CSR and employee engagement at MNCs in Vietnam

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and programs have found positive effects on business performances. There is a strong relationship between CSR and employee engagement as employees perceive meaning from their work, they are healthier, happier, and more engaged resulting to higher productive. For enterprises, the more engaged employees at work, the higher customer satisfaction and the lower turnover and absenteeism (Dullekson et al., 2021). Employees’ CSR perception whose have higher individualism or value autonomy at work influences work engagement through compliance, participation, advocacy for CSR activities (Rupp et al., 2018). According to Harvard Business School, there are four categories of CSR: environmental responsibility, ethical responsibility, philanthropic responsibility, and economic responsibility. More than 90% of the largest 250 multinational corporates (MNCs) in the world revealed information about various aspects of their CSR and sustainability (Jang and Ardichvili, 2020).

CSR initiatives or co-creation activities are strategic solution to increase the engagement of employees at organizations and relate to external organizational attractiveness, image, and reputation. Employee engagement has well studied in people management over the last 30 years. Engagement employment at individual level indicates employee satisfaction and dedication, and more importantly, the sense of professional efficacy. International corporate-sponsored volunteer programs are example of how CSR increase internal engagement when comparing the engagement level between employees who involved versus who did not involve (Gullekson et al., 2021). Moreover, the engaged experiences also benefit for younger employees who have less meaningful experiences in their work or personal lives compared with older employees. Thus, creating such valuable experiences through CSR initiatives foster to recruit, engage, and retain competitive talents.

Employees at P&G and Unilever in Greece indicated they were willing to go extra mile if they believe their work is significant for the community (Tsourvakas & Yfantidou, 2018) and they found proud of their organizations to be identified as a caring image. Furthermore, the stronger relationship between CSR and employee engagement among female employees at Unilever, while the stronger bond between CSR and motivation, and job satisfaction among female employees at P&G were found. This provides evidence for HR professionals to develop strategies to engage more male employees with the corporate CSR programs.

MNCs commonly develop a universal Code of Conduct and standards of business culture for application in various geographical markets including Vietnam (Nguyen et al. 2015). In Vietnam, the concept of CSR was introduced in the 2000s through the operation of MNCs and activities of different non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Subsequently, there has been a rise in the number of laws and policies aimed at safeguarding the environment and enhancing working conditions (Phan & Podruzsik, 2018). Numerous MNCs in Vietnam such as Honda-Vietnam, Coca-Cola Vietnam, Unilever Vietnam, Microsoft, HP, etc have been implementing CSR practices. The collaboration of 19 enterprises in Packaging Recycling Organization Vietnam (PRO) has committed to achieving 100% recycling materials in packaging by 2030. Unilever Vietnam initiates a program together with the Vietnam Women's Union aim to enable one million Vietnamese women during the period 2022-2027 to enhance their quality of life by providing education and training in areas such as health, hygiene, and nutrition, as well as entrepreneurship.

The contemporary organizational performances are not only based on sole profit sustainablity, but also talent, social, and environment sustainablity to illustrate the corporate responsibility with external stakeholders and internal employees. These performance reports indicate the business objectives achieved. CSR initiatives are indispensable programs to engage employees through individual, organizational, and societal meaningful impacts that are highly encouraged. Rewards and recognition is one of strategies to increase the engagement at workplace for those who participate in CSR activities. These MNCs’ CSR exemplaries are applicable in Vietnam, particularly for Vietnamese enterprises’ unique initiatives in Vietnam context.

 

References

Gullekson, N. L., Cedergren, A., Arnold, L., & Brooks, T. (2021). Corporate social responsibility and employee engagement: making the case for international corporate-sponsored volunteering using a matched-sample analysis. Society and Business Review, 16(4), 517-534.

Nguyen, T.-V., P.-H. Mai, P.-H. Tran, and V.-P. Nguyen. 2015. ‘Current Situation of Corporate Social Responsibility in Vietnam Today.’ European Journal of Business and Social Sciences 4 (9): 156–63.

Phan V.T., & Podruzsik, S. (2018). CSR in Developing Countries: Case Study in Vietnam. Management (18544223), 13(4).

Rupp, D. E., Shao, R., Skarlicki, D. P., Paddock, E. L., Kim, T. Y., & Nadisic, T. (2018). Corporate social responsibility and employee engagement: The moderating role of CSR‐specific relative autonomy and individualism. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(5), 559-579.

Tsourvakas, G., & Yfantidou, I. (2018). Corporate social responsibility influences employee engagement. Social Responsibility Journal, 14(1), 123-137.

Turner P. (2020). Employee Engagement in Contemporary Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan.

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