IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v30y2023i4p2011-2020.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analyzing the employee/employer relationships in the corporate social responsibility context: An empirical investigation of SMEs

Author

Listed:
  • Fanny Bastian
  • Nicolas Poussing

Abstract

With the adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR), firms are invited to identify, consult and take into account the expectations of their stakeholders. In this context, firms are expected to promote direct relationships with their employees while employee participation traditionally took the form of indirect institutional participation via trade unions or employee representatives. By mobilizing stakeholder theory, this study aims to analyze the impact of adopting a CSR approach on the existence of direct relationships between employees and employers. Three relationships are analyzed: information, consultation, and dialog. Using survey data, the empirical analysis shows that SMEs which have adopted a CSR approach in the social field are more likely to inform and consult their employees; but the adoption of CSR is not linked to dialog with them. This research is closely linked to the sustainable development goals 8.8 and 16.7 and gives new argument to promote CSR in SMEs. In particular, our findings underline the importance of CSR as a driver of employer–employee relationships because the CSR‐oriented companies seem more open to stakeholder dialogs with employees. This argument is relevant to companies that are seeking to implement, CSR, innovative human resources practices and industrial relations policies to improve working conditions and to create a win–win situation. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Fanny Bastian & Nicolas Poussing, 2023. "Analyzing the employee/employer relationships in the corporate social responsibility context: An empirical investigation of SMEs," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 2011-2020, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:30:y:2023:i:4:p:2011-2020
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.2470
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2470
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.2470?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandra A. Waddock & Samuel B. Graves, 1997. "The Corporate Social Performance–Financial Performance Link," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 303-319, April.
    2. Kaptein, Muel & Wempe, Johan, 2002. "The Balanced Company: A Theory of Corporate Integrity," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199255511.
    3. Tiina Onkila & Bhavesh Sarna, 2022. "A systematic literature review on employee relations with CSR: State of art and future research agenda," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(2), pages 435-447, March.
    4. Christian Voegtlin & Michelle Greenwood, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility and human resource management: A systematic review and conceptual analysis," Post-Print hal-01481479, HAL.
    5. Dolors Celma & Esther Martínez‐Garcia & Germà Coenders, 2014. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Human Resource Management: An analysis of common practices and their determinants in Spain," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(2), pages 82-99, March.
    6. Dianne Elaine L. Ozaeta & Imelda L. An, 2014. "Use of Internal Communication Tools among AG&P Employees," Journal of Education and Literature, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 1(1), pages 20-30.
    7. Ludivine Martin & Thierry Pénard & Nicolas Poussing, 2022. "Are Employees Happier when Staying Connected with their Companies Outside Working Hours?," Post-Print hal-03689575, HAL.
    8. Radin, Tara J. & Werhane, Patricia H., 2003. "Employment-at-Will, Employee Rights, and Future Directions for Employment," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 113-130, April.
    9. repec:hal:journl:hal-00918528 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G., 1984. "Convenient specification tests for logit and probit models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 241-262, July.
    11. Angeloantonio Russo & Francesco Perrini, 2010. "Investigating Stakeholder Theory and Social Capital: CSR in Large Firms and SMEs," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(2), pages 207-221, January.
    12. Assâad El Akremi & Jean-Pascal Gond & Valérie Swaen & Kenneth de Roeck & Jacques Igalens, 2018. "How Do Employees Perceive Corporate Responsibility? Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Corporate Stakeholder Responsibility Scale," Post-Print halshs-01520959, HAL.
    13. Duygu Turker, 2009. "Measuring Corporate Social Responsibility: A Scale Development Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(4), pages 411-427, April.
    14. Greenfield, W. M., 2004. "In the name of corporate social responsibility," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 19-28.
    15. Bocquet, Rachel & Le Bas, Christian & Mothe, Caroline & Poussing, Nicolas, 2013. "Are firms with different CSR profiles equally innovative? Empirical analysis with survey data," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 642-654.
    16. Nicolas Poussing, 2019. "Does corporate social responsibility encourage sustainable innovation adoption? Empirical evidence from Luxembourg," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(3), pages 681-689, May.
    17. Jeffrey S. Harrison & Douglas A. Bosse & Robert A. Phillips, 2010. "Managing for stakeholders, stakeholder utility functions, and competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 58-74, January.
    18. A. Lindgreen & V. Swaen & W. Johnston, 2009. "Corporate social responsibility : an empirical investigation of U.S. organizations," Post-Print hal-00575825, HAL.
    19. Harry Buren & Michelle Greenwood, 2008. "Enhancing Employee Voice: Are Voluntary Employer–Employee Partnerships Enough?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(1), pages 209-221, August.
    20. Adam Lindgreen & Valérie Swaen & Wesley Johnston, 2009. "Corporate Social Responsibility: An Empirical Investigation of U.S. Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 303-323, April.
    21. Mark Groza & Mya Pronschinske & Matthew Walker, 2011. "Perceived Organizational Motives and Consumer Responses to Proactive and Reactive CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(4), pages 639-652, September.
    22. de Kok, Jan & Uhlaner, Lorraine M, 2001. "Organization Context and Human Resource Management in the Small Firm," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 273-291, December.
    23. Sue Cassells & Kate Lewis, 2011. "SMEs and environmental responsibility: do actions reflect attitudes?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(3), pages 186-199, May.
    24. Heledd Jenkins, 2006. "Small Business Champions for Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 241-256, September.
    25. André Sobczak & Christelle Havard, 2015. "Stakeholders’ Influence on French Unions’ CSR Strategies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 311-324, June.
    26. Jintao Lu & Mengshang Liang & Chong Zhang & Dan Rong & Hailing Guan & Kristina Mazeikaite & Justas Streimikis, 2021. "Assessment of corporate social responsibility by addressing sustainable development goals," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 686-703, March.
    27. Francesco Perrini, 2006. "SMEs and CSR Theory: Evidence and Implications from an Italian Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 305-316, September.
    28. André Sobczak & Christelle Havard, 2015. "Stakeholders' Influence on French Unions' CSR Strategies," Post-Print hal-01171329, HAL.
    29. Saini, Debi S. & Budhwar, Pawan S., 2008. "Managing the human resource in Indian SMEs: The role of indigenous realities," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 417-434, October.
    30. Tzu-Kuan Chiu & Yi-Hsin Wang, 2015. "Determinants of Social Disclosure Quality in Taiwan: An Application of Stakeholder Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 379-398, June.
    31. Matthew P. Johnson & Stefan Schaltegger, 2016. "Two Decades of Sustainability Management Tools for SMEs: How Far Have We Come?," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(2), pages 481-505, April.
    32. Rachel Bocquet & Christian Le Bas & Caroline Danièle Mothe & Nicolas Poussing, 2019. "Strategic CSR for innovation in SMEs: Does diversity matter?," Post-Print hal-02380559, HAL.
    33. Ludivine Martin, 2017. "Do Innovative Work Practices and Use of Information and Communication Technologies Motivate Employees?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 263-292, April.
    34. Linda O’Riordan & Jenny Fairbrass, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Models and Theories in Stakeholder Dialogue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(4), pages 745-758, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ulpiana Kocollari & Maddalena Cavicchioli & Fabio Demaria, 2024. "The 5 E(lements) of employee‐centric corporate social responsibility and their stimulus on happiness at work: An empirical investigation," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 1959-1976, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tomina Saveanu & Daniel Badulescu & Sorana Saveanu & Maria-Madela Abrudan & Alina Badulescu, 2021. "The Role of Owner-Managers in Shaping CSR Activity of Romanian SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Andrea Stübner & Svenja Jarchow, 2023. "Family oblige: the link between CSR and succession intention in small and medium family firms," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 389-431, April.
    3. Mercedes Rubio‐Andrés & María del Mar Ramos‐González & Miguel Ángel Sastre‐Castillo & Ignacio Danvila‐del‐Valle, 2020. "Exploring sustainability, good governance, and social responsibility in small and medium enterprises," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 852-869, March.
    4. Silvia Cantele & Alessandro Zardini, 2020. "What drives small and medium enterprises towards sustainability? Role of interactions between pressures, barriers, and benefits," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 126-136, January.
    5. Franck Brulhart & Sandrine Gherra & Bertrand V. Quelin, 2019. "Do Stakeholder Orientation and Environmental Proactivity Impact Firm Profitability?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 25-46, August.
    6. John Cantrell & Elias Kyriazis & Gary Noble, 2015. "Developing CSR Giving as a Dynamic Capability for Salient Stakeholder Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 403-421, August.
    7. Gang Tian & Gabriel Dodzi Pekyi & Haojia Chen & Huaping Sun & Xiaoling Wang, 2021. "Sustainability-Conscious Stakeholders and CSR: Evidence from IJVs of Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-23, January.
    8. Ki‐Hoon Lee & David M. Herold & Ae‐Li Yu, 2016. "Small and Medium Enterprises and Corporate Social Responsibility Practice: A Swedish Perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 88-99, March.
    9. Pfajfar, Gregor & Shoham, Aviv & Małecka, Agnieszka & Zalaznik, Maja, 2022. "Value of corporate social responsibility for multiple stakeholders and social impact – Relationship marketing perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 46-61.
    10. Uzhegova, Maria & Torkkeli, Lasse & Saarenketo, Sami, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility in SMEs: Implications on Competitive PerformanceDate submitted: October 12, 2017Revised version accepted after double blind review: December 15, 2018," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 30(2-3), pages 232-267.
    11. Park, Byung Il & Ghauri, Pervez N., 2015. "Determinants influencing CSR practices in small and medium sized MNE subsidiaries: A stakeholder perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 192-204.
    12. Jean-Marie Courrent & Sonia Chassé & Waleed Omri, 2018. "Do Entrepreneurial SMEs Perform Better Because They are More Responsible?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 317-336, December.
    13. Antonio D'Amato & Camilla Falivena, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility and firm value: Do firm size and age matter? Empirical evidence from European listed companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 909-924, March.
    14. Rubio-Andrés, Mercedes & Ramos-González, Mª del Mar & Sastre-Castillo, Miguel Ángel & Gutiérrez-Broncano, Santiago, 2023. "Stakeholder pressure and innovation capacity of SMEs in the COVID-19 pandemic: Mediating and multigroup analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    15. Gregorio Sánchez-Marín & Gabriel Lozano-Reina & Mané Beglaryan, 2022. "HRM Policies and SMEs Performance: The Moderating Role of CSR Orientation," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2022(1), pages 85-110.
    16. María Luisa Pajuelo Moreno & Teresa Duarte-Atoche, 2019. "Relationship between Sustainable Disclosure and Performance—An Extension of Ullmann’s Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-33, August.
    17. Jeffrey Cohen & Lori Holder-Webb & Samer Khalil, 2017. "A Further Examination of the Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance on Investment Decisions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 203-218, November.
    18. David A. Jones & Alexander Newman & Ruodan Shao & Fang Lee Cooke, 2019. "Advances in Employee-Focused Micro-Level Research on Corporate Social Responsibility: Situating New Contributions Within the Current State of the Literature," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 293-302, June.
    19. Graafland, J.J. & Kaptein, M. & Mazereeuw V/d Duijn Schouten, C., 2010. "Motives of Socially Responsible Business Conduct," Other publications TiSEM 3053983b-5552-408c-86a4-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. Christian Schwens & Marcus Wagner, 2019. "The role of firm-internal corporate environmental standards for organizational performance," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(7), pages 823-843, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:30:y:2023:i:4:p:2011-2020. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.