TY - JOUR
T1 - Corporate Social Responsibility in the Board Room
T2 - When do Directors Pay Attention?
AU - Knudsen, Jette Steen
AU - Geisler, Kathrine
AU - Ege, Mette
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - When do board directors pay attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues? Board directors have traditionally focused on maximizing shareholder profit and viewed corporate governance narrowly as a way to meet this goal. They have paid little or no attention to CSR issues because they see CSR as a contrast to profit maximization. We argue in this article that companies can no longer ignore CSR. We propose that three conditions must be met in order for boards to pay attention toCSR. First, the board must have a mindset that considers CSR as contributing value to the firm. Second, the board must have relevant competences that enable members to understand CSR issues. Third, compensation of top-level management should reflect CSR performance. The first two conditions are directly linked to human resource development because, in order to embrace the specific challenges that CSR possesses, board members must develop an understanding of the CSR field and related challenges and opportunities for the company.
AB - When do board directors pay attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues? Board directors have traditionally focused on maximizing shareholder profit and viewed corporate governance narrowly as a way to meet this goal. They have paid little or no attention to CSR issues because they see CSR as a contrast to profit maximization. We argue in this article that companies can no longer ignore CSR. We propose that three conditions must be met in order for boards to pay attention toCSR. First, the board must have a mindset that considers CSR as contributing value to the firm. Second, the board must have relevant competences that enable members to understand CSR issues. Third, compensation of top-level management should reflect CSR performance. The first two conditions are directly linked to human resource development because, in order to embrace the specific challenges that CSR possesses, board members must develop an understanding of the CSR field and related challenges and opportunities for the company.
KW - Corporate Governance
KW - Corporate social responsibility
KW - Board of Directors
KW - Board mindset
KW - Boeard competencies
KW - Compensation
KW - Human resource development
U2 - 10.1080/13678868.2012.756156
DO - 10.1080/13678868.2012.756156
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1367-8868
VL - 16
SP - 238
EP - 246
JO - Human Resource Development International
JF - Human Resource Development International
IS - 2
ER -