Social performance of the company: An explanation centralized on the social and technological factors

Abstract

Purpose

The notion of social performance of the company (SPC) is a fundamental concept of the research on ethics of business and work on company-society relationships. The study raises several debates concerning SPC’s determinants. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework of SPC along with its social and technological determinants. After identification of the determinants, the authors have searched through a managerial perspective to recognize the effects of these determinants on SPC.

Design/methodology/approach

Content analysis of 18 semi-structured interviews with the HR managers, and statistical analysis of data collected from Managers/HR Managers (n=250) working in private and public sector banks of Tunisia was undertaken. Structural equation modeling (SEM), has been used to test the hypotheses and statistically validate the proposed relationships. Data for the study were collected online.

Findings

Results indicate a strong interrelationship between SPC and its determinants. Such an interrelation aims to enrich the framework of analysis of the SPC by considering the action of social responsibility of the company, organizational commitment and managers’ characteristics on one hand, and human resources information system, the practices of knowledge management, and facilitating conditions for the use of the information and communication technologies on the other.

Originality/value

The study reconciles various perspectives in the SPC literature and presents a comprehensive model of SPC by identifying its determinants – social and technological, which could stimulate the SPC in Tunisian context.

Citation

Arfaoui, N., Hofaidhllaoui, M. and Chawla, G. (2020), "Social performance of the company: An explanation centralized on the social and technological factors", EuroMed Journal of Business, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 102-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/EMJB-03-2018-0024