtensible Business Reporting Language data repositories used in corporate data management and Corporate Social Responsibility reporting were integrated to arrive at a data set, where predictive analytics could be applied to prevent future harm and reduce current unsustainability. In conclusion the question of governance, data protection and privacy is discussed critically and future research avenues for theory advancement and empirical testing are presented. In closing limitations of legality and functionality are discussed. The overall scientific value can be seen in the potential, which big data and algorithms have also for promoting and enforcing sustainable development based on rigorous data management leading to the predictive identification of likely unsustainable events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I address the call for a “new approach to sustainability reporting” (Lubin and Esty, 2014) based on the present “sustainability gap” and propose the concept of “digitally unified reporting.” This is achieved by reviewing two major trends from distinct bodies of literature: “integrated reporting” from the sustainability field and unified data based “XBRL-integrated reports” as established in financial reporting making use of the digital standard XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language). Based on a systematic literature review, eight trend statements are derived pointing at gaps and issues in the field of sustainability reporting and management. Following this review, I propose a new concept called “digitally unified reporting” that addresses these issues. The core contribution is an XBRL-based approach to sustainability reporting that combines digital data management of sustainability performance measurement with digitally standardized sustainability reporting. To advance theory, “digitally unified reporting” is defined and discussed and positioned as a “twin track approach” to sustainability reporting (Burritt and Schaltegger, 2010) that provides both an inside-out and an outside-in perspective on sustainability reporting and management. The major advancement and theoretical contribution of the proposed concept is a time-ontological shift due to 24/7/365 digital transparency . This proposed shift is from retrospective reporting on past performance to digitally enabled and interoperable real-time transparency of performance measurement and reporting for managers and external stakeholders. Finally, the concept is compared to current conventional reporting approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, skepticism and mistrust toward companies often prevail among both stakeholders and scholars. However, the overall content quality of CSR reports has only sparsely evoked researchers' attention. Therefore, this paper focuses on the credibility of CSR reports, based on both human and software-enhanced quantitative content analysis of 237 CSR reports from 11 European countries. Credibility is conceptualized as a multilayered construct along CSR and communication theories, filling the theory void in the field. The influence of contextual (e.g., industry), format, and firm-level (e.g., size) factors on reporting credibility is also investigated. The results show that European CSR reports do not score high on credibility, leaving much room for improvement. The study finds that it is standardization and content that matter most for reporting credibility; external influences are secondary, at best. To be considered credible, CSR reports must first be understandable to their readers; in addition, credibility involves truth, sincerity, and stakeholder specificity. Voluntary standardization affects CSR reporting credibility positively, whereas regulation does not yet have the same positive effect. Based on the empirical results of the content analysis, we present a new two-phase-model of reporting credibility . For practice, we suggest that companies focus on the contents of their reports to render them more credible. To raise credibility levels consistently, policy makers can create a level playing field in CSR reporting regulation, as already initiated by several countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the relationship between business ethics and philosophy, specifically in relation to the field and persons working in it. The starting point is a grammatical one: business ethics by the rules of grammar belongs to ethics. In terms of academic disciplines, it belongs to applied ethics, which belongs to ethics, which belongs to practical philosophy, which belongs to philosophy. However, in the field of business ethics today one will seldom meet colleagues from philosophy; instead, they will come from business, applying business studies perspectives, approaches, and increasingly quantitative methods. This article provides empirical evidence that today the three top journals with 'business ethics' in their titles (and 'awarded' a high impact factor) are mostly run (in terms of their editorial boards) by business scholars with PhDs in business. The article compares the three journals today with their inaugural issues and finds that at their inception all three were run by a majority of philosophers. The article discusses six possible explanations for this shift and provides suggestions for how to bring business ethics back to philosophers (and vice versa). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As corporate public affairs officers have only rarely been researched in Switzerland, this study contributes a situation analysis of Swiss public affairs officers, their work processes, and biographical background to further fill this empirical gap. First, the existing public affairs research regarding Switzerland is reviewed, and research questions are derived. The research was conducted by sending out a survey to the members of the Swiss Association for Public Affairs, followed by personal in-depth interviews with 11 public affairs officers. The findings show that respondents work in organizations that employ 1 to 82,100 people are all Swiss nationals, and their departments are mostly called 'public affairs'. The responsibility of public affairs is predominantly for senior or top management level, and the majority of public affairs officers report to the director of their department. The respondents are highly educated. Moreover, the paper asks whether public affairs is conducted in a strategic way by taking Fleisher's 10 elements as a conceptual basis. Results show that strategic involvement of their activities is rather low. Recommendations are discussed in order to increase the strategic involvement and advance professionalization of public affairs in Switzerland with specific regard for the political system. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's New Silk Road (aka Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)) will invest a 1 trillion USD budget across Asia, Africa and Europe. As BRI wants to contribute also to sustainable development, the authors argue that only open digital participation of all citizens, corporations and governments and the collective intelligence, collaborative innovation and co-creation will make BRI a global role model for sustainability. For a highly networked, globalized, complex and digitalized world with limited resources the key ingredients for sustainable success are the following 10Cs: co-thinking, co-working, co-learning, co-creation, combinatorial innovation, co-ownership, co-ordination, co-operation, co-evolution, and collective intelligence. By linking BRI with digital infrastructures and corporate data management systems, a coordinated but distributed effort may be achieved with positive effects on social responsibility and sustainability for supply chains, data management, corporate reporting and regulatory issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engaging in comparative lobbying research is a challenging task, because public affairs is complex and highly context‐dependent. Thus, qualitative case studies have been researchers' primary choice. However, the case method has been subject to much debate surrounding its rigor, in terms of reliability, internal validity, and generalizability, and particularly its potential for theory building. To propose a framework for researchers conducting lobbying case studies as well as for reviewers receiving such work, we apply a positivistic approach on case study rigor from management studies and expand the framework to tackle the specific challenges of comparative qualitative lobbying research. Thus, we expand the research framework by a set of variables specific to public affairs: We add enrichment for internal validity, contextuality, and comparability for external validity, interdisciplinarity for construct validity, and hypertext‐searchable databases for reliability. Thereby, we aim to transfer the lessons learned from management studies in terms of rigorous qualitative case studies to public affairs to help build novel and explanatory theory in the field and to provide guidance to researchers how to design a rigorous case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the framing strategies lobbyists apply to influence public policy in a case on nuclear emission data in Switzerland. Framing analysis is at the heart of communication science and has been applied in lobbying settings, but framing theory has not yet been fine‐tuned to the specificities of public affairs research. This qualitative case study gives insights into the dominant frames seven actors ranging from corporations to nongovernmental organizations to public institutions employ to defend a legal court case in the nuclear power industry. The results of the document analysis and the interviews show that frames travel among diverse actors and only some are picked up by the courts, at times stating a position opposite to the one initially intended by the frame sponsor. A public affairs‐specific integrated process model of framing is presented that views the media in the role of a moderator in the framing process and pronounces the lobbying organizations' strategic goals, the different stakeholders as target audiences, and the outcomes of the public affairs process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Education for sustainable development (ESD) is gaining increased attention in tertiary education. According to the literature, ESD affects not only the content of education, but also its process and outcomes. This requires a new learning culture based on participative processes and new teaching techniques. Among the different methods and techniques as typologized by Figueirò and Raufflet (2015), action and experiential learning methods offer a promising approach for teaching sustainability. However, no previous studies have empirically addressed the effects of this approach on sustainability learning outcomes. For this reason, with the objective of understanding the potentials and limitations of such methodology, this paper presents an exploratory study of a teaching experience based on the action and experiential learning approach, and in particular on the simulation game technique. A pre-game and post-game survey were developed to evaluate the students' learning experience of a business game focused on sustainability (napuro). The study was carried out at two universities in Switzerland. The results suggest that the action learning approach, and in particular, simulation and gaming, may successfully generate cognitive and affective learning outcomes which in turn may affect students' development of critical thinking skills. In addition, the study suggests the central role of motivation in influencing students' learning outcomes. The game seems to be more effective in influencing the student's expertise in the subject and their attitudes toward sustainability when the student records a high level of motivation to attend the course and interest in the subject before the game. Highlights • The article presents and evaluates a new teaching technique for ESD based on the so-called action learning approach. • The results suggest that napuro affects attitudes toward sustainability and develop their critical-thinking skills. • The study highlights the central role of motivation and personal interests in influencing students' learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health data bear great promises for a healthier and happier life, but they also make us vulnerable. Making use of millions or billions of data points, Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are now creating new benefits. For sure, harvesting Big Data can have great potentials for the health system, too. It can support accurate diagnoses, better treatments and greater cost effectiveness. However, it can also have undesirable implications, often in the sense of undesired side effects, which may in fact be terrible. Examples for this, as discussed in this article, are discrimination, the mechanisation of death, and genetic, social, behavioural or technological selection, which may imply eugenic effects or social Darwinism. As many unintended effects become visible only after years, we still lack sufficient criteria, long-term experience and advanced methods to reliably exclude that things may go terribly wrong. Handing over decision-making, responsibility or control to machines, could be dangerous and irresponsible. It would also be in serious conflict with human rights and our constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]