Abstract
Social responsibility and sustainable development are concepts of growing interest to the corporate sector, including in the so-called developing world. Although the benefits are manifold and typically include mutual learning, innovation, humanitarian engagement, intercultural exchange, new markets, and effective theory-praxis integration that is aligned with the idea of giving back to the community there is a dearth of research studies featuring the practical outworking of actual cases in a comprehensive, analytical and critical manner. To address this gap in the literature the study employs an exploratory methodological approach examining the Impact Week, a Lufthansa Group CSR program aimed at progressing entrepreneurship, innovation, and intercultural exchange that systematically engages employees as part of an internal qualification program. Data from projects in Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria and Columbia showed long-term local effects both on a program as well as an individual level of analysis. Findings further indicate that engaging employees in CSR practice has the potential of making organizations more meaningful and thus positively impacting organizational culture and attracting new talents. A human centric as opposed to a utilitarian orientation among stakeholders emerged as an important factor for the longevity and sustainability of CSR practice. Results are relevant to stakeholders interested in learning how social responsibility and sustainability may be enhanced in organizational practice.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
See Higgins (2009) for a discussion on “The rise of soft regulation” (pp. 204–207).
- 3.
According to White (2008), “[t]he phenomenon of ‘greenwashing’ has been incorporated into most companies’ operational practices in one way or another. Greenwashing refers to putting a particular corporate ‘spin’ on environmental issues and problems. Much of it has to do with image-making, and hence it is heavily tied up with public relations” (pp. 262–263).
- 4.
See Crane et al. (2009) (Part 3) for an overview of critical discourses relating to CSR.
- 5.
- 6.
See Benson and Kirsch (2010) for other examples of corporate oxymorons.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
- 17.
- 18.
- 19.
- 20.
Former IW participants have acted as multipliers and first points of contact for the Design Thinking approach in their respective business units supporting a range of innovation and digitalization programs. The IW is now an established training program that is being announced annually in the company‘s management news.
- 21.
- 22.
Mary Ann Glynn, 2016 Program Chair, Academy of Management; http://aom.org/Meetings/annualmeeting/2016/AOM-2016-Theme--Making-Organizations-Meaningful.aspx/.
References
Aras G, Crowther D (eds) (2010) A handbook of corporate governance and social responsibility. Gower, Surrey, UK
Benson P, Kirsch S (2010) Corporate oxymorons. Dialect Anthropol 34:45–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-009-9112-y
Berger P, Luckmann T (1966) The social construction of reality: a treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Penguin, London
Bhattacharya CB, Sen S, Korschun D (2008) Using corporate social responsibility to win the war for talent. MIT Sloan Manag Rev 49(2). https://ssrn.com/abstract=2333549. Accessed 31 May 2018
Boatright JR (2012) Ethics and the conduct of business, 7th edn. Pearson, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Bryman A (2016) Social research methods, 5th edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
Cole K (2005) Management: theory and practice. Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest, NSW
Crane A, Matten D, McWilliams A, Moon J, Siegel DS (2009) The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
Creswell JW (2014) Research design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
Dahlsrud A (2006) How corporate social responsibility is defined: An analysis of 37 definitions. Corp Soc Responsib Environ Manag 15:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.132
Dunfee TW (2009) Stakeholder theory: managing corporate social responsibility in a multiple actor context. In: Crane A, Matten D, McWilliams A, Moon J, Siegel DS (eds) The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp 346–362
Fallon W (2013) Sustainability, stakeholders and the nature of the firm. In: Wells M et al (eds) Sustainability in Australian business: principles and practice. Wiley, Milton, QLD, pp 35–66
Friedman M (1970) The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine, p 17
Friedman M (2007) The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. In: Zimmerli WC, Holzinger M, Richter K (eds) Corporate ethics and corporate governance. Springer, Berlin, pp 173–178
Frynas JG (2005) The false developmental promise of corporate social responsibility: evidence from multinational oil companies. Int Aff 81(3):581–598. https://doi.org/10.1111/inta.2005.81.issue-3
Gielnik MM, Frese M, Kahara-Kawuki A, Katono IW, Kyejjusa S, Munene J et al (2015) Action and action-regulation in entrepreneurship: evaluating a student training for promoting entrepreneurship. Acad Manag Learn Educ 14(1):69–94. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2012.0107
Gilberthorpe E, Banks G (2012) Development on whose terms?: CSR discourse and social realities in Papua New Guinea’s extractive industries sector. Resour Policy 37(2):185–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2011.09.005
Gilberthorpe E, Agol D, Gegg T (2016) ‘Sustainable mining’? Corporate social responsibility, migration and livelihood choices in Zambia. J Dev Stud 52(11):1517–1532. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2016.1189534
Grisaffe DB (2007) Questions about the ultimate question: conceptual considerations in evaluating Reichheld’s net promoter score (NPS). J Consum Satisfaction Dissatisfaction Complaining Behav 20:36–53
Grots A, Creuznacher I (2016) Design thinking: process or culture? In: Brenner W, Uebernickel F (eds) Design thinking for innovation. Springer, Cham
Henderson D (2001) Misguided virtue: false notions of corporate social responsibility. Institute of Economic Affairs, London
Higgins W (2009) Standardizing corporate social responsibility. In: Bubna-Litic D (ed) Spirituality and corporate social responsibility: interpenetrating worlds. Gower, Surrey, UK, pp 199–212
Hubbard TD, Christensen DM, Graffin SD (2017) Higher highs and lower lows: The role of corporate social responsibility in CEO dismissal. Strateg Manag J 38(11):2255–2265. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2646
ISO—International Organization for Standardization (n.d.) ISO 26000—Social responsibility. Resource document. Author. https://www.iso.org/iso-26000-social-responsibility.html. Accessed 15 April 2018
ISO—International Organization for Standardization (2010) Discovering ISO 26000: guidance on social responsibility. Genève, Switzerland: Author. https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/archive/pdf/en/discovering_iso_26000.pdf. Accessed 15 April 2018
Janssen B (2016) Die stille revolution: Führen mit Sinn und Menschlichkeit. Ariston, Germany
Johnson RB, Christensen L (2017) Educational research: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches, 6th edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
Keith N, Unger JM, Rauch A, Frese M (2016) Informal learning and entrepreneurial success: a longitudinal study of deliberate practice among small business owners. Appl Psychol 65(3):515–540
Kolko J (2015) Design thinking comes of age: organizational culture. Harvard Business Review (HBR). Online news article. https://hbr.org/2015/09/design-thinking-comes-of-age. Accessed 28 Apr 2018
Lenz I, Wetzel HA, Hammerschmidt M (2017) Can doing good lead to doing poorly? Firm value implications of CSR in the face of CSI. J Acad Mark Sci 45(5):677–697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-016-0510-9
LHG—Lufthansa Group (n.d.) Corporate responsibility within the Lufthansa group. Resource document. Author. https://www.lufthansagroup.com/en/responsibility/corporate-responsibility.html. Accessed 23 Apr 2018
Moscardo G, Lamberton G, Wells G (2013) Sustainability in Australian business: principles and practice. Wiley, Milton, QLD
O’Faircheallaigh C, Ali S (eds) (2009) Earth matters: indigenous peoples, the extractive industry and corporate social responsibility. Greenleaf, London
Padel F, Das S (2010) Cultural genocide and the rhetoric of sustainable mining in East India. Contemp South Asia 18(3):333–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2010.503871
Punch KF (2014) Introduction to social research: quantitative and qualitative approaches, 3rd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
Rasche A, Morsing M, Moon J (eds) (2017) Corporate social responsibility: strategy, communication, governance. Cambridge University Press, UK
Shamir R (2011) Socially responsible private regulation: world-culture or world-capitalism? Law Soc Rev 45(2):313–336. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2011.00439.x
Stake RE (1995) The art of case study research. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
Trebeck K (2008) Corporate social responsibility and democratisation: opportunities and obstacles. In: O’Faircheallaigh C, Ali S (eds) Earth matters: indigenous peoples, the extractive industry and corporate social responsibility. Greenleaf, London, pp 8–23
Unger JM, Rauch A, Frese M, Rosenbusch N (2011) Human capital and entrepreneurial success: a meta-analytical review. J Bus Ventur 26(3):341–358
Van Marrewijk M (2003) Concepts and definitions of CSR and corporate sustainability: between agency and communion. J Bus Ethics 44:95–105
van Oosterhout J, Heugens P (2009) Much ado about nothing: a conceptual critique of corporate social responsibility. In: Crane A, Matten D, McWilliams A, Moon J, Siegel DS (eds) The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp 197–226
von Devivere B (2018) Meaningful Work: Viktor Frankl’s Legacy for the 21st Century. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89791-2
White R (2008) Crimes against nature: environmental criminology and ecological justice. Willan, Portland, OR
Whitmore A (2006) The emperor’s new clothes: sustainable mining? J Cleaner Prod 14(3–4):309–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2004.10.005
Yin RK (2009) Case study research: design and methods, 4th edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
Yin RK (2012) Applications of case study research, 3rd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
Acknowledgements
Our special thanks go to all professional and corporate volunteers as well as all local hosts for dedicating their time and effort to the IW programs. Grateful acknowledgement is made to Michael Huebl, co-founder of the IW, to Church in Action for all logistic support and to all sponsors and partners who made this project and research possible by providing funds and expertise. Our special thanks go to Julia Wenzel for providing important qualitative content for the study and for her feedback on earlier versions of the manuscript as well as to Jan Wessel for the evaluation of IW Kigali. We also thank all photographers including Thomas Ade, Jason Terschueren, and Jens Stapelfeldt for their photographic material. Finally, we wish to thank Kirsty Andersen for her copy-editorial support, and Susanne Kotysch, Monika Ruehl, Gregor Preis for providing information on Lufthansa Group CSR and the help alliance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Unger, J.M., Luetz, J.M. (2019). Engaging Employees in Corporate Social Responsibility Projects—A Case Study from the Lufthansa Group Showcasing Experiences and Lessons Gathered in Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria and Columbia. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Social Responsibility and Sustainability. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03562-4_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03562-4_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-03561-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-03562-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)