Going Deeper into the S of ESG: A Relational Approach to the Definition of Social Responsibility

ESG frameworks have progressively become central in economic and policy choices. This is why it is of utmost importance to build a shared and accepted framework to define what we really mean by ESG overcoming the “minimalist” Do Not Significantly Harm (DNSH) principle and moving toward the full achievement of the more ambitious substantial contribution (SC) principle, oriented to the maximization of the social and environmental impact of value creation. To move forward in this direction, our work proposes a relational approach for the assessment of ESG factors focusing in particular on the social pillar. Our conceptual and theoretical proposal argues that, in order to increase the value of that pillar, it is necessary to assess both the internal and external relationships of the firm from an impact perspective, improving at the same time the multidimensional well-being of workers and the capacity to create sustainable development in the local community. The main factors companies should consider to achieve these goals are related to the domains of sense of community, empowerment, good practices of mutual aid and degree of participation at individual, team, organization, and territorial levels that can trigger gift giving, reciprocity and trust, overcoming standard social dilemmas and producing superadditive outcomes together with high social and environmental impact. Starting from these elements, this work proposes a set of indicators and metrics, based on an original methodology to measure and assess the commitment of a firm to increasing social factors. This methodology is particularly suitable for SMEs and start-up companies.