Pro bono as a human capital learning and screening mechanism: Evidence from law firms

Abstract

Research Summary: Inquiry into CSR as a human capital management tool has suggested that firms benefit from such activities because employees value the meaningfulness of these activities, which influences motivation and retention. We propose an alternate avenue through which firms can benefit from an important type of socially responsible activity—pro bono services—that does not require that employees derive utility from the meaningfulness of the activity. We propose that pro bono activities can benefit firms through human capital learning and screening mechanisms, given the stretch roles that pro bono engagements allow. We formalize this argument in the legal services industry, where we provide primary evidence, a formal model, and empirical results using a panel dataset of the top 200 law firms to support this argument. Managerial Summary: We examine a type of CSR activity, pro bono engagements, in the context of the top 200 law firms in the United States. We show that firms can benefit from these engagements through human capital learning and screening mechanisms, due to the stretch roles that pro bono engagements allow junior lawyers. Our findings suggest that firms in which pro bono engagements provide stretch roles for junior employees can benefit from pro bono activities regardless of whether their employees value the meaningfulness or social impact of the pro bono work.

Taking a hit to save the world? Employee participation in a corporate social initiative

“…However, we also find that prosocial motives are not the only, and not necessarily even the most dominant, consideration: Employees are often focused also on private benefits when participating in the social initiative. In line with a recent study by Burbano, Mamer, and Snyder () that finds corporate social engagement to be a career management tool, we find such expectations of private career benefits to often be a critical driver of employee interest. While the prosocial and private benefit considerations seem to be of comparable importance to employees when no salary reduction is required, the latter becomes even more salient when there is an associated salary cut.…”

“…Participating employees might experience professional development in the form of acquiring new skills they can subsequently apply even in their commercial jobs (Grant, ; Grant & Berry, ). For example, while commercial projects in professional service firms are often executed by large teams led by senior managers, corporate social initiatives tend to have smaller teams that allow for “stretch” roles (Burbano et al, ). Given the pressure to minimize the organization's financial burden, social initiatives (with tight budgets) also often require creative approaches to problem solving under resource constraints.…”

Getting Gig Workers to Do More by Doing Good: Field Experimental Evidence From Online Platform Labor Marketplaces

“…Gig workers have been shown to respond to employer corporate social responsibility (CSR) more broadly in the form of willingness to accept lower wages (Burbano, 2016), suggesting that motivating effects may dominate, though CSR is a multifaceted construct that includes more than charitable giving. It is important to break down the construct of CSR into its distinct types of firm practices and activities when studying the effects of different types of CSR on outcomes of import to the firm (Burbano, Mamer, & Snyder, 2018; Godfrey, Merrill, & Hansen, 2009). This article does this by focusing on the effects of a single type of CSR—charitable giving—on gig worker behavior of import to the firm.…”

True Motives: Prosocial and Instrumental Justifications for Behavioral Change in Organizations

“…Finally, indirect support also comes from a complementary area of research on firm-level strategy and CSR. This work provides evidence that when jobs incorporate prosocial initiatives, employees are less likely to turnover (Bode et al 2015), and congruently, that firms use CSR strategically to boost employee engagement (Flammer and Luo 2017) and enhance their human capital (Burbano et al 2018).…”