Social Sustainability and Good Work in Organizations

Simon Jebsen, Klarissa Lueg, Simon Jebseng

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN:
  9781032307381
• eBook ISBN:
  9781003856214
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

This edited research monograph collects nine unique research contributions on the concept of social sustainability and its connection to possibilities and hindrances for good work in organisations. Social sustainability, in organisational contexts, emphasizes the long-term well-being of stakeholders and communities. The authors in this book demonstrate how organisational long-term strategies should prioritise employee well-being, mental health, community engagement, and ethical supply chain management, inter alia. Readers, from undergraduate students to the research community, will learn how long-term social sustainability orientation is different from Corporate Social Responsibility, which responds to immediate stakeholder expectations. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals have nudged many organisations to implement social sustainability, and many authors in this book relate to UN concepts such as the SDGs or Global Compact's definition of social sustainability. However, many organisations have come under scrutiny for acting merely ceremonial to live up to the current megatrends. In consequence, readers will take away that the line between genuine corporate mission and ceremonial lip services must be critically observed, and how this can be done in different areas. Key chapters of this book explore social sustainability, e.g., in higher education (as sustainable knowledge in business students), in corporate communication (employee identification, corporate volunteering, and corporate heritage), and in sustainable human resource management practices. Workplace toxicity, especially towards minorities, is explored, highlighting both the role of bystanders, and the financial repercussions of ignoring workplace harassment. Digital transformation's social implications, employee well-being, and the importance of psychological safety in startups are addressed. The chapters, all together, signify the relevance of meaningful work for long-term societal cohesion and individual fulfilment.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• Social sustainability and good work in organisations: Exploring how and why a recent phenomenon is being enacted
• 1 Exploring the relationship between sustainable knowledge, entrepreneurial skills, and sustainable entrepreneurial intention among first-year business students
• 2 Enlisting employees in social sustainability activities: How organisations discursively position employees as volunteers in their communication
• 3 Corporate heritage and social sustainability: The role businesses can (and should) play in maintaining heritage and culture
• 4 The role of bystandership for socially sustainable and inclusive police organisations
• 5 How do investors react to problematic social issues in organisations?: Evidence from the literature on workplace sexual harassment
• 6 “Digital transformation is 20% about technological issues and 80% about social issues”: Negotiating social sustainability in the course of organisations' digital transformation
• 7 Psychological safety and social integration in a start-up context
• 8 Leading for better health: Using signalling theory and German panel data to explain leader's role in social sustainability
• 9 The Sustainable HRM-SDG nexus: Contributions to global sustainable development
• 10 The way forward: Future research directions in social sustainability across sectors
• Index