The book Contemporary Perspectives in Corporate Social Performance and Policy - The Middle Eastern Perspective is our endeavor to deepen the current discussion about business and institutional activity in Middle Eastern countries and disseminate the new perspective of the scientific inquiry in the responsibility of various organization operating in this part of the world. The book is divided into four parts: “Introduction”, “Reality and Challenges of Corporate Social Performance - The Middle Eastern Perspective”, “Corporate Social Responsibility in Middle Eastern countries”, “Corporate Social Performance –specific problems”. There were included some theoretical and practical contributions into the topic of corporate social responsibility and corporate social performance based on experiences from different countries (such as Israel, Turkey, United Arab Emirates). We hope that this volume will help to understand better this specific region and its business activities.

In a modern world in which one can observe managerial and investors’ behaviors characterized by high risk, short term orientation, moral hazard and speculation, there is a need to form a new ethical paradigm to drive a more ethical oriented education and a substantial change to norms regulating markets and business behavior to sensitize investors and financial practitioners, so that humanity can evolve in a sustainable way. Therefore the main question we are striving to answer throughout the book “Organizational Social Irresponsibility: individual behaviors and organizational practices” is the following: Do individual behaviors influence organizational socially irresponsible practices? Each separate chapter aims to find an answer to the above question. The book is divided into three parts: first: “The dark side of organizational behaviors”, second: “Individual skills and the workplace” and third: “Organizational politics, practices and tools. This book is authored by a range of authors from all over the world. They provide us with several theoretical and practical contributions into the topic of organizational social irresponsibility and individual behavior, facing different aspects (e.g. workplace wellness, decision?making, diversity management). We hope it will be useful for both business and academia and it will help to shape reflective, socially responsible managers of the future.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are one of top investment priorities in these days. They are aimed at finding applications in fields of special value for humans, including education. The fourth industrial revolution will replace not only human hands but also human brains, the time of machines requires new forms of work and new ways of business education, however we must be aware that if there is no control of human-chatbot interaction, there is a risk of losing sight of this interaction’s goal. First, it is important to get people to truly understand AI systems, to intentionally participate in their use, as well as to build their trust, because “the measure of success for AI applications is the value they create for human lives” (Stanford University 2016, 33). Consequently, society needs to adapt to AI applications if it is to extend its benefits and mitigate the inevitable errors and failures. This is why it is highly recommended to create new AI-powered tools for education that are the result of cooperation between AI researchers and humanities’ and social sciences’ researchers, who can identify cognitive processes and human behaviors. This book is authored by a range of international experts with a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives hopefully bringing us closer to the responses for the questions what we should teach (what the ‘right’ set of future skills is), how we should teach (the way in which schools should teach and assess them) and where we should teach (what implications does AI have for today’s education infrastructure). We must remember as we have already noticed before “…education institutions would need to ensure that that they have an appropriate infrastructure, as well as the safety and credibility of AI-based systems. Ultimately, the law and policies need to adjust to the rapid pace of AI development, because the formal responsibility for appropriate learning outcomes will in future be divided between a teacher and a machine. Above all, we should ensure that AI respect human and civil rights (Stachowicz-Stanusch, Amann, 2018)”.

The book Academic Social Responsibility - Sine Qua Non for Corporate Social Performance is our endeavor to disseminate the awareness of the significance of responsible (especially management) education not only for academic stakeholders, but for the whole society. It is an interesting combination of theories, studies, recognitions, and experiences gained by authors from different countries, institutions, who function in various institutional and cultural conditions. The book is divided into “Introduction” and three parts: “Towards the Socially Responsible University”, “Socially Responsible Education for Enterprise Development”, “Human Voice in Responsible Management Education”. The authors present fresh concepts for socially responsible university, their impact on real business performance as well as discussions on specific issues when implementing academic social responsibility in practice.

Corporate Social Performance In The Age Of Irresponsibility – Cross National Perspective is authored by a range of international experts with a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives and provides a collection of ideas, examples and solutions on CSP implementation in the time of irresponsibility. Although Corporate Social Performance (CSP) has become important part of the management agenda of many enterprises and many companies adding socially responsible statements to their websites and mission statements some firms behave irresponsibly while at the same time acting positively on some dimensions— “corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) and responsibility can exist at the same time in the same firm.” (Gonzalez-Perez, 2011). This volume is aimed at presenting Corporate Social Performance concept from distinct cultural perspectives with the reference to responsible and irresponsible practices of various entities from different parts of the world.

It is widely observed that societies are changing, and new social issues are raising. The relationship between actors in the global environment and in the local as well, is changing because of financial crisis, new technological revolution, climate change, richness reallocation and concentration. We can see that value creation and management models in organizations are often uncoherent with the satisfaction of needs. The ability to create competitive advantages on a financial level seems to be increasingly developed. This can be sustained by the clear trend that leads companies to grow in size or create strong groups by shifting uncertainty over the weaker part of the market and unorganized systems and citizens. In this misalignment, empty spaces in the economic environment are opened. These spaces are those where the action of the public system can no longer be effective (or where it has never been) and where, more and more, the private interests are weak or absent. New wants are emerging in these areas and traditional models are no longer able to answer many of these needs. The book “The Social Issue in Contemporary Society: relations between Companies, Public Administrations and People” originates from a huge number of questions with the social issue as “fil rouge”. In this perspective, the book is divided in four parts: “Introduction”, “New Models and Tools for Public Administration”, “New Models for New Companies” and “New Models for New Societies”. A range of scholars that authored that book provide us with a different point of view about the problem that is underlined in the book title. We hope it will be a worthy inspiration for who dream a new idea of society.

Corporatee Social Performance: Paradoxes- Pitfalls and Pathways to the Better World is authored by a range of international experts with a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives and provides a collection of ideas, examples and solutions on CSP implementation and problems that occur in this area of consideration. The last decade had abundant corporate, national and international ethical and financial scandals and crises. After this epoch of moral catastrophes stakeholders expect that corporations which are considered as the most powerful institutions today and which have enormous impact on our planet’s ecosystems and social networks will take more active roles as citizens within society and in the fight against some of the most pressing problems in the world, such as poverty, environmental degradation, defending human rights, corruption, and pandemic diseases. Although Corporate Social Performance (CSP) has been a prominent concept in management literature and in the business world in recent years "it remains a fact that many business leaders still only pay lip service to CSR, or are merely reacting to peer pressure by introducing it into their organizations." (Bevan et al. 2004:4). So do really companies do “well” by doing “good” or maybe” companies engage in CSR in order to offset corporate social irresponsibility’? (Kotchen and Moony, 2012 p.4). I hope that we would agree that companies and CSR only by working together guarantee their own survival and we- the society and the planet -will be much obliged (Thomé, 2009 p. 3).