Sustainable human resources management from the language of reports

Abstract

Purpose - Although the concept of Sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM) has been frequently discussed in recently, the measurement and dimensions of the concept are still vague. This study aims to explore Sustainable HRM practices and provide a guide to facilitate Sustainable HRM implementations and to measure its pertinent practices. Methodology - The sample of this study consists of 36 sustainability reports of 29 firms listed on the BIST Sustainability Index. The reports belong to two consecutive fiscal years: 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. The researchers have conducted a content analysis to reports by using the indexing technique, in line with a coding guide adopted from The Global Reporting Initiative - Sustainability Reporting Guidelines-G4 (GRI-G4) principles. Findings- This research has identified the discursive dimension of sustainable HRM in the context of Turkey. Following this purpose, the researchers have prepared a guide and posited the dimensions of Sustainable HRM elaborately. Moreover, the study has demonstrated the applicability of the triple reporting system to the Turkish setting. Conclusion- Different stakeholder expectations require to take HRM with its macro and micro dimensions. Sustainable HRM stands out as a concept to respond to this demand. After its fast-paced introduction as of 2000, the concept has gained momentum specifically in the last decade. Conceiving the structure of Sustainable HRM with its economic, environmental, and social dimensions constitutes a critical step of meeting this expectation. This study has identified Sustainable HRM practices, which may guide companies to have a sustainable organizational form and provide researchers a measurement tool.