Corporate Social Performance As a Competitive Advantage in Attracting a Quality Workforce

2000/09/01 by Daniel W. Greening, Daniel B. Turban · 2,066 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Business #Competitive advantage #Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting #Corporate social responsibility #Economics #Gender Diversity and Inequality #Identity (music) #Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior #Marketing #Political science #Psychology #Public relations #Quality (philosophy) #Social group #Social identity theory #Social psychology #Workforce

paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/000765030003900302

published in Business & Society 39(3), 254-280 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2000/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

Several researchers have suggested that a talented, quality workforce will become a more important source of competitive advantage for firms in the future. Drawing on social identity theory and signaling theory, the authors hypothesize that firms can use their corporate social performance (CSP) activities to attract job applicants. Specifically, signaling theory suggests that a firm’s CSP sends signals to prospective job applicants about what it would be like to work for a firm. Social identity theory suggests that job applicants have higher self-images whenworking for socially responsive firms over their less responsive counterparts. The authors conducted an experiment in which they manipulated CSP and found that prospective job applicants are more likely to pursue jobs from socially responsible firms than from firms with poor social performance reputations. The implications of these findings for academicians and practitioners alike are discussed.

Citations

• The Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Strategy Formulation
• Capturing Value from Knowledge Assets: The New Economy, Markets for Know-How, and Intangible Assets

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