7-2 OL699

Socially responsible human resource practices: disclosures of the world’s best multinational workplaces

Charbel Greige Frangieh and Hala Khayr Yaacoub

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the socially responsible human resource practices disclosed by

the ‘‘World’s Best Multinational Workplaces,’’ with the aim of facilitating the benchmarking of these

disclosed practices.

Design/methodology/approach – Using the ‘‘World’s Best Multinational Workplaces’’ list was a

strategic decision in this study due to the rigorous methodology used in the preparation of the list as it

concentrated largely on the employees’ feedback, thus ensuring that these listed companies are actually

top workplaces. Both manifest and latent content analysis, are applied on 23 of the 25 listedMultinational

Corporations’ websites and reports, and company reviews done on these companies by the Great Place

toWork for to pinpoint the social responsible human resource practices.

Findings – Most of the practices disclosed are oriented toward enhancing the employees’ work

experiences whether that happened through improving their employment conditions or through having a

diverse and inclusive workplace. Thus, the employee-oriented human resource management practices

got the lion’s share of the disclosures, rather than the legal or the Corporate social responsibility–human

resources facilitation components.

Research limitations/implications – The practices that are already used at small and medium

enterpriseswithin national contexts were not covered in this study.

Practical implications – It is assumed that businesses can benefit from the practices of these MNCs

which are considered as great places to work for, and as pioneers in their socially responsible human

resource approaches.

Originality/value – This study is likely to fill an important gap in the corporate social responsibility

literature, which gave pint-sized attention to the internal stakeholders, rendering the academic coverage

of employee-related practices scarce if not absent

Keywords CSR, Content analysis, Multinational corporations,

Social responsible human resource practices

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

An ethical movement is gaining momentum in the business world as a result of

management malpractices committed in the past decades. The ethical crisis drove

practitioners and researchers around the world to acknowledge the importance of

integrating business ethics and sustainability into their organizations. Engaging in

responsible practices was seen as a means to avoid crises and simultaneously lead to

financial benefits, (Doh et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2015; Voegtlin et al., 2012), produce social

capital (Maak, 2007) and enhance work-related behaviors like retention and workplace

commitment (Waldman and Galvin, 2008; Cameron, 2011; Doh et al., 2011; Doh and

Quigley, 2014; Miska et al., 2014). The misconducts in top management positions gained

extensive media attention due to their infamous contribution to the 2008 financial crisis. The

Charbel Greige Frangieh

and Hala Khayr Yaacoub

are both based at the

Faculty of Business and

Management, University of

Balamand, El-Koura,

Lebanon.

Received 2 November 2017 Revised 30 March 2018 19 June 2018 Accepted 21 June 2018

DOI 10.1108/SRJ-11-2017-0226 VOL. 15 NO. 3 2019, pp. 277-295,© Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1747-1117 j SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY JOURNAL j PAGE 277

duty of engaging in responsible behavior is often assumed to the leaders of organizations

due to their ability to make a difference. “There is a need for managers to act with greater

concern toward others, which implies, taking into account others’ meanings and not only

those of shareholders” (Gomez and Crowther, 2012, p. 13).

Responsible leadership that aims at creating inclusiveness and sustainability acknowledges

that a business needs to adopt responsible practices toward a multitude of stakeholders,

not just shareholders, despite inherent difficulties (Maak and Pless, 2006; Frangieh and

Yaacoub, 2017). This leadership theory is embedded in Freeman’s stakeholder theory

(Freeman et al., 2004). A direct victim of the many reported ethical misconducts in firms are

the employees (Doh et al., 2011).To alleviate the unfortunate repercussions faced by

employees, one has to adopt socially responsible human resource practices (SRHRP). As

the literature on such good practices is scarce, due partly to the novelty of the topic and its

simultaneous complexity, a good start on this could be achieved by taking lessons from

other organizations who successfully implemented SRHRP into their organizations as

suggested by Lubna Olayan, CEO of Olayan Financing Company, in the 2017 World

Economic Forum Meeting.

The notion of socially responsible human resource management (SRHRM) and SRHRP is an

intersection between corporate social responsibility and human resource management

literature (Nie et al., 2018). The emphasis on SRHRM has been gaining momentum in the

business ethics literature (Greenwood, 2013, Jamali et al., 2015; Nie et al., 2018). SRHRM

involves offering practices that go beyond legal requirements. SRHRM aims to enhance

different aspects of an employee’s life and to fulfill an employee’s social and personal

expectations (Nie et al., 2018). These practices vary from work-life related benefits, to

continuous learning and training, competitive compensation, inclusive recruitment methods,

among others (Nie et al., 2018). This study pinpointed and extracted the practices as

disclosed by the corporations in the sample. All categorizations and coding took place after

analyzing all the disclosures in the sample, as the literature has not extensively covered

these practices. To fill this gap, the authors turned to the disclosures of practices of the

corporations on the World’s Best Multinational Workplaces (WBMW) list generated by Great

Place to Work for (GPtWf), for reasons that will be explained later. Extracting these practices

and categorizing them would create a valuable reference for interested scholars and

practitioners, as these are not readily available in the literature.

Disclosures of these practices, on both the multinational corporations’ own websites and on the

GPtWf’s website, were used to extract the SRHRP practices. The corporations’ disclosures are

believed to be valid due to the extensive scrutiny these big multinational workplaces undergo.

Any inconsistency between the disclosures and the actual practices is likely to be spotted and

reported due to the big army of employees who have high stakes in their own companies’

practices, as in the case of Sprint. Employees at Sprint pointed out inconsistencies between the

practices they actually benefited from and those reported by the company, thus exaggerated

practices caused embarrassment for Sprint (Filbeck and Preece, 2003).

In the following sections, the authors will first provide an overview of the literature on

corporate social responsibility, SRHRP and disclosures of which. The methodology used to

conduct this study will then be discussed, justifying the use of content analysis and the

WBMW list. Then, data representation and analysis will follow. The paper will culminate with

a concluding note stating limitations, research implications and further research

suggestions.

Review of the literature

Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been highlighted due to the emphasis on

responsible behavior in organizations. CSR has been discussed thoroughly in the literature,

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without any unified definition given (Garcia and Greenwood, 2015). CSR was haled “as the

social obligation to impact society beyond pure profit maximization objectives” (Jamali

et al., 2015, p. 126). It was Yang and Rivers (2009) who emphasized CSR’s link to the

stakeholder theory and stated that the initiatives of an organization toward all of its

stakeholders translates to CSR. All definitions though highlight the fact that CSR practices

go beyond financial goals, to target the triple bottom line; thus, impacting the different

stakeholders, with positive impacts for every stakeholder involved, including the firm itself.

CSR messages in advertisements were found to mitigate the negative attitudes toward

companies (Mattila et al., 2011). CSR was also depicted to have positive impacts on firms’

profitability (Mishra and Suar, 2010). Overall, research highlighted CSR’s constructive role

(Griffin and Mahon, 1997; Waddock and Graves, 1997 as cited in Mishra and Suar, 2010)

without shutting all voices of skepticism. Neutral or negative relationship between CSR and

certain business outcomes were highlighted (Bromiley and Marcus, 1989 as cited in Mishra

and Suar, 2010). Despite the inconclusiveness, the topic of CSR has gained drive midst an

unwavering call by some business leaders and stakeholders for businesses to take a more

engaging role in society.

The increased scrutiny companies are facing as a result of the ethical crisis makes CSR a

delicate undertaking. Stakeholders, including consumers and societies at large, are

questioning the intentions of the companies behind the adoption of CSR. If perceived as

part of agenda building, CSR initiatives might backlash (Curtin, 1999; Vanhamme and

Grobben, 2009). Agenda building is the process by which a company tries to impact public

perception through media communication (Curtin, 1999). Only high-fit proactive initiatives

taken by organizations improved consumers’ perceptions and beliefs, whereas low-fit or

profit oriented initiatives actually had a negative impact on consumers’ perceptions and

beliefs (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006). In the latter case, the legitimacy of a company is put at

stake (Jahdi and Acikdilli, 2009). The pressures firms are facing from a variety of

stakeholders makes it increasingly important for the firms’ to produce CSR communications

that depict the actual nature of the practices adopted. Companies are voluntarily reporting

on their CSR practices (Ehnert, 2016), while conforming to different reporting standards that

highlight specifics of businesses that might have been overlooked in traditional CSR

communications. These CSR communications are an important aspect of business

nowadays, as they are greatly demanded by stakeholders, who request transparent

disclosures from corporations. Corporations, in turn, use these human resource disclosures

and social reporting to extend a dialogue with interested stakeholders (Das, 2013). CSR

reporting, thus, helps in decreasing the information asymmetry between managers and

stakeholders (Jamali et al., 2008) and allows for more scrutiny.

Socially responsible human resource practices

A corporation’s CSR policy has profound consequences on its human resource

management (Preuss et al., 2009). One of the several dimensions of CSR is the internal

stakeholders dimension, mainly employees. This dimension has received little attention in

the CSR literature, with more emphasis given to the external stakeholders (Kundu and

Gahlawat, 2015). Shen and Zhu (2011) termed CSR practices directed at employees as

SRHRP (Newman et al., 2016). Few scholars have attempted to define this notion. SRHRP is

seen as a three-dimensional notion: the legal compliance human resource management

component, the employee-oriented component and the general CSR facilitation component

(Shen and Zhu, 2011). The legal compliance component involves practices that are

regulated by the law such as minimum wage and child labor. The employee-oriented

dimension comprises practices that deal with the employees’ personal needs that are not

stipulated by law. The general CSR facilitation dimension covers HRM policies that help

employees engage in general CSR activities. The presence of these different dimensions

authenticates SRHRP relationship to notions like business ethics, corporate social

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responsibility, responsible leadership and sustainability. Some scholars defined SRHRP

mainly in light of the general CSR facilitation dimension without incorporating the first two

dimensions (Shen and Benson, 2016). This study will follow the holistic definition provided

by Shen and Zhu (2011) for its inclusion of all of the three dimensions.

Socially responsible practices are practices that go beyond legal obligations (Shen and

Zhu, 2011). “Social responsibility begins where the law ends, namely ‘beyond compliance’”

(Mankelow, 2008, p. 2172). Socially responsible practices or SRHRPs are seen to aid in the

“humanization of the workplace”. Equal opportunities for employees, emphasis on work-life

balance, responsible recruitment, empowerment, better information flow, inclusion, superior

pay, skill-enhancing practices and rewarding employees’ participation in CSR activities are

a bundle of practices and policies that are perceived to be socially responsible (Kundu and

Gahlawat, 2015; Shen and Benson, 2016; European Commission, 2001 as cited in Kundu

and Gahlawat, 2015). Despite these assertive voices, the practices have not received

exhaustive coverage in the literature. A thorough search of the business ethics literature

indicates that the SRHRM coverage is still thin. Much of the studies on the topic have

discussed the positive outcomes of SRHRM, with little discussion of the actual SRHRP,

indicating a huge need to contribute to this area. Consequently, the research aims to

pinpoint the most popular SRHRPs by identifying those pinpointed by the WBMW

disclosures. The choice of the WBMW list is a calculated decision due to the huge reliance

on employees’ feedback in the production of the list among other factors that will be

discussed later.

CSR activities and especially SRHRPS are not selfless charitable acts. They result from

strategic considerations and are a “way of doing business” as Philips CEO, Frans van

Houten, comments. These practices are perceived to have a positive impact on

organizations with several studies attempting to test the relationship between SRHRPs and

work-related behaviors. The literature covered the impact of SRHRM on organizational

citizenship (Shen and Zhu, 2011), organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) (Newman

et al., 2016), job satisfaction (Kundu and Gahlawat, 2015), organizational identification and

overall justice perceptions (De Roeck et al., 2014), intellectual capital (Barrena-Martı́nez

et al., 2016), turnover intentions (Liu et al., 2014) and women turnover intentions (Nie et al.,

2018).

Shen and Zhu (2011) tested the impact of SRHRM on organizational citizenship using

hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Their study found a positive relationship between

organizational citizenship and the existence of SRHRM in its three different dimensions.

OCB was also empirically proven to be enhanced in the presence of SRHRM by Newman

et al. (2016). Newman et al. (2016) adopted structural equation modeling of dyadic data

that was extracted from survey questionnaires administered on Chinese employees and

their supervisors. The appreciation of a diverse workplace was also proven to boost positive

employee attitude toward their organizations (Kundu, 2003). Kundu and Gahlawat (2015)

used multiple regression analysis to analyze 563 questionnaires and found a positive

relationship between SRHRP and job satisfaction, and a negative relationship between

SRHRP and the intent to quit. Job satisfaction was also found to be positively related to

SRHRPs through SRHRPs positive impact on overall justice perceptions and organizational

identification in a study conducted by De Roeck et al. (2014) on 181 hospital employees.

Barrena-Martı́nez et al. (2016) studied the impact of socially responsible human resource

policies on intellectual capital by using regression analysis. They concluded that having

SRHRM can improve communication and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and skills in

a corporation. Liu et al. (2014) also used regression analysis and proved that CSR directed

toward employees decreases managers’ turnover intentions. In another study related to

turnover intentions, Nie et al. (2018) studied the impact of SRHRP on female employees’

turnover intentions by using structural equation modeling. The study proved that family

oriented measures can help decrease female employees’ turnover intentions. In this article,

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the authors highlighted two important SRHRP, equal career opportunity practices and

work–family integration practices. However, the mention of specific SRHRP in studies is

scarce. The extraction of these practices would allow authors to identify which SRHRP have

more positive impact than others. It would also aid in the development of questionnaires, a

common tool in this line of research.

In an attempt to explain the reasons behind the presence of a relationship between SRHRPs

and work-related behaviors, scholars have relied on two theories: the social identity theory

and the social exchange theory. The latter is defined as: “the desire of individuals to strive to

maintain some perceived superior distinctiveness conferred by membership within an in-

group” (Lewis, 2011, p. 966). This theory suggests that individuals will identify more with an

organization if they perceive it to have a respectable reputation. Identification with such an

organization leads to heightened self-esteem (Newman et al., 2016; Turker, 2009). The

social exchange theory “involves a series of interactions that generate obligations”

(Emerson, 1976 as cited in Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005). In a socially responsible

organization, employees feel the need to respond to the practices provided by the

organization by producing positive work-related behaviors (Newman et al., 2016; Blau,

1964).

The authors of this article participate in the discussions on SRHRP by pinpointing the most

common SRHRP in the WBMW. A similar study targeting sustainable HR reporting in

Fortune’s Best 250 companies was conducted by Ehnert (2016). The authors though

believe that the best source to extract SRHRP are corporations considered to be great

workplaces in the eyes of their employees, rather than just successful organizations. This

belief guided the choice of the WBMW as the sample provider. In the following section, the

authors will explore the concept of human resource disclosures. The concept is

interconnected with SRHRP, as most HR disclosures are of the socially responsible type.

Human resource disclosures

Corporations have used the internet as a disclosure medium (Branco and Rodrigues, 2009)

to present human resource or social disclosures. The internet is seen as means to open a

broad dialogue with stakeholders (Das, 2011) interested in human resource disclosures.

This attempt to provide the public with information has been largely voluntarily by the

management of corporations (Alvarez, 2015). It is fundamentally a response to

stakeholders’ call for more transparency with respect to human resource reporting (Das,

2011). Das (2011) argues that stakeholders are demanding more access to information

concerning compensation and benefits, work–life balance, development equal

opportunities, security, among other HR practices. Several scholars have highlighted the

positive impact HR reporting has on corporations. Dominguez (2011) found that human

resource disclosure positively and significantly impacts a corporations’ reputation. The

author did content analysis on the annual reports of 105 Spanish corporations and

regression analysis was used to determine the impact of the disclosures on the

corporations’ reputations. The positive impact HR reporting has on corporations has also

been highlighted earlier in the literature by Craig and Hussey (1982) and Frederiksen and

Westphalen (1998). Craig and Hussey (1982) argued that HR reporting improves

employees’ performance. Frederiksen and Westphalen (1998) found that HR disclosures

aid in attracting and retaining individuals.

Other studies also attempted to address different issues pertaining to HR reporting. Branco

and Rodrigues (2009) analyzed whether “Best companies to work for” disclosed more

social responsibility information than companies in the same industries and with a similar

size. The study allowed the conclusion that “best companies to work for” do disclose more

social responsibility information. This is due to the understanding that social disclosures

play an integral part in building a good social responsibility reputation. Alvarez (2015)

attempted to analyze whether satisfying shareholders needs of information or enhancing the

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image to meet the demands of the diverse stakeholders drives a corporation to disclose

social information. Alvarez found that information disclosed by corporations relates more to

employees’ welfare rather than their impact on enhancing corporation’s value. Despite the

presence of various studies discussing social disclosures and social responsible human

resource practices, the authors did not find any that identified what practices are mostly

disclosed. The authors believe that pinpointing the human resource practices disclosed by

corporations would be of importance to both scholars and practitioners. Although

disclosures might be an exaggerated platform for real practices, the authors believe that

multinational corporations will not use them to present whitewashed images of themselves.

These multinational corporations employ thousands of employees from around the world

who can easily identify any discrepancy between reported HR practices and actual ones.

The presence of such discrepancies would have negative consequences on the

corporation, as in the case of Sprint. Sprint, an American telecommunication company, was

placed on “Working Mother’s” list. Employees at the company were disgruntled as much of

the reported practices were not accurate. The Wall Street Journal voiced the employees’

dissatisfaction and, consequently Sprint was dropped from later surveys and caused the

company much embarrassment (Filbeck and Preece, 2003).

Methodology

The study uses companies listed on the WBMW as the sample for the study. The use of the

WBMW that is generated by GPtWf in cooperation with Fortune (listed under the name of:

Top 25 Global Companies to Work for) is due to the rigorous methodology used that

concentrated largely on employees’ feedback. The reliance on lists generated by the GPtWf

is not foreign to the business academic literature as is evident with the use of Fortune’s ‘Top

100 Companies” and “Top 100 Companies to Work For” which are produced in partnership

with GPtWf (Johnson et al., 2011; Filbeck and Preece, 2003; Gropper and Jahera, 2005;

Bernardi, 2006). The use of these lists as sample providers in top rated journals (ABDC

Journal Quality List) authenticates both their importance and their reliability in academic

research.

The methodology used by the GPtWf ensures that the companies listed actually embody the

characteristics of a top workplace. Two-thirds of GPtWf’s assessment is based upon feedback

received from the employees through the “Trust Index Employee Survey” as GPtWf. These

surveys are both confidential and anonymous and take about 15-20 min to complete

(Greatplacetowork.in, 2017). The survey is made up of 56 statements categorized into five

dimensions: credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie. The survey also includes two

open-ended questions (Greatplacetowork.in, 2017). The remaining one-third of GPtWf’s

assessment is produced by “The Culture Audit,” which offers an understanding of the

organizations practices and programs. “The Culture Audit” is a questionnaire that is usually

completed by the organizations’ human resource departments and comprises of two parts,

one of which is related to the employee demographics, the companies’ financial performance

and employee benefits (Greatplacetowork.net, 2017). The second part consists of open-

ended questions addressing the company’s philosophy and practices like hiring and

employee development. The questionnaire is built on nine main themes which GPtWf deem

important for the establishment of a great workplace: thanking, caring, sharing, listening,

speaking, developing, celebrating, hiring and inspiring (Greatplacetowork.net, 2017). For a

company to be listed in the GPtWf’s 25 WBMW, it should fulfill several criteria. The corporation

should be on at least five national Best Workplace lists (GPtWf produces several lists e.g:

Fortune’s top 100 companies to work for, Best Workplaces for Parents, Best Workplaces for

Diversity, etc.), have at least 5,000 employees worldwide and at least 40 per cent of the

workforce (or 5,000 employees) must be based outside the home country (Work, 2017).

Additional points are given for companies that survey a larger percentage of its workforce

globally (Work, 2017).

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The study used content analysis to collect data from the sample. Content analysis is a

method of coding and categorizing texts based on systematic chosen criteria to understand

the meanings of the messages in the texts (Vuontisjärvi, 2006; Weber, 1985; Maxfield and

Babbie, 2013). It is a “a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from

data to their context” (Krippendorff, 1989, p. 403). Content analysis is done at two levels,

the manifest and the latent. The first aims at providing a quantitative description of the

content of the text (Saunders et al., 2015), while the latter aims at interpreting the content of

the text (Holsti, 1969; Duriau et al., 2007). Some scholars argue for the manifest level and

thus the quantitative nature of the method (Saunders et al., 2015; Neuendorf, 2002), while

others insist on the qualitative nature of the method that allows for contextual interpretations

(Payne et al., 2011).

The choice of WBMW as the sample of the study is due to the rigorous methodology used in

generating the list. The sample consists of large corporations (5,000þ employees) that

provide rich data (Campopiano and De Massis, 2015). The authors chose multinational

companies due to the corporations’ social impact. Both companies’ websites (CSR Reports

and other reports and sections on the websites) and GPtWf reviews on companies are used

as data sources. The authors analyzed over 300 pages extracted from the corporations’

websites and GPtWf reviews. Content analysis on companies’ reports is often used in

business research (Campopiano and De Massis, 2015; Duriau et al., 2007; Palmer and

Short, 2008), more specifically in the HR context (Vuontisjärvi, 2006). Content analysis on

organizational documents is free from researcher bias, as the documents were not written

for research purposes (Payne et al., 2011). Such methodology allows for the extraction of

rich meanings from text (Duriau et al., 2007) and generally provides more reliability and

replication (Potter and Levine-Donnerstein, 1999). The use of organizational documents has

been criticized on the basis of being biased accounts written for specific audiences

(Smithin and Huff, 1991; Duriau et al., 2007). To counteract such dangers, both

organizational documents and GPtWf reviews are used as per the recommendation of

Kabanoff (1996).

A pilot study on four of the sample’s companies’ websites generated several themes that will

be covered in this study, namely, employment, diversity and inclusion, and CSR-HR

facilitation. The pilot study was done separately by the two authors, and the results of their

analysis were discussed till agreement was reached. Employment comprises of compensation

and benefits, training and development, recruitment, company culture and safety. Diversity

and inclusion encompasses diversity recruitment, training for diversity enrichment and

employee resource groups. HR disclosures were found in more than one section and report

for the same company. All relevant English written documents and sections of each

company’s website and any links provided through these websites were covered to ensure

thoroughness. The social responsible human resource disclosures extracted from the sample

can be found in Figure 1.

The sample studied consisted of 25 multinational workplaces. Two out of the 25 companies

were excluded due to the absence of an English version of their websites and having no

review. The sample’s 23 websites generated 154 website pages and sections and 23

company reports in the form of pdf files that were relevant to the study’s topic. The study

also included 13 different reviews for 13 companies provided by the GPtWf.

Data analysis

Employment

The theme of employment was discussed extensively throughout the data. Much of the data

extracted is from the sustainability reports or website sections like “Career,” “Employee and

Culture,” “Benefits” and “Why work here” among other sections. Whilst the sub-themes of

“compensation and benefits” and “training and development” were discussed lengthily

VOL. 15 NO. 3 2019 j SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY JOURNAL j PAGE 283

under the employment conditions, recruitment (outside the theme of diversity and

inclusion), safety and company culture where disclosed less often. The different

components of compensation and benefits are discussed non-proportionately under

“Compensation,” “Retirement, Financial, and Insurance Plans and Schemes,” “Work-Life

Balance Benefits,” “Health and Wellness Benefits” and “Additional Perks and Benefits.”

Corporations (n = 17) reported the use of fair, competitive and attractive salaries and

compensation packages through their websites. Their stock-related incentives were

disclosed through the GPTWf’s reviews (n = 5). The majority of the corporations in the

sample reported the offering of competitive salaries. This is not surprising as one the few

SRHRPs discussed in the literature was competitive salaries (Nie et al., 2018). To scheme

fair and competitive compensation plans, Google audits fair pay practices, sets a

compensation structure in accordance with the employees’ roles, and run regular

monitoring to ensure that the compensation philosophy and structure are functioning as

envisioned. Daimler ensures that they pay standard rates as per the markets and the

industry and that the salary levels comply with regulations set by collective agreements

when present. Mars compares its executives’ pay to peers in 20 large global diverse

companies to ensure that their executives are being paid fairly. Several corporations

reported the offering of salaries that are customized to the different markets they are

present in.

Corporations have also disclosed the use of performance related rewards to guarantee that

compensations offered are competitive. At Gore, employees are asked to play a role in

determining part of the compensation of their fellow associates to gain greater insight about

employees’ contribution that might have been overlooked without the insights provided.

Autodesk offers a sales commission plan for sales employees and an incentive plan for

employees not eligible for the sales commission plan. The incentive plan is an annual bonus

program based on the financial performance of the corporation and the employee’s

performance as assessed by the direct manager. Cisco has a “Connected Recognition

Figure 1 Socially responsible HR practices

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Program” that allows employees to nominate another employee or team for a monetary

reward. Profit sharing and stock options including restricted stock units to employees are

also among the incentives offered. At AccorHotels, “Accor Hotels in Action” is a scheme

that allows employees the regular purchase of AccorHotels stocks under favored

conditions. Diageo provides employees with the opportunity to take part of the share

incentive plans by linking long-term business performance with individual rewards through

the corporation’s stock price growth. Corporations are thus actively trying to generate

compensation plans that are fair, competitive and attractive for their employees by devising

different mechanisms.

The offering of financial plans (n = 20) and insurance schemes (n = 3) has been reported on

the corporations’ websites (n = 11) and on the GPTWf’s reviews (n = 11). A vast majority

of the financial plans offered are retirement related plans with a few offering financial

coaching. Retirement financial plans offered were mostly Retirement Saving Plans (RSP).

The RSP most common in the data was the USA-based 401K, which is a saving plan

sponsored by the employer that allows the employees to invest a portion of their pre-tax

salaries. At Autodesk, employees have the right to save a portion of their salaries in some

kind of a mutual fund, a target date fund, or a brokerage option. Several corporations

reported the presence of pre-tax saving accounts through the GPTWf’s reviews, but no

specific plans other than the 401k were disclosed. In several corporations, employees’

contributions in the pre-tax saving accounts are either fully or partially matched by their

employers. Mars promotes the pre-tax saving accounts through channels like newsletters

and webinars. Financial planning programs and workshops to help employees with financial

planning were also among the offerings reported by the corporations. American express

offers its employees on-site and telephone-based coaching aimed at helping employees in

saving money in their every-day financial operations. Insurance plans on offer included

income protection, insurance against disability, and life insurance. NetApp offered

Supplemental Life Insurance, Basic Life and AD&D insurance. A vast majority of companies

reported the offering of retirement related benefits, whereas a few reported the offering of

non-health insurance schemes. Both financial plans and performance related rewards aim

at making salaries and packages more competitive. While this paper introduces these

practices as important social responsible practices being implemented at multinational

corporations, there was barely any mention of which in the SRHRP literature.

The disclosures of work-life balance benefits can be categorized into “Leaves and

Holidays” and “Flexible Work arrangements”. “Leaves and Holidays” were reported by the

organizations through their websites (n = 14) and GPTWf reviews (n = 7). Paid sick leave to

care for relatives or children, parental leaves, paid vacations, medical leaves, death leaves,

paid sabbaticals, holidays and other leaves of absences are offered by the corporations in

the sample. Parental leaves are accessible for parents by birth or adoption by several

corporations. Some of these corporations provide leaves that only adhere to the laws of

each country, whereas other companies provide leaves that exceed those stipulated by the

law. These leaves are either fully paid, partially paid or unpaid depending on their length

and the law stipulations. Monsanto offers a wide variety of absence leaves including military

service and duty, academic assignments and jury duty among others. Holidays reported

were mostly US based holidays as Martin Luther King Jr Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and

New Year. Cisco also offered birthday day offs for their employees as it believes that little

things count the most.

Flexible work arrangements were disclosed by the corporations on their websites (n = 11)

and through the GPTWf reviews (n = 8). Among the flexible work arrangements reported are

flexible work hours, telecommuting, remote working and homeworking, rotating shift

schedules, compressed workweeks, phased retirement planning, job sharing and part time.

3M offers a “Flexibility program” that helps employees rework their schedule according to

their needs. Hyatt Hotels runs a “Housekeeping Flextime Program” that allows colleagues to

VOL. 15 NO. 3 2019 j SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY JOURNAL j PAGE 285

end their shift earlier if their work assignments are completed. Daimler Financial Services

allows two part-time employees to share a single position. Some companies even reported

the amount of vacations given and the percentage of employees who use flexible work

arrangements. Work-life balance benefits were commonly believed to be positively related

to employees’ health, their retention and productivity. There was little mention of flexible

work arrangements in the literature as is the case with most practices revealed in the study.

“Medical insurances” and “additional health and wellness services and benefits” are the two

mostly disclosed themes under health and wellness. The offering of Medical, Vision and

Dental insurances and programs were disclosed by the companies through their websites

(n = 11) and the GPTWf reviews (n = 13). EMC offers several types of health plan options

including Preferred Provider Organization and Health Maintenance Organization. Health

Savings Account is also offered by EMC to meet the diverse needs of the employees and

their respective families. NetApp provides its employees with the chance to meet the dentist

of their choice whilst still being covered by the companies’ dental plan. Health insurance for

retirees and long-term employee care were also offered by a number of companies to

provide employees with long-term security. Fertility treatments, prescription drug subsidy

and alternative treatments such as acupuncture are also covered by insurances provided

by some companies.

A variety of health and wellness services and benefits are also accessible at some

corporations as reported through their websites (n = 16) and the GPTWf reviews (n = 14).

Among the services and benefits offered onsite are health-related screenings, tests and

shots. Breast cancer screening, blood pressure screening, complete biometric screening,

skin cancer screening, prostate cancer screening, free health screenings, diabetes checks,

cholesterol tests, flu shots, allergy shots, pneumonia shots, allergy shots are commonly on

offer. Some of these benefits are extended to retired employees at the SAS Institute. “Best

Doctors” is another consultancy service provided for employees free of charge that

provides the employees with an expert second opinion. Fitness centers, sponsored offside

gym memberships and fitness reimbursement, telemedicine, nutritional advice through

registered dietitians, health and wellness campaigns, massage sessions and therapy,

weight watchers meetings, healthy diets, online health and wellness-related material, yoga

classes and onsite pharmacies are other benefits and services on offer. This emphasis on

health and wellness depicts the deep belief in the strong interrelations between health and

work among these MNCs and their commitment to take whatever steps possible to ensure

the most attainable health statuses for their employees.

Several other perks and benefits are obtainable at the companies premises as reported on

their websites (n = 18) and the GPTWf reviews (n = 13). Micro-kitchens, subsidized food,

free snacks, on-site hair salons, nail salons, personal concierge services, banking, dry

cleaning, car washing, on-site mailing service, subsidized public transportation, take-home

meals, on-site or near back up childcare centers, in-house discounts, offsite discounts,

offsite subsidized childcare, lactation rooms, adoption support, rest and relaxation lounges

and pets at work, are among the perks offered by the corporations. Pets at work; for

example, can be found at Mars where “pets at the office are as commonplace as the

associates who work there”. These perks fall under family, recreation and on-site benefits

sections. These are offered out of the MNCs belief in the extended lives of their employees

and the important hedonic, leisure and other important persons and aspects in their

employees’ well-being. Despite the emphasis on these practices in the corporations’

disclosures, there is little to no mention of which in the literature. This paper acts like a mirror

of the SRHRPs at MNCs and their gateway to the literature.

Training and development was discussed extensively in the corporations’ disclosures (n = 20)

and less so in the GPTWf’s reviews (n = 3). The training and development related disclosures

covered leadership and development trainings (n = 18), technical and specialized skills

trainings (n = 16), interpersonal skills trainings, performance management and skills

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identification (n = 11), tuition programs and reimbursements (n = 7), continuous learning (n =

6) and mentoring and coaching (n = 6). Leadership trainings and programs were discussed

extensively in the data. Such programs are perceived to aid in the development of the

workforce, prepare employees for future managerial and leadership positions and lead to all

types of positive results and thus achieve competitive advantages. For those purposes,

Scotiabank developed the iLead, a leadership development program. Technical and

specialized skills training as those offered on the use of social media, sales, finance, manual

handling and hospitality are highly reported in the data.

Various channels were used to deliver these trainings whether through “In-House

Universities” or specially developed courses. NetApp has an “in-house university” while

Mars has a “Wrigley leadership Academy” and a “Mars University”. The courses are offered

through traditional classroom settings, the internet, webinars, seminars, conferences and

podcasts among others. Tuition programs and reimbursements are also provided by some

corporations for their employees to enroll in classes in a variety of universities. Mentoring

and coaching are also used for the collaborated growth of the employees.

These corporations rely on performance management and skills identification programs to

pinpoint the skills that employees need for their development. Clear communication,

feedback and career development goals are common themes across most programs in the

sampled corporations. Among these programs is the performance management program

implemented by SC Johnson. This program constitutes of five phases: objective setting,

ongoing feedback, ongoing coaching, performance review and career development

planning. At Monsanto, the performance management program is titled “Development,

Performance and Rewards”, and it addresses the three themes in its title. Several of the

corporations in our sample explicitly highlighted lifelong learning; whilst, others implicitly

expressed the importance of continuance learning that addresses each employees’ wants

and needs. Employees have access to training and development programs that might not

be directly linked to their current positions. This access provides the employees with the

opportunity to develop skills in their areas of interest, which leads to flexibility in choosing

future tracks and jobs. These findings indicate that companies take these training and

development endeavors very seriously and often selflessly out of their belief that companies

can only grow through the growth of its people. The literature had previously discussed

continuous learning but in marginal ways (Nie et al., 2018). This study, on the other hand,

explores the concept of continuous learning, and training and development more

thoroughly.

Recruitment endeavors were disclosed through the corporations’ websites (n = 11) and the

GPTWf reviews (n = 1), mainly through university recruitment, referrals, partnerships and

recruitment trainings. Most of these corporations reported the use of university-focused

hiring programs to attract talent. EMC, for example, nurtures relationships with university

students through its “EMC University Relations” unit. It also relies on a “Campus

Ambassador Program” where EMC interns return to their campuses and assist in branding

EMC in their respective universities.

Employee referrals are also relied on in the recruitment process. Autodesk encourages its

employees to refer suitable candidates. Employees at Cadence receive bonuses that range

up to $5,000 for making appropriate referrals. Other innovative recruitment channels are

used by some companies, such as NetApp which disclosed the presence of a college grad

program that provides recruits with a “world class on-boarding experience”. The program

consists of several courses and opportunities to meet with teams that these recruits will

work with later on. AccorHotels allows interested candidates to apply via social media

platforms like YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. Recruitment, however, was

moderately discussed outside the scope of diversity and inclusion. However, the

mentioning of recruitment practices outside this scope aimed at pointing out the importance

of the role of the current employees in filling future vacancies, or to the trainings of recruits,

VOL. 15 NO. 3 2019 j SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY JOURNAL j PAGE 287

even before joining the organization, or to the usage of the unorthodox mediums of

recruitment to cater to the needs of the new generation. Recruitment received much more

emphasis in the corporations’ disclosures than it did in the SRHRM literature. This study

aids in highlighting recruitment from a SRHRP perspective.

A company’s culture and means to improve it were discussed by several corporations

through their websites (n = 14), mainly by emphasizing an open culture to reinforce

communication, engagement, and empowerment. Google’s company-wide meetings are

hosted and broadcasted live to all offices around the world. Googlers (Google employees)

are given the chance to raise their questions to top management in these meetings, after

being voted for by Googlers themselves to indicate levels of interest. Mars has designed

open offices that encourage communication and networking among all classes of

employees. Some of the corporations in the sample use surveys to ensure that employees

have the right channels to participate in decision-making. Daimler Financial Services

believes that “the company lives for and through its employees”, and that’s why their

feedback is taken seriously. Some corporations have additionally disclosed the presence of

non-monetary recognition awards. At AccorHotels, “Bernaches Awads” are handed to

employees who embody the values of the organization. Embodying a culture of

receptiveness, empowerment and recognition is of utmost importance to minimize

resistance, increase engagement and align goals.

Measures to ensure safety were also disclosed by corporations (n = 10). SAS through its

“Security and Safety and Risk Management” department launches programs and allocates

resources to eliminate potential harmful incidents. Mars through its “Safety, Environmental

Affairs, and Security management system” applies a systematic approach to ensure that

international standards are recognized on all of its sites. Reviews on training, incident rates

and risk management measures. Atento delivers e-courses on safety, hygiene and

emergencies. Less than half of the corporations disclosed safety-related measures,

probably due to the fact that many of them are working relatively in safe industries and other

risks are unfortunately hard to account for. Similar to other SRHRPs, culture and safety

received more attention in the disclosures than they did in the SRHRM literature,

furthermore affirming the infancy of the SRHRP literature. The emphasis on disclosing

practices under the employment category is consistent with the literature. The corporations,

understudy, disclosed more information related to the employees’ welfare than those

contributing to the corporations’ value as was argued by Alvarez (2015). Das (2011) had

similarly discussed stakeholders’ call for more information related to compensation and

benefits, training and development and work-life balance among others. This is consistent

with the findings of this paper, as much of the disclosures are related to the aforementioned

themes. This depicts that the disclosures are largely a response to stakeholders’ demands.

Diversity and inclusion

One of the major themes extracted from the data was that of Diversity and Inclusion (n = 23). It

was either discussed in a separate section titled “Diversity and Inclusion”, or in social

responsibility reports, or in the reviews provided by the GPtWf. Twenty one out of the 23

corporations disclosed practices to enhance diversity and inclusion, whether under “Diversity

Recruitment”, “Training for Diversity Enrichment”, “Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)” and/

or “Benefits and Events”. Diversity and inclusion are interconnected themes. EMC pointed out,

on its website, that diversity is about the differences in the employees’ gender, ethnicity,

background and education among others, whereas inclusion has to do with using these

differences to enhance business results through providing an inclusive environment. Ensuring

diversity and inclusion makes firms stronger (Scotiabanks), and disclosing rates about them

ensures accountability (Google). 6Women, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender” (LGBT)

Community, African Americans, Hispanics, Employees with disabilities and veterans have

been at the receiving end of most of these efforts.

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A vast majority of the multinational corporations (n = 21) in our sample highlighted diversity

in their recruitment processes. Diversity recruitment is the process of implementing

particular recruitment methods that enhance diversity in an organization. Addressing the

talent pipeline (n = 8), expanding recruitment options (n = 7), changing selections

strategies (n = 5) and generating diversity related positions (n = 9) are the main sub-themes

discussed in diversity recruitment. Several of the corporations disclosed the use of methods

that aid in bolstering a diverse talent pipeline (n = 8). Multinational workplaces in our sample

also relied on diverse sources (universities, career fairs and events that consist namely of

underrepresented groups), partnerships and initiatives to expand recruitment options

(n = 7). Efforts to bolster this pipeline include providing classes on computer science in

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), offering STEM education programs

for under-represented groups, and Job Shadowing programs that introduce female youth to

career opportunities in the hospitality industry (Google, EMC, Hilton). Google have

employed a bigger number of schools as a recruitment source than they did in the past.

Adobe recruits applicants from diverse sources like HBCUs and Hispanic-serving

institutions. 3M is supporting “Hiring Our Heroes” that contributes in providing meaningful

employment opportunities for veterans and their spouses.

In the selection stage, multinational workplaces are relying on practices, policies and

material that ensure the fair treatment of diverse applicants (n = 5). Google uses structured

interviews with specific standards to combat unconscious bias in the interview stage. At

Daimler Financial Services, an employee with a disability highlighted the respect he felt in

the interviewing process. He stated that the only time his disability came up as a subject in

the interview was when the interviewer asked him if there are efforts the company can take

to support him in the workplace. Additional efforts taken by companies in the recruitment

process include hiring employees and creating positions for diversity related goals,

especially recruitment related targets (n = 9). Employees with such responsibilities held

positions as “Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion”, “Global Diversity and

Inclusion Director”, “Director of talent and cultures” and “Chief of Diversity Officer”, among

others. The multitude of practices and policies disclosed by companies as part of their

diversity recruitment efforts prove that the companies are taking serious measures to ensure

that the recruitment of a diverse workforce is systematic, rather than random. The literature

had previously highlighted the concept of inclusive recruitment methods (Nie et al., 2018);

however, this study sheds more light on it.

Training for Diversity Enrichment was a common topic in the companies’ disclosures

(n = 18) and GPTWf‘s reviews (n = 6). “Training and development programs for

underrepresented and minority groups” (n = 16) and “diversity and bias training” (n = 10)

are both offered for facilitating inclusion and expanding the development paths of the

underrepresented groups. Mainly women, challenged associates and minorities have been

at the receiving end of most of these efforts. EMC launched a program called FastLane to

accelerate women’s careers at the organization by offering a three-day residency program

to refine important leadership skills for high performing women. Corporations, as Hilton,

have mentorship programs to provide enhanced development chances for a diverse set of

employees. SAS provide coaching for its autistic employees by partnering with the right

specialized bodies. Diversity and bias trainings, whether under “Cultural Competency”,

“Diversity Management”, or “Breaking Bias” are aimed at enhancing cultural awareness and

mitigating unconscious bias and discrimination. Online courses offered by Hilton Hotels

University and leadership sessions at Diageo are set for the purpose. All these efforts aimed

at ensuring diversity and equity in their labor forces are not just made for meeting goals or

standards, but because of a true belief in the sound business sense and the sustainable

benefits these bring to the corporations under study.

Employee resource groups (ERGs), embodied by 16 companies under various labels, are

employee groups and networks for underrepresented minorities that support the inclusion,

VOL. 15 NO. 3 2019 j SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY JOURNAL j PAGE 289

networking and development of their constituents. ERGs provide mentoring and support

(n = 7), opportunities for training and development (n = 5), host events (n = 3), initiate

awareness campaigns (n = 2), aid in the recruitment process (n = 2) and provide market

insights (n = 1). The networks included support groups for Women, African Americans,

Latinos, Hispanics, associates with disabilities, Veterans, LGBT community, Indians and

Asians among others. Prominent members of these groups facilitate networking, provide

mentoring, training and support for the various members of their community. 3M’s Military

Support Network, for example, provide scholarship and professional development

opportunities for its members. Google’s ERG called Gayglers, a LGBT community group,

raises awareness about and gives support to LGBT-related issues. Accor Hotels’ ERG

called “Women at AccorHotels Generation” (WAAG) initiated a campaign to combat gender

stereotypes. These ERGs are acknowledged for aiding in the recruitment, inclusion and

development of a diverse workforce. They are essential for engaging STEM talents

(members with science, technology, engineering or math skills), and for providing insights

into related markets. These networks with chapters or groups throughout the dispersions of

the corporations are perceived to be a true asset for their companies. Training for diversity

enrichment and employee resource groups were discussed in the corporations’

disclosures, with no trace of which whatsoever in the SRHRM or HR disclosures literature.

Benefits targeted at minority groups (n = 10), and events that connect diverse employees

(n = 8) are disclosed by the GPtWf reviews and to a lesser extent on the companies’

websites (n = 3). Equal benefits for married employees in heterosexual or same-sex

marriages, parental leave for non-birth parents in same-sex relationships, medical coverage

for sex reassignment surgery and health-care benefits for transgender employees are some

of the disclosed benefits. All these cited Diversity and Inclusion initiatives are not part of

CSR role playing, but an essential part of a true business making, in terms of having a

diverse pool of talents much needed to comprehend the diverse markets in the growing and

accelerated world of today. Inclusion was highlighted in both the corporations’ disclosures

and the literature (Frangieh and Yaacoub, 2017). The literature had discussed female-

oriented SRHRPs (Nie et al., 2018); however, the corporations’ disclosures covered wider

practices that targeted different minority groups, including women, the LGBT community,

the black community, among others.

CSR-HR interface

CSR-HR interface points out to the practices and services offered to employees for

engaging in CSR initiatives. Several of these practices were disclosed by the corporations

through their websites (n = 19) and GPTWf reviews (n = 10). A majority of the corporations

that adhered to this practice has done so through matching gifts and volunteer time off.

Matching gifts is when a corporation matches the donation done by its employees either

completely or partially to the charity that its employees donate to. Volunteer time off is

allowing employees to volunteer for a certain amount of paid workdays. Some corporations

encourage their employees to participate in Pro-Bono programs in their volunteered time

off, where employees use their skills in the volunteering initiatives. Awards are also given to

employees who are perceived to have profound impact on their communities through their

volunteering. Few corporations also reported giving incentives and encouraging employees

to be more environmentally friendly. EMC offers its employees shuttle programs that aid in

reducing carbon emissions, electric car charging stations and preferential parking spaces

for low emission vehicles. These practices and services disclosed by the corporations, if

truly practiced, aid in encouraging employees to participate in CSR initiatives and facilitate

the process of participation. They further allow for the cascading of CSR to all the ranks

within the organization out of the valued importance of such practices by top management.

CSR-HR interface was barely discussed in the SRHRP literature, as most other practices.

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Due to the infancy of this topic, it is not strange that much of the practices extracted are not

present in the SRHRP or HR disclosures literature. This study acts as their gateway to the

SRHRP and HR disclosures literature. It explores the manner these practices have been

employed at multinational corporations, allowing both practitioners and researchers to learn

lessons from the big pioneers in the field. However, the study is not exhaustive in any way,

as these practices should be studied both separately and collectively. Case studies can

allow for this, while quantitative studies can aid in assessing the impact of each SRHRP on

work-related behaviors.

Concluding note

The human resource practices were disclosed by companies and GPtWf reviews in various

proportions. Discussions of these practices in this paper are proportionate to the extent of

their disclosures, with evident emphasis made on “compensation and benefits” and

“diversity and inclusion”. The emphasis on the former, mainly salaries, health insurance and

trainings, is aimed at being perceived as an attractive and a socially responsible employer

and came in compliance with the demand for more disclosures related to these themes

(Das, 2011). The emphasis on the latter is aimed at embracing various stakeholders, by

widening the minorities’ talent pipeline and offering equitable growth. These were not

highlighted in the SRHRM or HR disclosures literature. This study, thus, provides a valuable

contribution by exploring these themes real-life contexts. These are considered as original

attempts at inclusion, given that they are actually supported and practiced to the best of

abilities and intentions.

A vast majority of the disclosures fall under the employee-oriented HRM component, rather

than the legal or the CSR facilitation component, as classified by Shen and Zhu (2011).

Most of the practices under “Employment” and “Diversity and inclusion” themes, which got

the lion’s share of disclosures, are actually employee-oriented HRM practices, as they

enhance the employees’ work experiences. General CSR-HR facilitation component was

discussed, but in less proportion under the theme CSR-HR interface. The legal compliance

component was scarcely disclosed in the companies’ reports, with the exception of child

labor issues and thus is not discussed in this paper.

The disclosed human resource practices are nothing but socially responsible acts. They are

integrated into most aspects of employees’ work-life and thus cannot be perceived as just

agenda building measures. They go beyond enhancing the corporations’ image to improve

the employees’ work experiences. However, the former does not negate the other, as

securing an attractive employer status and engaging in social responsibility are two sides of

the same currency, as stressed by Daimler Financial Services. The disclosures are too

extensive and detailed to be faked. After all, these corporations have thousands of

employees worldwide and will likely face a backlash in case of falsified or fabricated

disclosures.

The SRHRPs discussed in different academic sources (Kundu and Gahlawat, 2015; Shen

and Benson, 2016; European Commission 2001 as cited in Kundu and Gahlawat, 2015)

were all touched upon and reported by the corporations understudy. The fact that

companies’ practices are more abundant than those mentioned in the literature depicts that

the literature on SRHRP and HR disclosures is still developing and this paper aids in its

enrichment.

This paper discussed the SRHRPs in 23 multinational corporations, which do not allow for

generalization. Future studies can address a larger number of corporations by relying on

different lists with larger samples. This paper included only multinational corporations with a

minimum of 5,000 employees. Future research can entail small and medium sized

enterprises as CSR is perceived to be vital for corporations, regardless of size (Crowther,

2014). Future research can follow-up on these employee-related practices and measure

VOL. 15 NO. 3 2019 j SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY JOURNAL j PAGE 291

their impacts on the well-being of the employees and their effects on the corporations which

are employing them. Moreover, future research can aim at pinpointing any discrepancies

between the disclosures and the real practices. Findings in this paper can be a reference

for practitioners in large-sized enterprises who wish to incorporate SRHRPS into their

organizations, as well as for smaller enterprises which can use these revealed practices as

a benchmark. In providing lessons on responsible management, “the how is as important-if

not more-than the what” (Rimanoczy, 2016, p. 26), and this paper aims at exactly that

through its portrayal of responsible practices.

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Pless, N.M., Maak, T. and Waldman, D.A. (2012), “Different approaches toward doing the right thing:

mapping the responsibility orientations of leaders”, The Academy of Management Perspectives, Vol. 26

No. 4, p. 51.

Corresponding author

Charbel Greige Frangieh can be contacted at: charbel.frangieh@live.com

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