Corporate eldercare responsibility: forging a strategic approach to sustaining work–care balance

Abstract

Purpose Population ageing is intensifying pressures on employees with eldercare responsibilities, yet eldercare remains weakly addressed within corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business strategy research. This study aims to examine how firms strategically respond to these emerging pressures and develops the concept of corporate eldercare responsibility.

Design/methodology/approach The study draws on qualitative interviews with senior managers in large Japanese corporations. The analysis focuses on how firms interpret eldercare-related challenges and translate them into organisational responses within existing employment and CSR strategy frameworks.

Findings The findings identify two distinct CSR logics shaping organisational responses. Provision-focused practices extend supports such as caregiving leave and flexible work arrangements, while unburdening-focused practices seek to ease work conditions that make caregiving difficult. The study conceptualises the institutional eldercare void – a demographic and relational gap shaped by rising care needs, limited public provision and enduring employment norms – and shows how firms begin to negotiate this void through strategic CSR. Distinguishing between provision and unburdening practices clarifies why some initiatives remain symbolic, while others more substantively reshape work and employment arrangements.

Originality/value This study advances business strategy and CSR scholarship by conceptualising corporate eldercare responsibility as a strategic yet underdeveloped domain of social sustainability. By positioning eldercare at the intersection of CSR and HRM, it offers a multilevel framework explaining how firms negotiate the demographic and relational pressures of the institutional eldercare void. It demonstrates how demographic change generates new organisational responsibilities and shows how different CSR logics shape the strategic depth of firms’ responses in ageing societies.