Organizational outcomes of corporate volunteering: the qualitative study

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to identify benefits of corporate volunteer programs gained on employee behaviors' side. Specifically, the following research question is posed: what benefits of corporate volunteer projects can be observed by employees participating in them?Methodology/approach: The paper is based on a qualitative study conducted in the form of semistructured in-depth individual interviews with employees participating in volunteer programs. Findings:The study shows that corporate volunteering leads to positive effects on employees, including increased work meaningfulness, competence development and strengthened interpersonal relationships at work. Simultaneously, the study suggests that work meaningfulness plays a focal role in the overall process.Implications: Results of the study deliver practical implications for companies implementing corporate volunteering. Volunteer programs should be organized in a way giving employees full autonomy in crafting their projects. The programs should also support and intensify employee interactions and favor volunteer actions requiring a wide range of skills.Originality/value: The study contributes to theory development in the field of both corporate social responsibility and organizational behavior. Specifically, it gives an insight on how responsible business practices may strengthen employees' sense of meaningfulness of work and subsequently improve their competences and mutual relations.

Employee participation in corporate volunteering as the moderator of links between relationships at work, work meaningfulness and affective commitment

“…We show that participation in CV moderates: (1) the link between experienced positive relationships with peers and employee AC and (2) the relationship between PSS and AC mediated by experienced positive relationship with peers. It is in line with previous studies arguing for the effects that CV has on intraorganizational relations (Boštjančič et al ., 2018; Glińska-Neweś et al ., 2019; Haski-Leventhal et al ., 2019; Brzustewicz, 2020) and AC (Brockner et al ., 2014; Haski-Leventhal et al ., 2019). We add to this literature by showing that employees' participation in CV strengthens the effect that PSS and positive relationships with peers have on AC.…”

“…Based on previous research on CV, showing that employees often volunteer both within CV and outside their company (Glińska-Neweś et al ., 2019; Brzustewicz et al ., 2021), in order to capture moderating role of employee participation in volunteering, we proposed a nominal scale, which is a solution used also in other studies on CV (e.g., Rodell et al ., 2017). Our scale of employee participation in volunteering (PV) included:employee participates in volunteering organized in the company he/she works in now (“PV in company”);employee participates in volunteering organized outside the company he/she works in now (“PV outside company”);employee does not participate in any kind of volunteering (“No PV”);employee participates in volunteering organized both in and outside the company he/she works in now (“PV in and outside company”).…”

“…In summary, there is research evidence of the influence of PSS on PRW (Baker and Dutton, 2007;Reich and Hershcovis, 2011), CV's influence on employee-volunteers' relationships with peers (Haski-Leventhal and Cnaan, 2009;Grant, 2012;Gli nska-Newe s et al, 2019;Brzustewicz, 2020) and a little support for links between CV and PSS Aisbett and Hoye, 2015;Fallon and Rice, 2015). However, there is still call for research on how CV moderates the relation between PSS and PRW.…”

“…It is commonly believed that working for a socially responsible company is a source of meaning, purpose and value in employees' lives (Rodell, 2013; Chaudhary and Akhouri, 2018). In particular, their active engagement in projects representing corporate community involvement, such as CV, is capable of enhancing employee's sense of work meaningfulness (WM) through making a valuable social contribution (Chaudhary and Akhouri, 2018; Im and Chung, 2018), as well as strengthening employee's relationships with others at work (Boštjančič et al ., 2018; Glińska-Neweś et al ., 2019; Brzustewicz, 2020) and their organizational commitment (Brockner et al ., 2014; Haski-Leventhal et al ., 2019).…”

Employee-level consequences of perceived internal and external CSR: decoding the moderation and mediation paths

“…The systematic review revealed that erstwhile scholars had used varied theoretical perspectives to explain how CSR fosters MW and favorable employee outcomes. The major theories included – sensemaking/meaningfulness theory (Seivwright and Unsworth, 2016; Zhu, 2018; Kim et al , 2018b; Aguinis and Glavas, 2019; Sun et al , 2019; Lysova et al , 2019; Babu et al , 2020; Nazir and Islam, 2020; Sawmong, 2020; Nazir et al , 2021), self-determination/needs-based view (Wiedemann, 2019; Grabner-Kräuter et al , 2020; Nazir et al , 2021), conservation of resources (COR; Xue et al , 2018; Yan et al , 2021; Liu et al , 2021; Luu, 2021), job design/job characteristics theory (Hackman and Oldham, 1975; Pajo and Lee, 2011; Lavine, 2014; Raub and Blunschi, 2014; Ong et al , 2018; Glińska-Neweś et al , 2020), SIT/organizational identification theory (George, 2014; Kim, 2018a; Rodrigo et al , 2019; Chaudhary and Akhouri, 2019; Supanti and Butcher, 2019; Brieger et al , 2020; Chaudhary, 2020; Nazir and Islam, 2020; Afsar et al , 2020; Sawmong, 2020; Wiefek and Heinitz, 2021), SET (Kim et al , 2018b; Supanti and Butcher, 2019; Brieger et al , 2020; Nazir et al , 2021; Luu, 2021), signaling theory (Raub and Blunschi, 2014; Burbano, 2016; Wiefek and Heinitz, 2021), justice-based view (Glavas and Kelley, 2014; Chaudhary, 2019; Supanti and Butcher, 2019; Lythreatis, 2020) and attribution theory (Zhu, 2018; Chaudhary, 2020; Babu et al , 2020).…”