Corporate Citizenship and Human Resource Management: A New Tool or a Missed Opportunity?

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the social dimension of corporate citizenship (corporate community involvement) and human resource management. It begins by briefly reviewing the positive effects that corporate community involvement can have on human resource management outcomes such as employee motivation, morale, commitment, recruitment, retention, development and teamwork. It presents findings that the human resource management function is not playing a significant role with respect to decision-making and implementation of corporate community involvement among top companies in Australia, despite the potential employee related benefits and importance of employees to corporate community involvement. The paper outlines four possible reasons that may help explain this apparent inconsistency as well as stimulate further research on the relationship between corporate citizenship and human resource management. It concludes by suggesting that the limited role of human resource management in corporate citizenship has potentially adverse implications for the human resource profession as well as the overall effectiveness of corporate community involvement for all stakeholders.