The role of 'High Potentials' in integrating and implementing corporate social responsibility

Lindgreen, Adam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7881-7350, Swaen, Valérie, Harness, David and Hoffmann, Marieke 2011. The role of 'High Potentials' in integrating and implementing corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics 99 (S1) , pp. 73-91. 10.1007/s10551-011-1168-3

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Abstract

The Samenleving and Bedrijf (S&B) network of Dutch organizations seeks to embed corporate social responsibility (CSR) within business practices but faces challenges with regard to how to do so across various organizational practices, processes, and policies. The integration of CSR demands cultural change driven by senior management and other change agents, who push CSR principles throughout the organization. This study examines the change processes that S&B member organizations have initiated, with a particular focus on the role of high potentials—those persons who have been selected for the fast track into senior management. Interviews with nine S&B organizations document their levels of CSR integration and implementation, the role of senior managers, and the effects of high potentials’ competencies on the realignment process. High potentials have the ability and opportunity to act as CSR change agents, but organizations’ expectations of their purposes as future senior managers prevented them from doing so. In the existing organizational cultures, leadership focused on economic success, and the CSR implementation process had just initiated. Therefore, a measure of CSR embeddedness might refer to the performance measurement and expectations of high potentials as potential CSR change agents.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Corporate social responsibility; High potentials; Change agents; Integration; Implementation; Case study
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
ISSN:	0167-4544
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	02 May 2023 19:09
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/33721

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