Sarah Stephen

Lecturer in Strategy and Business Ethics at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. She holds a PhD in Economics, specialising in Management, from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Her research focuses on the intersection of society, the environment, and organizations, particularly in relation to environmental responsibility, ESG and responsible investing, climate action, and ethical decision-making.

Joined: 10/05/2019
Articles: 154
Comments: 1

Commentary

Black History Month and Business & Society

This quick overview helps to take stock of the steps Business & Society took to engage with issues of race and racial justice. This is a useful starting point for us to think about the steps we need to take as a scholarly community to recognize, celebrate, and facilitate the achievements of Black people and to push harder for inclusion. And, also to use this moment to think about the oppressed and marginalized groups in other contexts to consider how we can address issues of inequality and inclusion in our research and practice.

Journal Article

Does Income Inequality Limit or Increase Business Investment from Abroad?

We sought to understand how income inequality could impact one of the most important decisions that a multinational business could make: where to locate their production operations. If different levels of inequality are conducive to different business activities, then reducing inequality would require a fundamental shift among policy makers on how such a socio-economic goal attracts foreign investment.

Sarah Stephen
02/17/2021

Journal Article

Government-driven environmental reporting in China: Limitations and prospects

The Chinese government’s recent emphasis on environmental issues has encouraged firms to pay more attention to their environmental activities and reporting; however, the comprehensiveness and transparency of their reporting appear to have reached a plateau. But there are opportunities to revive this process by expanding the diversity and power of local stakeholders to act as watchdogs and as Chinese firms become more exposed to global influences through the process of internationalisation.

Sarah Stephen
02/10/2021

Journal Article

Transparency is more than more information

Transparency is often understood as a simple matter of handing out more information - this narrow focus overlooks complex communication processes that also create new realities.

Sarah Stephen
01/27/2021

Commentary

Business & Society on social media – disseminating research and boosting social impact

I cover the who, how and why of social media in Business & Society (BAS). In doing so, I do not just limit myself to highlighting numbers about the social media impact of our journal. Rather, I also use the opportunity to offer an insight into the backstage of our social media work and the reasons for doing it. I would also like to share some tips about why and how you can contribute to supporting the presence of BAS in social media.

Sarah Stephen
01/20/2021

Commentary

Reflections on Business & Society blog’s 2020 journey

The annual year-in-review providing readers with a glimpse into behind the scenes of the BAS blog. The stated aim of the blog is to highlight key research findings to the wider community of researchers, practitioners, and the general public. In addition to this, we hope to provide a platform for discussing current events and redirecting academic research into addressing such topics.

Sarah Stephen
12/17/2020

Journal Article

Implementing socially responsible investing in Swiss banks and insurance companies

The study indicates how corresponding time horizons can be organized to advance the implementation of socially responsible investing in financial institutions. The empirically identified mechanisms associated with different time horizons help banks and insurance companies systematically anchor socially responsible investing in their core business.

Sarah Stephen
12/16/2020

Journal Article

How corruption networks endure through control and versatility

We demonstrate how corruption networks adopt control mechanisms traditionally associated with formal organizations and how this is central to their effectiveness.

Sarah Stephen
12/09/2020

Special Issue

Cross-Sector Partnerships as Capitalism’s new Development Agents: Reconceiving Impact as Empowerment

We particularly call attention to how the focus on ‘outcome’ has overshadowed the lack of research into local ‘impact’.

Sarah Stephen
12/02/2020

Special Issue

Is Corporate Social Responsibility bound to fail?

In order to explore whether CSR is indeed bound to fail, I explore the most common criticisms of CSR: that CSR works as an expansion of corporate power, propagates a “business ontology” according to which market mechanisms are strictly preferably over alternative modes of societal coordination, and is most often used as a means to veil essentially problematic business activities.

Sarah Stephen
11/25/2020