Corporate Social Responsibility According to Employee Perception…
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human capital management, governance, as well as SHE (Safety, Health and Environmental Management) (European Commission 2001; Matten and Moon 2008).
Among the most frequent perceptions related to internal CSR are the link between
social responsibility job satisfaction (the notion that a socially responsible company
must be a good place for work) and maintaining a good work environment, allowing
to balance professional and personal aspects. There were also noticeable perceptions
of CSR related to environmental management, ethics and transparency.
On the other hand, the less mentioned themes or notions were those related to
relationships with suppliers (not a part of the company’s CSR policies, which prioritizes this group as a value chain) as well as internal CSR that notably directly affect
workers, such as job security and timely payment of wages. A possible explanation
is that, given the company’s history of punctual payments and its statute that guarantees relative job stability, such a matter may not generate much concern to the
workers. Another hypothesis would be the understanding of these essentially labor
issues as detached from the concept of CSR. As such, conducting further interviews
with workers in order to determine why these aspects were not favored for their
definition of social responsibility is recommended.
7 Conclusions
This study analyzed perceptions about the concept of CSR, exploring the meaning
attributed to it by the workers of an energy company operating in the Brazilian
Amazon. By quantifying content recording units and performing qualitative analysis
of these data, we verified whether the perceptions of scholars and theoreticians met
the perception of workers about what is social responsibility, and which dimensions
are more consolidated in this workplace.
The results concerning the presented perceptions suggest the existence of different
dimensions of CSR discussed in the literature on the subject. The most recurrent
conception of CSR is related to the corporative support of social, environmental,
cultural and sporting projects, and working with neighboring communities through
support of social causes. Other often mentioned aspects were good environmental
management, a good work environment, standards for ethics and transparency, as well
as concern for social and environmental well-being. The notion that a socially responsible company would guarantee the respect and inclusion of people with disabilities
and would strive to ensure gender and racial equity was also observed. Seldom
mentioned were economic aspects (profitability and good business management)
and labor issues such as remuneration, job stability and attention to suppliers.
Thus, aspects of external CSR were more often associated to social responsibility in this particular case compared to aspects of internal CSR. Furthermore,
activities classified according to the theoretical framework as explicit CSR (actions
taken regarding a particular group of stakeholders, especially communities) were
also more frequent than implicit CSR (conventions, values, and policies introduced
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human capital management, governance, as well as SHE (Safety, Health and Environmental Management) (European Commission 2001; Matten and Moon 2008).
Among the most frequent perceptions related to internal CSR are the link between
social responsibility job satisfaction (the notion that a socially responsible company
must be a good place for work) and maintaining a good work environment, allowing
to balance professional and personal aspects. There were also noticeable perceptions
of CSR related to environmental management, ethics and transparency.
On the other hand, the less mentioned themes or notions were those related to
relationships with suppliers (not a part of the company’s CSR policies, which prioritizes this group as a value chain) as well as internal CSR that notably directly affect
workers, such as job security and timely payment of wages. A possible explanation
is that, given the company’s history of punctual payments and its statute that guarantees relative job stability, such a matter may not generate much concern to the
workers. Another hypothesis would be the understanding of these essentially labor
issues as detached from the concept of CSR. As such, conducting further interviews
with workers in order to determine why these aspects were not favored for their
definition of social responsibility is recommended.
7 Conclusions
This study analyzed perceptions about the concept of CSR, exploring the meaning
attributed to it by the workers of an energy company operating in the Brazilian
Amazon. By quantifying content recording units and performing qualitative analysis
of these data, we verified whether the perceptions of scholars and theoreticians met
the perception of workers about what is social responsibility, and which dimensions
are more consolidated in this workplace.
The results concerning the presented perceptions suggest the existence of different
dimensions of CSR discussed in the literature on the subject. The most recurrent
conception of CSR is related to the corporative support of social, environmental,
cultural and sporting projects, and working with neighboring communities through
support of social causes. Other often mentioned aspects were good environmental
management, a good work environment, standards for ethics and transparency, as well
as concern for social and environmental well-being. The notion that a socially responsible company would guarantee the respect and inclusion of people with disabilities
and would strive to ensure gender and racial equity was also observed. Seldom
mentioned were economic aspects (profitability and good business management)
and labor issues such as remuneration, job stability and attention to suppliers.
Thus, aspects of external CSR were more often associated to social responsibility in this particular case compared to aspects of internal CSR. Furthermore,
activities classified according to the theoretical framework as explicit CSR (actions
taken regarding a particular group of stakeholders, especially communities) were
also more frequent than implicit CSR (conventions, values, and policies introduced