Hazardous Trust: ‘Engaged’ Governance and the Containment of Britain’s Nuclear Legacy

TY - JOUR

T1 - Hazardous Trust: ‘Engaged’ Governance and the Containment of Britain’s Nuclear Legacy

AU - Ng, Wilson

AU - Pemberton, Barry. C.

N1 - Barry Pemberton (PhD, University of Roehampton) has worked as a professional finance manager (FCPFA) for much of his career. His interests in corporate governance and risk management stemmed from his 16 years in the UK energy supply industry culminating in his book Corporate Governance and the Nuclear Industry (2016). Now developing and applying corporate governance concepts through further research of the nuclear industry, specific areas of interest involve government control, accountability, and regulatory interventions. Wilson Ng (PhD, University of Cambridge) is Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studies at the University of Roehampton London. His publications are on the organizational development of entrepreneurial ventures, and on corporate governance, storytelling, leadership, and innovation management in family businesses and state-owned firms. Wilson’s research continues his interest in challenge-based entrepreneurship, and he is conducting funded research on opportunity recognition among visually impaired entrepreneurs in and beyond the UK.

PY - 2018/4/26

Y1 - 2018/4/26

N2 - We advance the debate on board effectiveness in corporate governance by suggesting how the behavioural dynamics view may address a core issue of large, hazardous industries. A pertinent example today is Britain’s nuclear industry, whose toxic legacy of redundant plant and nuclear waste cannot be ignored. We argue that the behavioural view offers an important dimension of public engagement in addressing this legacy, although engagement should take place within a governance structure that enables private citizens to relate systematically with board executives who manage nuclear sites. This argument is developed in the context of the governance of these sites, where little attempt has been made to dispose of their legacy after sixty years of nuclear operations. We investigate this puzzle in public documents surrounding Britain’s worst nuclear accident and find that its core issues continue to resonate with the agency-based governance of the country’s nuclear sites. Principally, poor managerial control and accountability have constrained public engagement with site managers and questioned their trustworthiness. In addressing this ‘deficit of trust’, we suggest how dynamic stakeholder relationships may be built within a system of ‘trustworthy governance’ that forms a missing driver for an effective behavioural view of corporate governance in hazardous industries.

AB - We advance the debate on board effectiveness in corporate governance by suggesting how the behavioural dynamics view may address a core issue of large, hazardous industries. A pertinent example today is Britain’s nuclear industry, whose toxic legacy of redundant plant and nuclear waste cannot be ignored. We argue that the behavioural view offers an important dimension of public engagement in addressing this legacy, although engagement should take place within a governance structure that enables private citizens to relate systematically with board executives who manage nuclear sites. This argument is developed in the context of the governance of these sites, where little attempt has been made to dispose of their legacy after sixty years of nuclear operations. We investigate this puzzle in public documents surrounding Britain’s worst nuclear accident and find that its core issues continue to resonate with the agency-based governance of the country’s nuclear sites. Principally, poor managerial control and accountability have constrained public engagement with site managers and questioned their trustworthiness. In addressing this ‘deficit of trust’, we suggest how dynamic stakeholder relationships may be built within a system of ‘trustworthy governance’ that forms a missing driver for an effective behavioural view of corporate governance in hazardous industries.

KW - corporate governance, management, public sector, behaviour, agency theory

M3 - Article

SN - 1045-3172

JO - BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT

JF - BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT

ER -