Social Responsibility in Cooperatives: An Empirical Study of Spanish Cooperative Firms

TOPIC 7-STAGE 3-MICRO In recent years, there has been growing interest in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), both academically and professionally. CSR is defined as the integration of social and environmental concerns... [ view full abstract ]

TOPIC 7-STAGE 3-MICRO
In recent years, there has been growing interest in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), both academically and professionally. CSR is defined as the integration of social and environmental concerns in the business operations as well as in the interaction with the stakeholders of the firm, employees among others. Therefore, policies of human resources offer opportunities to reinforce the CSR strategy of the company.
Cooperatives provide a particular context for CSR. The manifestation of the cooperative principles in the mission of the cooperatives enhances CSR practices. Nevertheless, cooperatives are not homogeneous entities, and differences among them may exist. In this study, we characterize the main features of the more intensive cooperatives in the development of social benefits for their employees, namely from a human resources management point of view.
The results of this paper, using a sample of Spanish cooperatives, offer new evidence, on the one hand on the CSR activities of cooperatives, namely on their human resources management practices; on the other hand, on the characteristics of those cooperatives more proactive to CSR activities.