Dr. Judith Schrempf-Stirling and Dr. Robert Phillips

October 29, 2015
Robins School professors' paper on corporate social responsibility published in prestigious management journal

By Diana Muggeridge, ’16, Media & PR Student Assistant

A paper by two Robins School of Business management professors has been published in the Academy of Management Review, one of the country’s highest-regarded management journals.

Dr. Judith Schrempf-Stirling and Dr. Robert Phillips, along with Dr. Guido Palazzo, professor of business ethics at University of Lausanne in Switzerland, co-wrote, “Historic Corporate Social Responsibility,” a paper examining when corporations are held responsible for the actions of previous generations’ leadership.

It questions the theoretical basis for holding a business responsible for past management decisions, the process by which such claims are raised and how a corporation’s response affects its legitimacy.

“I began this paper after learning of IBM’s involvement in the Holocaust,” said Schrempf-Stirling, the paper’s lead author. “When I started my research I found many stories like IBM’s and became fascinated with how firms with similar histories have different approaches to their past.”

“Our paper is important for the overall company, and for every employee who might feel disappointed or betrayed by its firm’s history,” she added.

Schrempf-Stirling received a Ph.D. in business and economics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and Phillips received a Ph.D. in management and business ethics from the University of Virginia.