The Ripple Effect: HRM and Social Cohesion Beyond the Workplace
This Special Issue centers on the critical role HRM plays in affecting social cohesion beyond the confines of the workplace. It aims to explore how HRM practices and policies can extend their impact into the broader community, contributing to building inclusive, equitable, and unified societies. Alternatively, it also aims to identify and explain how some HRM practices can be detrimental to communities and their cohesion. We seek papers that deepen our understanding of the positive and negative external societal impacts of HRM strategies and the ways in which
organizations can affect social cohesion in the wider community.
Recognizing the possible dissonance between espoused values, outward-facing activities and internal practices, we also encourage research that critically examines the disconnect between internal and external corporate actions. This is particularly relevant where corporations' own employees might be exposed to practices that undermine human rights and social cohesion, even as the public-facing agenda claims the company's leading role in advancing positive societal
outcomes.
We invite submissions that provide empirical research, practice-based insights, and conceptual explorations into the ways HRM can influence social cohesion outside the workplace. This call welcomes contributions from a diverse set of empirical contexts that consider the varied legal, social, and cultural environments, and how these environments shape the external societal roles of HRM.
Contributors are encouraged to utilize foundational theories and concepts from a diverse set of fields, such as sociology, social work, and corporate citizenship, to examine the broader social implications of HRM practices. We are looking for diverse theoretical viewpoints and research methodologies that can appeal to a wide readership. This includes interdisciplinary work, studies that examine the societal levels of impact, and research that promotes collaboration with community groups and external stakeholders.
By focusing on HRM's role in enhancing social cohesion in the larger societal context, this Special Issue aims to offer insights into how HR practices can extend their benefits beyond organizational performance to contribute significantly to societal well-being and peaceful co-existence. We especially encourage contributions that propose innovative strategies and actionable solutions for HRM practitioners to engage with and positively impact their communities.
Following the broad definition of social cohesion, we invite papers addressing, but not limited to, a wide range of topics at the intersection of HRM, DEI and social cohesion. We recognize that social cohesion is a distal outcome for HRM practices in any organization, and acknowledge that it may be a stretch for some authors to conclusively demonstrate social impact as an outcome of their studies. Hence, we encourage efforts to look beyond organizational performance or individual outcomes, to explore the potential for HRM to contribute to social cohesion. Each submission will be expected to include a section that explicitly addresses how the paper links HRM to social cohesion. This might be in the form of implications for social cohesion, or in demonstration of a real social impact.
If you have any questions about a potential submission, please contact Prof. Betina Szkudlarek via betina.szkudlarek@sydney.edu.au, Dr Eun Su Lee via jeannie.lee@newcastle.edu.au, Prof. Helen De Cieri via helen.decieri@monash.edu or Prof Catherine Connelly via connell@mcmaster.ca.
Submission Window: April 1-30, 2025
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Eun Su Lee
Senior Lecturer
The University of Newcastle
Kotara NSW
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