Building Competence in Corporate Citizenship in Healthcare Organizations

Abstract

The incentives for organizations to practice good corporate citizenship include social expectations and pressures, the ingrained values of corporate leaders, and citizenship's contributions to business performance. In addition, healthcare organizations have a unique citizenship incentive because of the relationship between practicing corporate citizenship and achieving the core, health-enhancing purposes of these organizations. A template of six organization behaviors that have been empirically determined to be widely used citizenship-related behaviors is described, along with how a large healthcare organization exhibits these behaviors. A three-step process is described through which healthcare organizations can build competence in corporate citizenship by (1) incorporating citizenship commitments into their missions and giving citizenship a high priority; (2) organizing to build competence in corporate citizenship, and to facilitate and sustain citizenship performance; and (3) maintaining commitment to citizenship competence and increasing citizenship performance by conducting periodic citizenship audits, and acting on the results.

Citation

Longest, B.B. (2005), "Building Competence in Corporate Citizenship in Healthcare Organizations", Sanchez, R. and Heene, A. (Ed.) Competence Perspectives on Resources, Stakeholders and Renewal (Advances in Applied Business Strategy, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 169-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-6826(05)09009-8