Responsible human resource management: A theoretical assessment and discourse analysis of Canadian banks’ practice

In this paper, our aim is to analyze how the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), both in theory and in practice, may be applied to the renewal of strategic human resource management (SHRM). A thorough literature review on the themes of CSR and SHRM has been conducted in order to examine to what extent knowledge about CSR is useful in advancing knowledge about SHRM (theory). The discourse of the six largest Canadian banks on their CSR practices related to work and workers has been studied in order to identify the main logic underlying what they consider as responsible human resource management (practice). As regards theory, we conclude that institutional-based approaches from economic and sociological disciplines, used in the theoretical analysis of CSR and focusing on concepts such as social representations, regulation, social construction, and institutionalization, may offer new insights into the study of SHRM. As regards practice, our results indicate that the current observable change reflects a shift from a logic of efficiency to that of strategic positioning.