This article presents a structured review of the literature about corporate social responsibility, from the origins and evolution of the discipline, as a field of research, until the present. A review is also presented on the main contributions of authors and institutions in relation to the promotion of social responsibility, focusing on two complementary trends that have gained prominence as theoretical support: institutional theory and stakeholder approach. Some controversies and discussions generated in the years around the concept are also discussed

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.

This article addresses the measurement and validation of socially responsible human resource policies from academic and professional points of view. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has made great progress in recent years in the theoretical realm, showing its importance through different perspectives such as the institutional theory, the stakeholder approach, the theory of legitimacy, and the process of shared value. However, from an empirical standpoint, more research is needed to provide new indicators and evidence of testing socially responsible policies on business performance. This paper aims to devise a set of socially responsible human resource policies, demonstrate the validation of their content through several practices, and review the analysis of their relative weights thanks to the contribution of a panel of academic experts and a professional pretest, conducted in large Spanish companies

The current recession has caused a large number of companies to reevaluate their valuable resources and ways to preserve and invest those resources. Given the relevance of employees as key stakeholders, developing a socially responsible orientation in human resource management for taking care of workers and their needs must be an essential process for business success. This study, based on stakeholder theory and a social integrative approach, examines the main drivers and barriers in the implementation of socially responsible actions in human resource management. The research uses a quantitative analysis based on questionnaires responded to by 85 human resource managers from large Spanish companies. We conclude that there are two significant drivers of socially responsible actions in human resource management (HRM): access to public subsidies and the improvement of the working environment. The main significant barriers highlighted by human resource managers are conflicts in decisions with boards and/or management teams and the lack of employees’ acceptance. The professional implications of the research are discussed at the end of the paper.