Is ethical management of human resources inherent to social enterprises European tradition model versus Anglo-Saxon model

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship has become an economic reality with great potential to provide a response to the existing social challenges. In this paper we identify two models of social enterprise, and we provide, for the first time, evidence from the human resource management of social enterprises in Spain. This allows us to analyse whether these social enterprises manage their human resources in an ethical way, and whether a different ethical human resource management exists in the two models. We have designed a questionnaire using the ethical practices of the ethical human resource management model as a basis. The results reveal that social enterprises in Spain manage their human resources ethically and a difference does not exist between the two models identified. We conclude by outlining the implications for a better understanding of ethical practices in human resource management in social enterprises.