CSR communication to employees as stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector
| Date | 26 November 2024 |
| Pages | 1843-1861 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-02-2024-0111 |
| Published date | 26 November 2024 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Ivana Zilic,Helen LaVan |
CSR communication to employees as
stakeholders in the
pharmaceutical sector
Ivana Zilic and Helen LaVan
Department of Management and Entrepreneurship,
Richard H. Driehaus College of Business, DePaul University – Loop Campus,
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Abstract
Purpose –This research aims to contribute substantively and methodologically to our understanding of CSR
communications in the pharmaceutical sector targeted to employees. Of specific concern is how companies can
most effectively communicate their CSR activities to employees.
Design/methodology/approach –Multi-methods were used to identify CSR-related communication trends and
relationships in the largest pharmaceutical companies by market cap. Replicatable data are ROA from
Bloomberg, ESG scores, employee satisfaction from Indeed.com and content of CSR and similar reports.
Findings –Significant findings include the content of CSR reports related to employee behaviors and human
resource processes. Both HR behaviors and HR processes are related to return on assets ROA. Multinational
differences were found in Indeed satisfaction scores and in trends in communications from the CSR reports.
Research limitations/implications –One of the limitations was that not all pharmaceutical companies
consistently reported their data.
Practical implications –Given that the pharmaceutical sector is comprised of a high proportion of uniquely
qualified types of employees, this type of information can be used by prospective employees to consistently
include more HR processes. Especially missing is recruitment and selection data that can reasonably be expected
to facilitate identifying prospective employees who align with the CSR mission.
Originality/value –The methodology used in this study allows for replication in the pharmaceutical sector.
Moreover, it encourages using similar disaggregated ESG data sources to study CSR in other sectors.
Keywords Pharmaceutical, CSR, Employees, ROA, Content analysis, NVivo, ESG, Bloomberg, CSR reports,
Indeed.com, Crowd-sourced data
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is characterized as companies focusing on their
responsibilities to society. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) are criteria for
measuring a company’s sustainability. CSR is a sustainability framework engaged by
organizations, while ESG measures the organization’s level of sustainability. CSR exists in a
variety of sectors. However, companies in the pharmaceutical sector are likely to be more
concerned about ESG than companies in most other sectors, given how their operations
explicitly impact various stakeholders, including employees and society members.
This research is conceptualized within the framework of both stakeholders theory and
social identity theory. Stakeholder theory presents conceptualization relating to employees as
stakeholders. Social identity theory presents theoretical backgrounds the S in ESG, enabling
focus on employees. Dmytriyev et al. (2021) argue that stakeholder theory and CSR provide
distinct but complementary theoretical frameworks with some similarities.
Employee-oriented CSR research identified that employees as stakeholders play a
significant part in CSR success. Bari
c(2017) found that the relationship quality between the
company and its employee stakeholders created a competitive advantage (Gonz
alez-De-la-
Rosa et al., 2023) and Jeong et al. (2023).
Shamil et al. (2024) and Macassa et al. (2021) showed how using stakeholder theory
motivates managers to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles, making
employees aware of and loyal to CSR. Bansal et al. (2023) applied stakeholder theory and
Employee
Relations: The
International
Journal
1843
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 23 February 2024
Revised 18 July 2024
7 October 2024
Accepted 8 October 2024
EmployeeRelations: The International
Journal
Vol.46 No. 8, 2024
pp.1843-1861
©Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI10.1108/ER-02-2024-0111
employees to indicate the importance of CSR policies prioritizing job creation by
implementing more substantial labor market guidelines. They believe sustainable corporate
finance incorporates long-term financial goals and social values into stakeholder theory.
From a theoretical perspective, according to Paruzel et al. (2020), social identity theory is the
most prominent theoretical approach in CSR research. They found that CSR considerably
anticipated commitment and job satisfaction but not OCB. Another finding from Paruzel et al.
(2020) was that CSR influences commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB through identification.
The current literature is missing sector-specific ESG studies in the pharmaceutical sector.
Given how multinational the pharmaceutical sector is, no studies gather the same HR-related
data to allow for multinational comparisons. Additionally, the relationship between HR-
centric management practices, which result in a return on assets in the pharmaceutical sector,
has not been widely researched up to this point.
Literature review
This section elaborates on understanding the full communication on employee behavior that is
related to CSR, discusses employee behavior, and discusses how it influences jobsatisfaction,
well-being, communication, employee commitment, and volunteerism to CSR.
Job satisfaction
In an article published more than a decade ago and cited over 1,000 times. Kabir and Parvin
(2011) note the paramount importance of promotion in the job satisfactionof employees in the
pharmaceutical sector. Frye (2020) noted that human resource development policies can help
pharma companies enhance employee awareness about ethical concerns and allow CSR and
corporate sustainability (CS) to take precedence and emphasize CSR activities.
Employee well-being
The relationship between CSR and employee health has been noted. Saltan (2021), when
examining the relationship between employee well-being and specifically ESG, concludes
that there are both positive and negative relationships between corporate environmental
activities and occupational stress. The study from Allen (2023) and Espasand
ın-Bustelo et al.
(2021) relating to employee experiences of the costs and benefits to their company of
contributing to environmental programs found that employee attitude can assist efforts to
foster their employees personally, to the organization, and society. This leads to employee
awareness and their view specifically towards the environment. This relationship might be
mutually reinforcing in that Espasand
ın-Bustelo et al. (2021) note that improvement of
employee happiness can be enhanced through an organizational culture that promotes CSR.
D
anescu and Popa (2020) extended this relationship to consider general public health
improvements made by pharmaceutical companies.
D
anescu and Popa (2020) found that paying attention to employees’ well-being (during
COVID) resulted in employees being “ambidextrous,” meaning being able to take on a variety
of tasks for absent co-workers. The importance of employee safety and related organizational
outcomes in the pharma sector was highlighted by research conducted by Maniar et al. (2020),
Yanget al. (2022). Manier’s work also included research on fatalities in the sector. Relatedly,
Dai et al. (2022) and Awwad and Heyari (2022) noted that focusing on accident prevention
increases the firm’s value. They specifically examined the pharmaceutical industry and
pointed out that the ability to predict employee turnover had an impact on a company’s
financial outcomes.
Communication
The literature includes specific effects of various types of CSR communication on employees.
In general, the specific impacts of different types of CSR communication on employee
ER
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1844
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