How do personal values about Corporate Social Responsibility affect Human Resource Management Practice?

Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 72 (with distinction), Queen Mary University of London, course: International Human Resource Management, language: English, abstract: Abstract

Little research has been conducted into corporate social responsibility and its implications for

human resource management, in particular with regard to application and recruiting process. The

study recognizes the importance of CSR in current management practice and strategy and examines

the way in which personal values regarding CSR affect application and recruitment practices in

Germany. To this end the study explores how individuals understand and define CSR and asks

which factors influence this. Moreover, the findings show what role individual understandings of

CSR play in the application and recruiting process. The research seeks to understand the external

environment that decisions are taken within and thus highlights the impact of socio-economic

context on personal values regarding CSR in general and in specific regarding the first point of

contact between job applicant and targeted company. The theoretical lens applied makes use of

Carroll¿s (1991) pyramid of CSR and Festinger¿s (1962) theory of cognitive dissonance. The study

is qualitative and includes an analysis of 16 semi-structured interviews with business students and

HR-managers working in companies in Germany. The results are used to present a complex and

multifaceted model that reflects the variety of factors that should be taken into consideration during

the application and recruiting process.