Empty words? Criticizing and defending the UN Global Compact

Sustainability Seminar Series hosted by the Research Cluster on Sustainability Governance invites you to a seminar with:
Patrick Haack, Postdoc, University of Zurich and Andreas Rasche, Professor, CBS (discussant)
 
“Empty words? Criticizing and defending the UN Global Compact”

Patrick Haack	Andreas Rasche

Abstract:
In their article “United Nations Global Compact: The Promise-Performance Gap”, Sethi, S.P. and Schepers, D.H. address the question of whether participation in the UN Global Compact (UNGC) has an impact on CSR efforts of corporate signatories. They find that participation has not enhanced company performance and therefore question the legitimacy and sustained existence of the UNGC.
At this seminar, Patrick Haack will expose the deeper conceptual structure underlying Sethi and Scheper’s analysis and other prominent assessments of the UNGC. Drawing on research in cognitive linguistics, Haack theorizes that Sethi and Schepers and other evaluators of transnational governance metaphorically think and speak of the UNGC as a family, with evaluators corresponding to the parents of the family, and business participants corresponding to the children of the family. Consequently, evaluators’ understanding of how a family is best organized sets different benchmarks against which business conduct is assessed. Specifically, Haack will describe two ideal models of “educating” business participants of the UNGC.
Professor Andreas Rasche will act as discussant at the seminar. Andreas Rasche is Professor of Business in Society at the Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (cbsCSR) at CBS and is also cluster leader of the Research Cluster on Sustainability Governance funded by the sustainability Platform. Since 2007, Andreas has been collaborating with the UN Global Compact in the context of different projects and currently serves on the Global Compact LEAD Steering Committee. More information is available at: http://www.arasche.com.
 
The seminar will be moderated by Associate Professor Dennis Schoeneborn (ICM).

When: 17 February, 12:30 - 14:00 - Where: CBS, Porcelænshaven 18B, room: S-0.23
 
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The seminar is open to the public. Registration is necessary before February 16.

Resources:
Article: Sethi, S.P. and Schepers, D.H. “United Nations Global Compact: The Promise-Performance Gap”
Book: The United Nations Global Compact – Achievements, Trends and Challenges
Website: UN Global Compact
 
We look forward to seeing you.
 
Bio:
Patrick Haack is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich, Switzerland. His specific research interests include the cognitive and communicative mechanisms underlying legitimacy in transnational governance, the international diffusion of corporate responsibility practices, the heuristic foundation of social judgment formation, and recent developments in research methodology, especially the application of experiments and quasi-experiments to the study of institutionalization and legitimation. Patrick’s dissertation work has been published in Organization Studies and is forthcoming in the Journal of Management Studies.