Social sustainability perceptions of employees: Does internationalization make a difference?

Authors : Ayşegül Karataş

Pages : 139-173

Doi:10.48146/odusobiad.1731241

View : 60 | Download : 55

Publication Date : 2025-07-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This study examines the impact of firms’ level of internationalization on perceived social sustainability practices from the perspective of white-collar employees in Marmara Region. The research offers original contributions to the literature by evaluating social sustainability based on employee perceptions, analyzing the relationship within a developing country context with sectoral distinctions, and restructuring the concept into four contextually relevant dimensions: Occupational Safety and Equality, Business Ethics, Human Rights and Labor Welfare in the Supply Chain, and Corporate Social Responsibility. Quantitative data collected from white-collar employees indicate that social sustainability practices are perceived more strongly in dimensions regulated by legal obligations. This suggests that firms are primarily motivated by compliance rather than voluntary engagement, aligning with the conventional stage of Kohlberg’s Cognitive Moral Development Theory. While no significant difference was found between the manufacturing and service sectors in terms of perceived social sustainability, the level of internationalization was found to significantly affect employee perceptions. Employees in global firms reported higher perceptions of social sustainability compared to those in national and international firms. However, no significant difference was observed in the corporate social responsibility dimension. Interestingly, national firms performed better than international firms in certain aspects, such as labor welfare and human rights in the supply chain, though they still lagged behind global firms. These findings reveal a non-linear, U-shaped relationship between internationalization and social sustainability, shaped by resource constraints in early stages and legitimacy-seeking behaviors in later stages.
Keywords : Sosyal sürdürülebilirlik, uluslararasılaşma, çalışan algısı, gelişmekte olan ülkeler.

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