Corporate South Africa's response to HIV/AIDS: Why so slow?

Dickinson, David

doi:10.1080/0305707042000254137

Cited by 31 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…However, confronted with a number of economic and social problems, the ANC's new affiliation to neo-liberalism led to unprecedented levels of mass unemployment, widespread acute poverty, and increased levels of crime and violence (Dickinson, 2004). By 2000, the true magnitude of the social challenges, particularly the HIV/AIDS pandemic facing the country, had become more visible (Fig, 2005).…”

Section: Hiv/aids and South Africa: Context And Corporate Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, leading ANC figures, including its president, Thabo Imbeku, exacerbated the problem by publicly questioning the link between HIV and AIDS (Dickinson, 2004). Similarly, the Health Minister, Manto TshabalalaMsimang, publicly cast serious doubts on the effectiveness of anti-retroviral drugs, and openly refused to provide anti-retroviral medication to people infected with the AIDS virus (Dickinson, 2004). Together with its failure to appreciate the true magnitude and consequences of the disease, scepticism and cynicism by the political elite ensured that HIV/AIDS escalated into a full-scale health pandemic.…”

Section: Hiv/aids and South Africa: Context And Corporate Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The number of AIDS-related deaths was estimated to be close to 100,000 in 1999 and this reached 400,000 in 2009 (SA Department of Health, 2010: 11). A major reason for the high prevalence levels of the AIDS virus in SA is the legacy of a long history of inequalities and poor labour practices during the apartheid era, notably in the mining industry (Dickinson, 2004;Fig, 2005).…”

Section: Hiv/aids and South Africa: Context And Corporate Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Significantly, though, several opportunities for the SA corporations emerged from such government inaction. First, it granted corporate leaders the platform from which to criticise government policy, whilst escaping public blame for their own lukewarm response in the workplace (Dickinson, 2004;Fig, 2005). Second -and arguably -the government's failure to take action contributed to the inability of corporate SA to appreciate the potential negative effects of the pandemic on corporate operations (Lawrence & Samkin, 2005) and subsequently its failure to develop and implement policies and programmes to tackle the spread of the disease among its workforce.…”

Section: Hiv/aids and South Africa: Context And Corporate Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social and environmental accounting as symbolic and substantive means of legitimation: The case of HIV/AIDS reporting in South Africa

Soobaroyen¹,

Ntim

2013

Accounting Forum

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We develop an interpretive framework which combines Suchman's (1995) work on the dynamics of organisational legitimacy and Ashforth and Gibbs ' (1990) concepts of symbolic and substantive management to investigate how and why public corporations rely on symbolic and substantive social disclosures. We apply this framework to the case of the HIV/AIDS health crisis in South Africa (SA) and examine the corporate disclosure behaviour of a sample of 75 SA-listed corporations from 2003 to 2009. We use content analysis procedures to codify the disclosures and devise a disclosure index based on the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines on HIV/AIDS to assess whether corporations have adopted a substantive management strategy. Our findings suggest that public corporations use a combination of substantive and symbolic disclosures in a bid to seek specific forms of moral legitimacy (structural, procedural, and consequential) and pragmatic legitimacy (dispositional, influence, and exchange). Our analysis reveals that the mix of substantive and symbolic disclosures is altered as a result of changes in stakeholder salience, societal attitudes and the corporation's current 'state' of legitimacy. Overall, the findings demonstrate that our analytical framework is useful in understanding how substantive and/or symbolic disclosures could be relied upon to achieve specific types of organisational legitimacy.

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Section: Hiv/aids and South Africa: Context And Corporate Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hiv/aids and South Africa: Context And Corporate Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hiv/aids and South Africa: Context And Corporate Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hiv/aids and South Africa: Context And Corporate Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Social and environmental accounting as symbolic and substantive means of legitimation: The case of HIV/AIDS reporting in South Africa

Soobaroyen¹,

Ntim

2013

Accounting Forum

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“…This paper provides a framework for conceptualising the response of large South African companies to HIV/AIDS.There is a substantial body of work on the impact of HIV/AIDS on companies (Barnett & Whiteside, 2002;Clarke & Strachan, 2000;ILO, 2001;Rosen, Simon,Thea & Vincent, 2000;UNAIDS, 2000;Whiteside & Sunter, 2000), along with surveys (Dickinson & Innes, 2004;Sabcoha, 2002;Sabcoha, 2004; and occasional in-depth studies on how companies are responding to HIV/AIDS (Department of Health, 1999;Dickinson, 2003;UNAIDS, 2002).The initial response of business to HIV/AIDS has been slow (Dickinson, 2004), but this now appears to be accelerating.There is also a considerable body of literature on why companies should respond to HIV/AIDS. Less work has been done in explaining why companies respond and why they respond in the ways that they do (Stevens, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the response of large South African companies to HIV/AIDS

Dickinson

Stevens

2005

SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS

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This paper provides a framework analysing the response of South African companies to HIV/AIDS. Drawing on three case studies of companies, each with over 20 000 South African-based employees, we identify six 'drivers' that influence corporate behaviour regarding HIV/AIDS: legal requirements, voluntary regulation, business costs, social pressures, visibility of the disease, and individuals within companies.We suggest that costs calculations, while possibly underestimating indirect and macro-implications, are not key in driving company responses to HIV/AIDS.The law and voluntary regulation have influenced, but not determined, the response of companies to HIV/AIDS. Social pressures on companies are of importance, but the scale and complexity of need in South Africa has seen the deflecting of this driver. Of greater reference in determining responses has been the social pressure of other companies' responses.The general visibility of the AIDS epidemic is also a significant factor in explaining companies' responses to HIV/AIDS. Moreover, the visibility of HIV/AIDS within companies has influenced the responses of often relatively weak, internal agents who have been attempting to drive companies' HIV/AIDS programmes.We conclude that external drivers -legal requirements, economic performance, and social pressures -have framed corporate responses to HIV/AIDS to a degree, but have generally been weak. Moreover, there has been relatively little synergy between these external drivers and the internal drivers -voluntary regulation, visibility, and company HIV/AIDS 'champions' -that could propel companies into pro-active, bold responses to HIV/AIDS. Keywords: companies, HIV response, South Africa. RÉSUMÉCette communication met à disposition un cadre qui analyse la réponse des sociétés sud-africaines au VIH/SIDA. En tirant sur trois études de cas de ces sociétés, chacune ayant 20 000 employés vivant en Afrique du Sud, nous identifions six conducteurs qui influencent le comportement de corporation par rapport au VIH/SIDA: des dispositions réglementaires, un règlement volontaire, des coûts d'affaires, des pressions sociales, une visibilité de la maladie et des individus au sein des sociétés.Nous suggérons que les calculs de coûts, entre temps les implications indirectes et macros sont peut-être sousestimées, ne sont pas prioritaires pour diriger les réponses des sociétés au VIH/SIDA. La loi et le règlement volontaire ont influencé, et non pas déterminé, la réponse des sociétés. Les pressions sociales sur les sociétés ont plus d'importance, mais l'ampleur et la complexité du besoin en Afrique du Sud a détourné ce conducteur. La pression sociale des réponses des autres sociétés fut une référence importante qui a déterminé la réponse. La visibilité générale de l'épidémie du SIDA est également un facteur important dans l'explication des réponses de sociétés au VIH/SIDA. D'autant plus que la visibilité du VIH/SIDA au sein des sociétés a influencé les réponses des agents, souvent relativement faibles, qui ont essayé de diriger...

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Vulnerable and exploitable: The need for organisational accountability and transparency in emerging and less developed economies

2013

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Vulnerable and exploitable: The need for accountability and transparency in emerging and less developed economies AbstractThe aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the papers which appear in this special issue of Accounting Forum. The paper sets out the background and rationale for this special issue, introduces the papers contained within it and discusses their contributions to the literature on social and environmental accounting and accountability in emerging and less developed economies. This discussion is informed by the notions of vulnerability and exploitability. The final section of the paper provides conclusions and directions for future research in this under-researched area.

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Corporate South Africa's response to HIV/AIDS: Why so slow?

Cited by 31 publications

References 0 publications

Social and environmental accounting as symbolic and substantive means of legitimation: The case of HIV/AIDS reporting in South Africa

Social and environmental accounting as symbolic and substantive means of legitimation: The case of HIV/AIDS reporting in South Africa

Understanding the response of large South African companies to HIV/AIDS

Vulnerable and exploitable: The need for organisational accountability and transparency in emerging and less developed economies

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