Towards a configuration of socially responsible human resource management policies and practices: findings from an academic consensus

TLDR

Socially responsible behavior has become a strategic priority, and academic research linking CSR and HRM demonstrates benefits such as increased employee commitment, motivation, and performance, yet the precise configuration of socially responsible HRM practices remains unclear. This study aims to define and provide an initial academic approximation of a set of socially responsible human resource practices. The authors conducted a content analysis of literature, CSR reports, and international standards, and refined the findings through three rounds of expert panel reviews, using the literature and panel input to construct the sample. The results reveal an 80 % academic consensus supporting a valid configuration of eight socially responsible HR policies comprising 32 distinct practices.

Abstract

The integration of socially responsible behaviour has become a strategic priority for companies in recent years. Academic contributions that merge the fields of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and human resource management (HRM) have been expanding, demonstrating a broad sweep of benefits reflected in greater levels of commitment, motivation, and performance by employees. However, little has been clarified about what academics and business management understand to be a configuration of socially responsible human resource management (SR-HRM) practices. This paper aims to define and provide an initial academic approximation of a set of socially responsible human resource practices. In order to accomplish this objective, a content analysis was conducted based on a review of the literature, CSR reports, and international CSR standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative and ISO 26000. The theoretical findings were supported by a panel of experts who inspected them over three rounds of reviews. The sample for the study was created by consulting the academic literature, strengthened by the input from the panel of experts. The results show an academic consensus of 80%, and support the existence of a valid configuration of 8 socially responsible human resource policies divided into 32 practices.