Den Patten
1)
I don’t speak Portuguese.
2) Sorry Renata, but I don’t really like Port wine.
3)
My knowledge of Portuguese history is, well, limited.
They all came to look for America
It was probably almost entirely about fame
and fortune.
But I’d like to believe – it was, after all, the
“Age of Discovery” – in some small
(misguided?) way, they were trying to make
the world a little bit better.
Brown and Dillard (CPA 2012)
Correa and Laine (SEAJ 2013)
Dillard and Brown (SEAJ 2012)
Gray and Laughlin (AAAJ 2012)
Correa and Laine (2013, p. 134) rail
against “like-minded conformity” and
worry that enhanced homogeneity may
be leading “to an incremental research
culture that focuses on mimicry and
nitty-gritty details” (p. 138).
Gray and Laughlin (2012, p. 243) implore
the SEA community not “to settle quietly
and comfortably into undertaking ever
finer and more detailed descriptions of
practice.”
Spence et al. (2010, p. 85) argue “empirical (and
largely quantitative) analyses of corporate reports
has (sic)demonstrably permitted the rapid
production of research, but a focus on reporting
alone effectively precludes SER as anything other
than ideological production.”
They argue SEA research in the legitimacy,
stakeholder, and political economy domain is
nothing but “cargo cult science.”
Ouch!
Spence et al. (2010) refer to legitimacy theory-based
SEA research as a ‘coconut radio’
And I agree (sort of)!!
Why I engage in quantitative SEA
research
My Agenda (see Patten, SEAJ 2002)
Make a solid case that social and environmental
disclosure varies because many firms appear to use it as a
manipulative device to reduce exposures.
My Agenda (see Patten, SEAJ 2002)
Make a solid case that social and environmental
disclosure varies because many firms appear to use it as a
manipulative device to reduce exposures.
Provide evidence that existing disclosure practices
induce effects that are bad for the environment.
Making a solid case that social and environmental disclosure
varies because many firms appear to use it as a manipulative
device to reduce exposures.
Patten (JAPP 1991) – size and industry
Patten (AOS 1992) – changes in exposure
Patten (AOS 2002)
Cho and Patten (AOS 2007)
performance and disclosure
Providing evidence that existing disclosure practices induce
effects that are bad for the environment.
Freedman and Patten (AF 2004)
Cho, Guidry, Hageman, and Patten (AOS 2012)
(This is an area needing much more work.)
In each of these analyses, I am (we are) trying
to make the case that the expected relations
held across a broad sample of firms.
SER motivations appear “to be complex and
multifarious,” and further, “firms appear to be
reporting on socio-environmental issues for a
variety of reasons and in ways that are not
consistent across firms.”
I agree (with the observation)!
Connecting with (trying to educate?) the
more mainstream North American
literature
Blacconiere and Patten (JAE 1994)
Patten and Trompeter (JAPP 2003)
The ‘thrill of the hunt’
What I see as potential concerns
within quantitative SEA research
Reliance on Proxies (1)
The use of variables that don’t really
capture the underlying construct
Example: Dhaliwal et al. (2011)
Reliance on Proxies (2)
Failure to really assess the disclosure
taking place.
Reliance on Proxies (2)
Given the substantial variation in the
information being provided in reports,
binary variables (report or not, GRI or
not) don’t yield very rich analyses.
Inclusion of unjustified (almost always
financial) control variables.
Built on arguments from Verrecchia
(1983), Dye (1985), and Lang and
Lundholm (1993)
Inclusion of unjustified (almost always
financial) control variables.
None of those studies so much as
mentions social or environmental
information.
Inclusion of unjustified (almost always
financial) control variables.
Empirical evidence (Guidry and Patten,
2010) documents no consistent relation
for the financial variables used.
Failure to move beyond prior (often
basic) research.
“CSR Disclosure in Bolivia: A Test of
Legitimacy Theory”
The need to transcend
boundaries
I’ve dabbled with alternative methods.
Milne and Patten (AAAJ 2002)
Cho et al. (AAAJ 2009)
I’ve dabbled with alternative methods.
More recently, I had the opportunity to
work with Nana Zhao using interview
data from Chinese Managers.
Chinese managers reported they saw the
primary purpose for CSR reporting as
highlighting the positive social and
environmental contributions of their
firms.
This seems to corroborate prior
(quantitative) findings that CSR
disclosure seems to be more about image
enhancement than meaningful
accountability.
The interviews also revealed that the
Chinese managers perceived substantial
guidance for CSR reporting being
provided by their government.
Because prior studies suggest such
guidance appeared to lead to improved
reporting (Cho et al., 2013; Ho and
Taylor, 2007), the finding served as the
impetus for a new (quantitative)
investigation (Patten, Ren, and Zhao –
also under review).
The real point here is that alternative
approaches to research can inform and
advance each other.
Thomson (SEAJ 2013) encourages the
SEA community to seek out journals
beyond ‘the old favorites’ in order to be
“exposed to other ideas, research
methods, theories, and findings” (p.
146).
I like to think that, throughout my
career, I’ve tried to not only seek out
other journals, but other streams of
research as well.
Of course, I usually end up framing any
new ideas in terms of a potential
quantitative analysis.
its revolutionary zeal (Gray, Dillard, and
Spence, 2009)
its focus on the issues and concerns that
defined the early years of the movement
(Gray and Laughlin, 2013)
its passion (Correa and Laine, 2013)
“We are who we are now because of what
was when we were then”
Peter, Paul, and Mary
Bob Dylan
But most importantly . . .
“Kathy, I’m lost” I said though I knew she was sleeping.
“I’m empty and aching, and I don’t know why.”
Counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike,
They’ve all come to look for America.
O Fim