Title: Mandatory CSR and employer branding: competitive advantage for Indian organisations

Authors: Sunil Budhiraja

Addresses: School of Management and Labour Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India

Abstract: Coincidentally, both mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employer branding (EB) are in a nascent stage in India and their integration can become a competitive advantage. The article draws from the existing status of mandatory CSR in India, performs a review of the extant literature and presents linkage of mandatory CSR and EB systematically. The locus of article lies in the implementation framework of mandatory CSR while keeping employer branding in the driver seat. The findings of the study suggest that mandatory CSR has enforced organisations to invest money on social projects, whereas most of the organisations are still struggling with internal motivation to sustain and steer this investment. Employer branding can become a source of motivation to leverage the investment mandated for CSR and this integration can provide a competitive advantage in the long run. The recommendations made in this study may not be directly useful to the organisations which are voluntarily spending on social and environmental issues.

Keywords: mandatory CSR; employer branding; sustainable advantage; social projects; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWE.2021.119676

International Journal of Environment, Workplace and Employment, 2021 Vol.6 No.3, pp.175 - 184

Received: 16 Nov 2019
Accepted: 13 Nov 2020
Published online: 14 Dec 2021 *

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