The Human Capital for Value Creation and Social Impact: The Interpretation of the IR’s HC Definition

Maurizio Cisi and Francesca Alice Centrone
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Maurizio Cisi: Department of Management, University of Torino, 10134 Turin, Italy
Francesca Alice Centrone: Department of Management, University of Torino, 10134 Turin, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-19

Abstract: The paper aimed at assessing and identifying in a comparative way the potentiality and suitability of the Integrated Reporting (IR)’s definition of human capital (HC) within a selection of companies and social cooperatives. Employing in-depth interviews, the qualitative study analyzed the points of view of a selection of human resources managers to firstly check and test the connection between human capital, value creation, and social impact. The contribution of human capital to value creation is not easily recognized, especially by smaller-sized companies. The results suggested that the HC definition of the IR in the for-profit sector seems to be more applicable to the top management than to the whole workforce, while it appears as “fitting” for the managers of social cooperatives because of its explicit focus on ethical values, loyalty, and motivation. This allowed opening possible channels of dialogue between the profit and not-for-profit sectors. The paper proposed practical recommendations to operationalize the IR’s HC definition.

Keywords: human capital; integrated reporting; value creation; social impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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