IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i10p7954-d1145926.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Sustainability Indicators from Employees’ Perspective: A Qualitative Study on Whether Social Sustainability in Businesses Is Perceived as a Necessity, Preference, or Dream

Author

Listed:
  • Serap Kalfaoğlu

    (Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Selcuk University, 42250 Konya, Turkey)

Abstract

Contrary to the economic and environmental perspectives of sustainability, its social dimension seems to be overshadowed by the lack of research. The objective of this study is to identify social sustainability indicators in businesses from the perspective of employees. The study sheds light on the meaning and practices of social sustainability, and aims to understand how employees perceive and define social sustainability in the context of businesses. In this direction, data were collected from eight high-level employees working in different units in different sectors, with thematic analysis from qualitative research designs and in-depth interviews. The MAXQDA 2020 Program was used in the analysis of the data. As a result, in accordance with the designed model, three basic categories as “socially beneficial applications”, “anthropocentrism in job design”, and “value-creating relationships system” and twenty-six subcategories were defined. Based on the perspective of employees, it has been revealed that there is still a lack of complete awareness regarding social sustainability practices in businesses. However, it is believed that these practices are essential for protecting the future, creating a secure and unified environment, and promoting accountability and transparency towards stakeholders. Furthermore, efforts to enhance employee competence are considered important in the context of social sustainability practices in businesses. This study fills an important gap in the literature in terms of determining social criteria in terms of interpreting the performances of businesses and measuring their success.

Suggested Citation

  • Serap Kalfaoğlu, 2023. "Social Sustainability Indicators from Employees’ Perspective: A Qualitative Study on Whether Social Sustainability in Businesses Is Perceived as a Necessity, Preference, or Dream," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:10:p:7954-:d:1145926
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/10/7954/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/10/7954/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carina Weingaertner & Åsa Moberg, 2014. "Exploring Social Sustainability: Learning from Perspectives on Urban Development and Companies and Products," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 122-133, March.
    2. Chokri Kooli, 2023. "Chatbots in Education and Research: A Critical Examination of Ethical Implications and Solutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Ewa Chomać-Pierzecka & Anna Sobczak & Edward Urbańczyk, 2022. "RES Market Development and Public Awareness of the Economic and Environmental Dimension of the Energy Transformation in Poland and Lithuania," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-18, July.
    4. Ibrahim A. Elshaer & Alaa M. S. Azazz & Chokri Kooli & Sameh Fayyad, 2023. "Green Human Resource Management and Brand Citizenship Behavior in the Hotel Industry: Mediation of Organizational Pride and Individual Green Values as a Moderator," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Angus Morrison-Saunders & Riki Therivel, 2006. "Sustainability Integration And Assessment," Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(03), pages 281-298.
    6. Steven A. Brieger & Siri A. Terjesen & Diana M. Hechavarría & Christian Welzel, 2019. "Prosociality in Business: A Human Empowerment Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 361-380, October.
    7. Leonel Prieto & Muhammad Ruhul Amin & Arman Canatay, 2022. "Examining Social Sustainability in Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-43, September.
    8. Pratima Bansal, 2005. "Evolving sustainably: a longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 197-218, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kim, Dokyung & Kim, Seongcheol, 2019. "An institutional analysis of environmental management in the Korean mobile communications industry," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(10).
    2. Kim, Dokyung & Kim, Seongcheol, 2018. "An Institutional Analysis of Environmental Management in Korean Mobile Communications Industry," 22nd ITS Biennial Conference, Seoul 2018. Beyond the boundaries: Challenges for business, policy and society 190410, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    3. Franck Brulhart & Sandrine Gherra & Bertrand V. Quelin, 2019. "Do Stakeholder Orientation and Environmental Proactivity Impact Firm Profitability?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 25-46, August.
    4. Bárbara Galleli & Elder Semprebon & Joyce Aparecida Ramos dos Santos & Noah Emanuel Brito Teles & Mateus Santos de Freitas-Martins & Raquel Teodoro da Silva Onevetch, 2021. "Institutional Pressures, Sustainable Development Goals and COVID-19: How Are Organisations Engaging?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.
    5. Aseem Kaul & Jiao Luo, 2018. "An economic case for CSR: The comparative efficiency of for‐profit firms in meeting consumer demand for social goods," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1650-1677, June.
    6. Mario Vaupel & David Bendig & Denise Fischer-Kreer & Malte Brettel, 2023. "The Role of Share Repurchases for Firms’ Social and Environmental Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(2), pages 401-428, March.
    7. Francesco Gangi & Antonio Meles & Eugenio D'Angelo & Lucia Michela Daniele, 2019. "Sustainable development and corporate governance in the financial system: Are environmentally friendly banks less risky?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(3), pages 529-547, May.
    8. Akram Hatami & Jan Hermes & Anne Keränen & Pauliina Ulkuniemi, 2023. "Creating Social Sustainability Through Distributing Leadership and Co-Responsibility in Corporate Volunteering," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 12(1), pages 81-96, April.
    9. Ewa Chomać-Pierzecka & Andrzej Kokiel & Joanna Rogozińska-Mitrut & Anna Sobczak & Dariusz Soboń & Jacek Stasiak, 2022. "Hydropower in the Energy Market in Poland and the Baltic States in the Light of the Challenges of Sustainable Development-An Overview of the Current State and Development Potential," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-19, October.
    10. Ali Saleh Alshebami, 2021. "Evaluating the relevance of green banking practices on Saudi Banks’ green image: The mediating effect of employees’ green behaviour," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 275-286, December.
    11. Simone Carmine & Valentina De Marchi, 2023. "Reviewing Paradox Theory in Corporate Sustainability Toward a Systems Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 139-158, April.
    12. Rubio-Andrés, Mercedes & Ramos-González, Mª del Mar & Sastre-Castillo, Miguel Ángel & Gutiérrez-Broncano, Santiago, 2023. "Stakeholder pressure and innovation capacity of SMEs in the COVID-19 pandemic: Mediating and multigroup analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    13. Fabien Martinez, 2014. "Corporate strategy and the environment: towards a four-dimensional compatibility model for fostering green management decisions," Post-Print hal-02887618, HAL.
    14. Joanna Tyrowicz & Siri Terjesen & Jakub Mazurek, 2017. "All on board? New evidence on board gender diversity from a large panel of firms," GRAPE Working Papers 5, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    15. Maël Sommer & Karine Gauche, 2021. "Certification de groupe ISO 14001 et gestion des problèmes de durabilité en petite entreprise : une analyse lexicale du discours des agriculteurs," Post-Print hal-03791169, HAL.
    16. Andrea Lučić, 2020. "Measuring Sustainable Marketing Orientation—Scale Development Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-22, February.
    17. Zhiqiang Liu & Ji Li & Hong Zhu & Zhenyao Cai & Luning Wang, 2014. "Chinese firms’ sustainable development—The role of future orientation, environmental commitment, and employee training," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 195-213, March.
    18. Jubril Olakitan Atanda & Ayşe Öztürk, 2020. "Social criteria of sustainable development in relation to green building assessment tools," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 61-87, January.
    19. Krishnadas Nanath & R Radhakrishna Pillai, 2021. "Towards a framework for sustaining Green IT initiatives: an empirical investigation," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 193-206, September.
    20. Rajan Varadarajan, 2017. "Innovating for sustainability: a framework for sustainable innovations and a model of sustainable innovations orientation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 14-36, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:10:p:7954-:d:1145926. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.