Conference in Vienna, July 2007

Call for papers

Regulating Organizations through Codes of Corporate Governance

Subtheme at the 23rd EGOS Colloquium, Vienna, July 5–7, 2007

We have the pleasure to invite papers to the sub-theme “Regulating Organizations through Codes of Corporate Governance” at the 23rd colloquium of the European Group of Organization Studies. Our aim is to bring together a lively multidisciplinary group to explore the important issues that arise from the present developments of corporate governance codes and their influence on business corporations and other organizations.

Deadline for abstracts of about 800 words is January 15, 2007. Full submission details and other conference information is available on the EGOS website (www.egosnet.org). If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sub-theme description

Despite the pervasiveness of codes of corporate governance and the propagation of code regulation by transnational actors, e.g. by the EU, there is still surprisingly little research on the functioning of code regulation. Studies are only just beginning to appear that track the implementation of codes (e.g. Von Werder et al 2005). Such research is important, yet we believe that it is time to move the research agenda on codes forward. This, first of all, means studying the entire process from the development of the code, to the dissemination of the code, to the interpretation of the code by various stakeholders, to the implementation of the code by individual companies, to the reaction by the various stakeholders to deviations from the code and to the processes of revising the code. In addition to that it also seems necessary to delve deeper into the different elements of this process. For example, rather than just analyzing public compliance statements, as most surveys do, it seems necessary to study also the concrete governance practices in the individual organizations. Another important concern is to compare the intellectual and institutional foundations for code formulation and application across different countries.

In this subtheme we call for papers that explore various aspects of corporate governance code regulation. We are interested both in conceptual and empirical papers – both qualitative and quantitative. Of particular interest are papers with a comparative perspective. Submissions from scholars working in all areas of the social sciences are welcome.

Possible topics for submissions include:

• What theoretical perspectives can usefully be applied for studying code regulation, e.g. Institutional Theory, Agency Theory?

• What is the relation between code regulation and statuary laws?

• What effect does the introduction of codes have on the organizational field, for example, the emergence of new types of organization (e.g. corporate governance rating agencies) or new types of practices?

• What do the processes of code formulation look like? What interests are involved? How are conflicts of interest resolved?

• What assumptions, e.g. about human behaviour or about the interaction between organizations and their stakeholders, are the codes based on?

• How do companies respond to code regulation? How are codes implemented?

• How are compliance statements linked to actual practices in the respective organizations?

• Which stakeholders look at compliance statements and what relevance do the statements have for them?

• How ‘voluntary’ are the codes in practice?

• Are similar codes emerging also in other fields, e.g. the public sector, or on other topics, e.g. CSR? How do they compare?

• Finally, critical reviews that take stock of the emerging literatures on corporate governance codes are also welcomed.

For further information please visit the conference homepage at www.egosnet.org.