A humanistic model of corporate social responsibility in e-commerce with high-tech support in the artificial intelligence economy

The study addresses how responsible human resource management (HRM) contributes to business revenues during the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis, and how to maximize this contribution. It situates the problem within the AI economy and the surge of e-commerce amid lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, reduced productivity, and social distancing. While prior work links higher corporate social responsibility (CSR) with better revenues during the pandemic through increased consumer loyalty, the role and mechanisms of responsible HRM remain unclear. The research question is: How does responsible HRM contribute to business revenues in the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis, and how can we maximize this contribution? The paper underscores the continued pandemic-related risks and the need to build resilience to future crises. E-commerce, inherently suitable for social distancing and remote interactions, expanded rapidly in 2020. However, automation’s impact on HRM is ambiguous, potentially reducing headcount while improving remaining workers’ conditions. The study aims to develop a humanistic model of CSR in e-commerce supported by high technology in the AI economy. It conducts a literature review, formulates hypotheses, applies econometric modeling to assess the contribution of responsible HRM to revenues, and compares classical versus high-tech e-commerce models using international case studies, culminating in discussion and conclusions about contributions and significance.

The theoretical basis is the concept of responsible HRM, viewing CSR toward employees through quantitative and qualitative dimensions. The quantitative dimension involves formal HRM parameters like job creation and wage increases, often reflected in corporate reporting. The qualitative dimension centers on humanization: improving working conditions, team unity, managerial attentiveness, and workplace comfort, enabling employees to realize their potential and gain satisfaction, aligning with higher-order needs. Humanization treats employees as individuals with unique needs, contrasting with impersonal quantitative approaches. Prior studies examined job creation as a CSR criterion and its role in supporting employment and preventing poverty. The 2020–2021 period combined peak COVID-19 impacts with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in which e-commerce thrived with high automation and social distancing. Transitioning from brick-and-mortar to e-commerce reduces staffing needs (e.g., fewer physical retail spaces), raising underexplored CSR implications. Building on literature noting financial benefits of CSR, the study proposes H1: humanization (qualitative criterion) increases e-commerce revenues more than increasing the number (quantitative criterion) of jobs. Some literature views high-tech negatively for CSR, casting automation as workplace technocracy; e-commerce, dependent on automation, may thus pose risks. Conversely, others point to high-tech benefits for workplace organization, supporting H2: a high-tech e-commerce model is preferable for humanizing CSR compared to a classical model relying only on the Internet and mobile communications. Prior work highlights HRM importance in e-commerce (e.g., resource allocation with cloud/meta-heuristics; optimization with Big Data; HR development driving B2C e-commerce) and CSR’s positive effects on consumer behavior and firm effectiveness in e-commerce contexts (China, rural consumers, cross-border e-commerce). The literature reveals a gap regarding the specific role of responsible HRM in revenue accrual in e-commerce, motivating this study’s empirical tests and case-based analysis.

The study employs a mixed approach: econometric modeling and international case analysis. To test H1 (humanization vs. headcount growth), two regression analyses are conducted on separate samples due to data constraints: (1) Global top 30 publicly traded e-commerce companies (2021) to model dependence of revenues on number of employees; (2) 16 most responsible U.S. retail companies (2020) to model dependence of revenues on ESG management quality (environmental, social, governance sub-scores). Company income data were taken from Forbes Global 2000 (2021/2022), employee counts from CompaniesMarketCap (2022), and ESG scores from Newsweek (2022). The global sample is 70% developed and 30% developing economies. Regression 1 estimates EN = β0 + β1*emp, with significance assessed via F-test. Regression 2 estimates SL = β0 + β1*env + β2*soc + β3*gov, with model fit and significance assessed (note small N). H1 is supported if a 1% increase in ESG management quality yields a greater revenue increase than a 1% increase in employees. For H2, the study conducts comparative case analysis of leading global (Amazon, Google, Wayfair, Alibaba, JD.com, eBay, Walmart) and Russian (Lamoda, Wildberries, Yandex.Market, Ozon) e-commerce firms in 2020–2021, contrasting classical e-commerce (Internet/mobile comms) with a high-tech AI-economy model (AI, VR/AR, IoT, cloud computing, RFID, geolocation, blockchain). The analysis maps technologies to business processes (advice, planning/organization, order registration, payments/returns, delivery information, complaints/feedback) and identifies humanization-related CSR benefits (reduced workload, complexity, responsibility, errors; improved schedules; enhanced attentiveness and creativity). H2 is supported if the high-tech model demonstrates additional humanization benefits over the classical model.

- Regression on top-30 e-commerce firms (2021): Multiple R=0.6662; R²=0.4438; F=22.3387 (p<0.01). Model: EN = -0.1903 + 8.7e-06*emp. Interpretation: Increasing headcount by one person increases revenue by 8.7e-06 billion USD. At the sample average of 60,498 employees, a 1% increase in employees (~605) corresponds to an estimated revenue increase of approximately 0.01 billion USD (as reported by authors). Model passes Fisher F-test at 0.01 significance. - Regression on 16 most responsible U.S. retail companies (2020): Multiple R=0.7617; R²=0.5802; F=3.6861 (p≈0.0622), reliable at 0.1 significance. Model: SL = 3229.3766 + 2.0167*env + 3.7272*soc − 43.2187*gov. Effects: +1 point in environmental score associates with +$2.0167B in sales; +1 point in social score associates with +$3.7272B; governance score coefficient is negative in this sample. The model indicates stronger revenue association with social (HRM-related) ESG improvements than with headcount increases. - Hypothesis H1 supported: A 1% increase in ESG management quality (social score) yields a larger revenue increase ($3.7272B) than a 1% increase in employee headcount (~$0.01B), implying humanization (qualitative HRM) contributes more to revenue than quantitative job growth. - Case comparisons show high-tech e-commerce processes (AI chatbots/voice assistants; VR/AR virtual try-on; IoT and automated production classification; cloud-based registration templates and one-click ordering; mobile banking/digital wallets/RFID; geolocation tracking; blockchain-enabled feedback) reduce workload, complexity, responsibility, and errors for employees, and enable more predictable schedules and higher service quality. - Hypothesis H2 supported: The high-tech model provides additional humanization benefits compared to the classical model, enhancing employee attentiveness, creativity, productivity, and service quality, which in turn increases sales and revenues.

Findings clarify the causal mechanisms linking CSR and revenues in e-commerce during the COVID-19 crisis: revenue gains arise not only from increased customer loyalty but critically from enhanced employee loyalty and improved internal work quality via humanized HRM practices. The results challenge a purely quantitative view of CSR (job creation) and a pessimistic view of automation as technocracy. Instead, automation, when leveraged through AI-economy technologies, can humanize workplaces even with reduced headcount by improving working conditions and enabling employees to perform more effectively and creatively. This reframing advances responsible HRM theory by emphasizing qualitative humanization as a superior pathway to profitability under crisis conditions. The high-tech e-commerce model systematically embeds technologies that offload routine and stressful tasks, reduce error likelihood, and improve service consistency, thereby raising employee satisfaction and consumer experience, ultimately increasing revenues. The study thus addresses the research question by showing how responsible HRM contributes to revenues and how to maximize that contribution via high-tech-enabled humanization.

The study demonstrates that humanization of jobs—a qualitative CSR approach focused on improving working conditions, reducing workload and stress, and enabling predictable schedules—contributes more to e-commerce revenues during the COVID-19 pandemic than increasing the number of jobs. Econometric evidence supports that increases in ESG social scores are more strongly associated with revenue gains than increases in headcount (H1). Comparative case analysis shows that high-tech AI-economy tools (AI, VR/AR, IoT, cloud computing, RFID, geolocation, blockchain) deliver additional humanization benefits over classical e-commerce setups, thereby maximizing the revenue contribution of responsible HRM (H2). The paper offers a humanistic CSR model for e-commerce detailing high-tech support across key business processes (advice, planning/organization, ordering, payments/returns, delivery information, complaints), with theoretical implications for CSR and HRM and practical guidance to increase profitability and resilience to future pandemic-like crises.

- Data and sample constraints required using two different samples for regressions (global top-30 e-commerce firms for headcount-revenue; 16 U.S. most responsible retail firms for ESG-revenue), introducing comparability limitations. - Lack of unified corporate sustainability/ESG reporting standards across firms limited consistent data collection on employees and ESG metrics. - Statistical significance for the ESG model is at 0.1, reflecting small sample size. - The scope is limited to e-commerce; applicability to other sectors may require tailored managerial approaches. The authors hypothesize broader benefits of humanized CSR across the economy but acknowledge this requires further empirical testing.