Winning CSR strategies for the talent war

Purpose - The authors analyze the relationship between perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity bundles and prospective employees’ work values to assess how CSR strategies contribute to new staff recruiting strategies. Design/methodology/approach - Building on personal and organizational value fit theory, the authors propose a positive correlation between facets of work values and particular CSR activities. We use work values, as they reflect personal values, and CSR activities to reflect organizational value. We test this relationship using a sample of senior marketing and international business majors. Findings - The authors found that the relationships are threefold: all negative, all positive and selectively positive. Some viewed CSR as irrelevant to their choice of employer – those who focused on security and pride, with low degrees of other work values, and those who were concerned with growth and knowledge utilization. People who seek security and meaningful jobs hold preferable attitudes toward CSR, regardless of the areas of CSR. Selectively positive relationship between work values and CSR bundles was founded in those who seek meaningful jobs and the workplaces for which they feel proud to work. Practical implications - This paper contributes to better understanding of the influence of CSR on prospective employees over preferences for companies as ideal employers. CSR matters, but not to everyone. Those who perceive that CSR matters are more active regarding work. This study links two topics – personal values through work values, and organizational values through CSR – opening a new area for investigating the effects of CSR on human resource management (HRM). Originality/value - This study identifies why CSR is attractive to potential employees by using person-value and organizational-value fit theory to elaborate on a company’s social performance through CSR perceptions. No study links these two topics, which examine the same results. Research suggests that fit between personal and organizational values leads to job satisfaction, and thus a tendency to select a specific employer. CSR literature suggests that a company’s reputation gained by engaging in CSR attracts talent. By classifying talent according to work values and mapping them with CSR bundles, the authors argue that there is relationship between types of talent and CSR bundles.