Social Sustainability Development : Benchmarking internal corporate social sustainability best practices
Salmela, Heidi (2026)
2026
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202603275098
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202603275098
Tiivistelmä
Corporate social sustainability has gained increasing importance, with organisations facing growing expectations related to employee well-being, equality, and responsible governance. While there are existing frameworks and standards addressing social sustainability challenges, the guidance remains theoretical and provides limited insight into how internal social sustainability initiatives are implemented in practice. This study examines internal corporate social responsibility initiatives currently implemented by large corporations and explores their feasibility for other companies.
The research adopts a qualitative multi-method design, combining benchmarking with an in-depth interview. The study analyses social sustainability initiatives from six corporations, including Accenture, Google, Microsoft, Patagonia, Salesforce, and Unilever, to identify best practices. An interview is then conducted to assess how an organisation aligns with these practices and to examine their feasibility and potential challenges.
The findings of this study suggest that employee development and training programs and data-based inclusion reporting appear to be the most easily adaptable initiatives as they require the least structural changes and can be supported by outsourced services or digital tools. In contrast, fair compensation initiatives, including salary audits and living wage commitments, present greater financial and structural challenges, making them difficult to implement in practice.
The research adopts a qualitative multi-method design, combining benchmarking with an in-depth interview. The study analyses social sustainability initiatives from six corporations, including Accenture, Google, Microsoft, Patagonia, Salesforce, and Unilever, to identify best practices. An interview is then conducted to assess how an organisation aligns with these practices and to examine their feasibility and potential challenges.
The findings of this study suggest that employee development and training programs and data-based inclusion reporting appear to be the most easily adaptable initiatives as they require the least structural changes and can be supported by outsourced services or digital tools. In contrast, fair compensation initiatives, including salary audits and living wage commitments, present greater financial and structural challenges, making them difficult to implement in practice.