Gender equality is still an issue in business schools, since women in MBAs classrooms, in faculty and in management teams have low representation. Challenges caused by lack of financial aids, salaries gap and a very masculine model avoid a better gender balance in the business graduate schools, which, globally, should lead women personal and professional development. The main objective of this research is to analyse business schools communication priorities related to gender equality projects and policies in their sustainability reports, considering these as a fundamental tool for corporate legitimacy. Through a content analysis of the sustainable reports of the top 50 business schools of the world, we elaborate a “Codes Frequency Report” focusing on “Goal 4: quality of education” (in relation with scholarships and grants allocation) and “Goal 5: gender equality” and we explore the correlations with the schools’ ranking positions, the price of the MBA programmes, the percentage of female MBA students, of female faculty members and women in board of directors in the different geographical areas as Europe, US and Asia. Results show that gender equality related topics are a source of positive impact and legitimacy for top business schools.
In the context of the fast fashion industry, this study examined the efficacy of sustainable collections in achieving corporate legitimacy. We examine the ethical branding and organizational legitimacy relationship in the context of the fast fashion industry. We conducted an online experiment with the use of Amazon MTurk in the Unites States. The data were collected from female fast fashion users (N = 389). The data analysis revealed that fast fashion retailers' sustainable collections had a positive impact on corporate legitimacy, CSR perception, brand trust, and purchase intention. This study also uncovered that the company's sustainable collections increased consumers' attributions to altruistic motives and consumers' altruistic attributions had a positive influence on corporate legitimacy, CSR perception, brand trust, and purchase intention. Furthermore, this study found the mediating role of altruistic attributions in explaining the impact of sustainable collections on these four outcome variables. Regarding the sustainable collections' design and production, managerial implications are described as the need to communicate the ethical approach and efforts.
The article aims to analyze the cause–effect relationship between Brand Ethicality Perception (CPE), legitimacy and purchase intention during the COVID-19 first wave, taking into consideration the mediation effect of the country of residence. Data collection was based on a survey launched during the COVID-19 lockdown in Madrid and New York. To analyze the established hypotheses and to test the multigroup analysis, we applied a structural modelling with SmartPLS. The research contributes to the field of brand management, and specifically of ethical branding, since it will analyze how stakeholders’ expectations fulfillment is key to build a consistent and valued brand meaning in crisis’ situations, demonstrating that ethical behaviors are key for gaining corporate legitimacy and, therefore, for improving business performances.
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