Employee judgments of and behaviors toward corporate social responsibility: A multi‐study investigation of direct, cascading, and moderating effects

Abstract

SummaryDo employee judgments of their organization's corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs relate to CSR-specific performance and in-role job performance? Can middle managers influence the formation of such judgments and what factors might moderate such cascading influences? To answer these yet unaddressed questions, we conduct three studies. Study 1 takes an organizational justice perspective and tests our baseline model. Results show that employees' CSR judgments trigger their affective commitment and performance on extra-role CSR-specific behaviors; however, extra-role CSR-specific performance is unrelated to in-role job performance. Study 2 replicates Study 1's findings while, in addition, applies a social information processing approach and offers novel insights by demonstrating the cascading effects of managers' CSR judgments on employee CSR judgments. Investments made in CSR programs in order to improve employee judgments and behaviors may be unsuccessful if employees' CSR judgments are based on social information that remains unchanged. In addition to replicating the findings from studies 1 and 2, study 3 draws from middle management involvement and leadership theories to show that leadership styles and managers' involvement in implementing deliberate strategy can strengthen or weaken these cascading effects. This highlights the important role of middle managers as "linking pins" in the CSR strategy implementation process.

Catering to the Needs of an Aging Workforce: The Role of Employee Age in the Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Satisfaction

“…So far, research that has taken a micro-level perspective on CSR has shown that working for socially responsible companies is positively related to employees' organizational identification (Carmeli et al 2007), work engagement (Glavas and Piderit 2009), retention (Jones 2010), organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; Jones 2010; Lin et al 2010;Sully de Luque et al 2008), organizational commitment (Maignan et al 1999;Mueller et al 2012;Peterson 2004;Turker 2009b), in-role performance (Jones 2010;Vlachos et al 2014), improved employee relations (Agle et al 1999), and firm attractiveness to prospective employees (Turban and Greening 1997). Another important outcome variable, and one that is of specific interest to the present argument, is employee satisfaction.…”

“…For example, Bauman and Skitka (2012) argue that CSR can positively affect job satisfaction because it addresses people's need for a meaningful existence and provides them with a feeling of belonging to a larger social entity that has a positive identity. Vlachos et al (2014) likewise argued that CSR is ethically imbued and thus expresses organizational values like warmth, communion, and morality (Bauman and Skitka 2012), which in turn may foster positive employee attitudes. Rupp et al (2006) offer similar reasons as to why CSR may positively affect employee attitudes.…”

“…Recently, Vlachos et al (2014) found that middle managers may be seen as important 'communication vehicles' for spreading the CSR vision to employees (p. 991). They argue that employees' judgments and behaviors are substantially shaped by their managers' attitudinal and behavioral reactions, because subordinates view their superiors as important social referents and tend to form judgments and exhibit behaviors that emulate those of their superiors.…”

Participative Leadership and Organizational Identification in SMEs in the MENA Region: Testing the Roles of CSR Perceptions and Pride in Membership

“…The way an organization's CSR activities are perceived by employees seems to be significant in understanding these activities' effects at the individual level (Shin et al, 2016). A few studies have focused on determining antecedents of CSR perceptions such as the employees' perceived fit between corporate culture and the company's CSR activities and the manager's perceived in-role CSR-specific performance (Lee et al, 2013;Vlachos et al, 2014). There have been calls for ascertaining further perceived CSR antecedents (e.g., Tian et al, 2015).…”

Identification Of Public Value Dimensions In Pakistan’s Public Sector Organizations

“…Scant research has examined employees' discretionary behaviors that target the social level or, in other words, that intend to enhance the well-being of their organization's stakeholders, including the natural environment (Crilly et al 2008;Daily et al 2009;Vlachos et al 2014). Accordingly, (Roeck & Farooq, 2017) examine societal outcome by employees' engagement in green behaviors, including employees' actions to perform work in an environmentally friendly way (e.g., recycling, rational use of resources, participation in environ-mental initiatives, setting of more sustainable policies), and societal behaviors, http://dx.doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2018.05.63 Corresponding Author: Abdul Sami Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the conference eISSN: 2357-1330 774 including employees' actions that support overall community well-being even outside the work context.…”