Social sustainability measurement framework: The case of employee perspective in a CSR-committed organisation

Abstract

Abstract The number of organisations putting the issue of sustainability on strategic agenda has been growing in the past few years. Although sustainable development gains more importance, discussion on measures of sustainability is continuing. Environmental and economic dimensions could be more easily evaluated by clearly expressed quantitative indicators. Social sustainability measurement requires a balance between quantitative and qualitative indicators. Furthermore, there is still some ambiguity around what social sustainability actually is. It seems that essentially the determinants of the “social” element depend on the underlying framework. However, the majority of the existing measurement frameworks do not fully address the employee perspective. To bridge this gap, the present study aims at substantiating the framework for measuring social sustainability from the employee perspective. The scientific value of the study is the contribution to social sustainability measurement literature by identifying the employee perspective. The proposed framework for social sustainability measurement incudes six dimensions: employee participation, employee cooperation, equal opportunities, employee development, health and safety, and external partnership. For reaching the aim of the paper, two methods are applied: interview of line managers and employee survey. The study is conducted in a CSR-committed organisation, which is a member of the Lithuanian Association of Responsible Business. The findings reveal some differences in the attitudes of employees concerning the social sustainability practices. Health and safety conditions were disclosed as the most important in terms of social sustainability. The findings also suggest incorporating the perspective of employees when measuring social sustainability. The study shows vital involvement of employees in social sustainability evaluation of an organisation.