ETHICAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE REPUTATION IN THE ERA OF SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY: A REVIEW
DOI:
10.5281/zenodo.23134760Published:
2026-10-04Downloads
Abstract
In an era defined by heightened social accountability, stakeholder scrutiny, and strict Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) mandates, human resource management (HRM) has transitioned from an operational support function to a central ethical driver of corporate reputation. This systematic review synthesizes 16 peer-reviewed benchmark empirical and theoretical studies published between 2021 and 2026 to critically evaluate the mechanisms through which ethical HRM practices influence internal and external corporate reputation. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, literature was extracted across major databases including Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Emerald Insight. The synthesis reveals that ethical HRM—operationalized through procedural justice, fair compensation, whistleblowing protections, inclusive DEI practices, and employee well-being—drives corporate reputation primarily through organizational trust, psychological safety, and perceived authenticity. Structural path meta-evidence demonstrates significant direct and mediated relationships between ethical HRM capabilities and external reputation metrics (R² = 0.62). However, implementation paradoxes such as ethical decoupling, greenwashing/ethics-washing, and algorithmic bias in AI-driven HR tools represent major threats to organizational legitimacy. This review provides an integrative socio-technical framework for organizational leaders and establishes priority directions for future empirical inquiry.
Keywords:
Corporate Reputation ESG Governance Ethical Human Resource Management Organizational TrustReferences
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Copyright (c) 2026 Firman Setyawan, Ramon Zamora, Lukmanul Hakim
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