The influence of corporate social responsibility on an employee's sense of belonging

<p>Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has increasingly become identified as a societal expectation of companies around the world. The concept has not only risen in significance, but its impacts and potential benefits have become widely recognised by the organisational literature as well as managers. As a result, the influence of CSR practices have been discussed in regards to the numerous stakeholders that hold a vested interest in a company. However, the literature has been predominantly focused on the influence of CSR on external stakeholders such as: shareholders, customers, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the general public. As such, the attention attributed to the internal stakeholder group of employees, has been relatively underdeveloped. While focus on this area has begun to emerge throughout the literature, there continues to be a lack of attention given to the effects of CSR on an individual’s sense of belonging within the organisation. As a result, there is a lack of understanding on the nature and extent of this relationship within the existing literature. This qualitative, interview-based study of fourteen respondents, presents results that provide a greater understanding of the relationship between CSR and an individual employee’s sense of belonging. The results uncover the consequences of an organisation’s CSR initiatives on its employees and discusses its influence over fostering a sense of belonging. The findings illustrate that significant impacts upon an employee’s sense of belonging include generating a sense of pride in the organisation, promoting bottom-up, employee-driven initiatives and establishing social relationships amongst colleagues. The findings also recognise the similarly unexplored potential for this influence on employee belonging to be negatively perceived should the value of CSR be overleveraged with external stakeholders. The development of a framework to present the linkages and interconnections between these ideas are able to generate greater understanding of the relationship. The research concludes with practical implications for organisational management to recognise the influence and power to benefit its employees, and ultimately the wider entity, through the implementation of CSR. For a business strategy whose primary implications are concerned with the influence on external stakeholders, this study provides deeper understanding of the unexplored relationship between CSR policies and its influence over an individual employees sense of belonging.</p>

The influence of corporate social responsibility on an employee's sense of belonging

<p>Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has increasingly become identified as a societal expectation of companies around the world. The concept has not only risen in significance, but its impacts and potential benefits have become widely recognised by the organisational literature as well as managers. As a result, the influence of CSR practices have been discussed in regards to the numerous stakeholders that hold a vested interest in a company. However, the literature has been predominantly focused on the influence of CSR on external stakeholders such as: shareholders, customers, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the general public. As such, the attention attributed to the internal stakeholder group of employees, has been relatively underdeveloped. While focus on this area has begun to emerge throughout the literature, there continues to be a lack of attention given to the effects of CSR on an individual’s sense of belonging within the organisation. As a result, there is a lack of understanding on the nature and extent of this relationship within the existing literature. This qualitative, interview-based study of fourteen respondents, presents results that provide a greater understanding of the relationship between CSR and an individual employee’s sense of belonging. The results uncover the consequences of an organisation’s CSR initiatives on its employees and discusses its influence over fostering a sense of belonging. The findings illustrate that significant impacts upon an employee’s sense of belonging include generating a sense of pride in the organisation, promoting bottom-up, employee-driven initiatives and establishing social relationships amongst colleagues. The findings also recognise the similarly unexplored potential for this influence on employee belonging to be negatively perceived should the value of CSR be overleveraged with external stakeholders. The development of a framework to present the linkages and interconnections between these ideas are able to generate greater understanding of the relationship. The research concludes with practical implications for organisational management to recognise the influence and power to benefit its employees, and ultimately the wider entity, through the implementation of CSR. For a business strategy whose primary implications are concerned with the influence on external stakeholders, this study provides deeper understanding of the unexplored relationship between CSR policies and its influence over an individual employees sense of belonging.</p>

Challenges, Open Innovation, and Engagement Theory at Craft SMEs: Evidence from Indonesian Batik

Indonesian batik small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are rapidly growing, but they face many challenges in developing their business. For this reason, we propose a combination of open innovation and engagement theory to overcome these challenges. We conducted interviews with 27 local government officers (external stakeholder) and 57 managers of batik SMEs (internal stakeholder). We confirmed the interview results with 20 batik experts and representatives from the Indonesian Ministry of Industry in the Focus Group Discussion. We have divided the findings of this study into two categories: Java and outside of Java, since the two areas have different characteristics. According to our findings, the biggest challenge of batik SMEs in Java is the emergence of the batik printing business. Meanwhile, batik SMEs outside of Java are having difficulty obtaining raw materials. Open innovation has been implemented by some batik SMEs in Indonesia and can improve their business performance. However, more batik SMEs do not implement open innovation due to the lack of their skills and involvement of other stakeholders. As a result, we suggest that open innovation in the Indonesian batik industry needs to be supported by the participation of various parties or that open innovation is combined with engagement theory.

Building brands through internal stakeholder engagement and co-creation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to better understand the voice of the internal stakeholder in a way that emphasizes the internal stakeholder as an active force and decision maker in brand co-creation, as part of the new emerging paradigm of internal branding. The main aim is to understand the active role of volunteers in internal branding that is in the co-creation of value. A subsidiary aim is to understand why some volunteers engage deeply and seriously in a nonprofit organization while other volunteers seem less connected? Design/methodology/approach A conceptual framework incorporates several motivators to volunteer-led co-creation. A quantitative, co-variance-based structural equation modelling approach is used on survey data of a sample of 357 volunteers from 14 organizations in the Australian nonprofit sector. Findings The research findings contribute to the newly emerging internal branding literature focusing on the active co-creation role of internal stakeholders. The main drivers of volunteer co-creation are volunteer engagement, commitment, altruism, values-congruency and brand reputation. Different explanatory mechanisms/motivators apply to each type of volunteer-led co-creation. In a major initiative, the paper demonstrates linkages across the different types of co-creation, with a foundation/pivotal role for one particular type of co-creation, namely, enhanced client-based solutions. Research limitations/implications The research is restricted to the public sector and further research is needed to test applicability to the private sector. Future studies could continue the initiative in the current study to explore the linkages across co-creation types. Practical implications Implications depend on which type of co-creation is targeted. Enhancing client-based solutions co-creation requires a very strong role for engaged volunteers. Innovation co-creation requires both engaged volunteers and a propensity to co-create by enhancing client-based solutions. Brand advocacy co-creation is driven by volunteer commitment, altruism and a propensity to co-create innovation. Social implications A non-profit context ensures major social implications. Originality/value The study operationalizes the Saleem and Iglesias (2016) new internal branding paradigm framework by demonstrating that brands are built organically by interacting and engaging with internal stakeholders (volunteers in this instance), which, in turn, inter alia, motivates co-creation by such internal stakeholders.

Internal Stakeholder Engagement, Organizational Support, Project Team Efficacy and Project Success. A Case of USAID aided Projects in Uganda.

Background: This study examined the relationship between internal stakeholder engagement, organizational support, project team efficacy and project success among USAID projects in Uganda. The objectives were: to examine the relationship between internal stakeholder engagement and project team efficacy; organizational support and project team efficacy; project team efficacy and project success; and to examine the mediating effect of project team efficacy. Methodology: The study applied a cross-sectional research design with a quantitative research approach. A sample of 44 projects was obtained by simple random sampling from a total of 50 ongoing projects. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Validity of the instrument was determined by expert judgment and Cronbach Alpha for reliability. Data was analyzed using SPSS v.25 to obtain frequencies, descriptive statistics, factor analysis and inferential statistics in data presentation and interpretation. Results: Findings established a positive relationship between stakeholder engagement and project team efficacy. The findings also found a positive relationship between organizational support and project team efficacy. There was a positive relationship between project team efficacy and project success. More so, findings obtained that project efficacy is a significant mediator in the relationship between organizational support and project success, but not significant in mediating the relationship between internal stakeholder engagement and project success. The findings further observed that the best predictor of project success is project team-efficacy. Conclusion: Internal stakeholder engagement, organizational support and project team efficacy are critical in project success. As far as project success is concerned, the factors take center stage. Moreover, project managers should concentrate most towards project team efficacy. Recommendations: Delegation of responsibilities; effective communication; understanding the strength and weaknesses of each team member; leading by example; and holding meetings frequently.

Memahami Strategi QISCUS untuk Unggul dalam Ketidakpastian Lingkungan Bisnis yang Tinggi

Technology based company operates in a very dynamic business environment. As one of the fast growing technology company, Qiscus has proven themselves to be able to survived after several major change in their business. This study aimed to find out what strategies taken by Qiscus, as a startup company and how their strategy can be used to deal with this high uncertainty business environment. A qualitative method with case study approach was used to answer these research questions. Data were gathered from 8 informants (2 founders and 6 senior employees). Through the in-depth interview and observation processes, the study found six strategic themes which were then categorized into internal and external strategies. The research findings showed that Qiscus had implemented six strategies: high involvement organization, pivot, building brand image, maintaining users experience, strategic investment and market education. The findings support previous studies that stated organizations with strong internal stakeholder involvement tend to have better performance and productivity.

Investigating residents’ attitudes of 2016 Olympic Games

Purpose Olympic Games provide an arguably unparalleled amount of opportunities for the host city and country in relation to economic and socio-cultural growth and development. However, the achievement of such long-term success measures lies with the holistic involvement of community groups, specifically residents, in the planning of the mega event. The purpose of this paper is to examine the residents’ attitudes of the 2016 Olympic Games and to verify moderating effects of place of residence in support of the Games. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected in Brazil in the months leading to the Rio Olympic Games using non-probabilistic convenience sampling. A total of 501 responses were collected prior to the opening ceremony of the event. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were applied. Findings The socio-cultural and economic dimensions had a positive and significant effect in support for the Olympic Games; however, the environmental dimension did not have such strong effect. Furthermore, differences between host and non-host city residents tested positive in support of the Olympic Games. Practical implications This study aims to contribute to the developing application of country branding by examining attitudes of internal stakeholder groups in the form of residents. Originality/value This research presents a conceptual model to further establish the importance of such attitudes for organizers and government authorities involved with the bidding, planning and management of mega events from a country branding perspective, particularly in developing countries such as Brazil.