Possibility: Corporate Social Responsibility And Competitive Advantages

Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as the entire range of business responsibilities that any organization has towards society. It is represented in four types of responsibilities, i.e. economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary (Carroll, 1979). Carroll portrayed the social responsibilities with proportions of 4:3:2:1 respectively, suggesting the relative importance of each responsibility. First, the economic responsibility is defined as the responsibilities of organizations to produce goods and/or services that consumers need and want, and to make an acceptable profit from this business process (Carroll, 1979). Second, the legal responsibility is defined as the laws and regulations formulated …show more content…
In an attempt to organize these forms of competitive advantage, Weber (2008) categorized them into five main areas. These are positive impact on company image and reputation, cost savings, CSR-related risk reduction or management, revenue increase from higher sales and market share, and employee motivation, retention, and attraction.
Employer Attractiveness
Among the different forms of payback of CSR is employer attractiveness. It is defined as the job seekers’ motivation and enthusiasm to hunt jobs and seek employment within an organization where they envision particular benefits in working for this specific firm (Berthon, Ewing, & Hah, 2005). Berthon et al. (2005) proposed a model to identify and operationalize the components of employer attractiveness. These are interest value, social value, economic value, development value, and application …show more content…
Typically, branding activities are directed towards building up products and services brands (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). Applying branding principles in the area of human resources management is termed employer branding (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). It is defined as the efforts of the organization to communicate to its current and potential employees the uniqueness and distinctive aspects of its employment offering, that makes it a great place to work for (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004; Berthon et al., 2005). Employer branding anchors on the belief that the outcomes of employer branding will provide the company with a competitive edge (Arachchige & Robertson, 2013). Cultivating an employer brand is a tool that is employed by organizations to recruit and retain the best employees (Arachchige & Robertson, 2013). These employees are expected to carry on the organizations’ brand success and secure an ongoing profitability of the firm (Arachchige & Robertson,