Synthesizing the affinity between employees' internal‐external CSR perceptions and work outcomes: A meta‐analytic investigation

Abstract

This paper contains a meta‐analytic review of 140 research articles and 320 effect sizes to explore how employees' perceptions of internal and external corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities influence an array of work outcomes at three levels (emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral). We aim to discover the underlying psychological and methodological factors affecting this linkage. This study reveals that CSR is more strongly connected with employees' psychological‐emotional reactions (i.e., organizational trust and pride) and work attitude (i.e., organizational commitment) rather than work behavior (i.e., organizational citizenship behavior). Although each type of CSR's association with four work outcomes is positive and significant, wide variance exists in effect sizes reported across studies, warranting a search for substantive moderators. Meta‐regression and subgroup analyses indicate the moderating effects of specific study‐level attributes viz. CSR typology, type of organizational commitment, source & type of organizational citizenship behavior, study design, and other contextual factors. It is found that the CSR‐to‐employee outcome relationship significantly contrasts across industries, regions, and cultures. This paper enriches the extant micro‐CSR literature by emphasizing that CSR can cultivate positive employee sentiments, work attitudes, and behaviors, provided CSR is embedded and integrated innately with sustainable human resource management and core business processes while rising above legal requirements and egocentric motives. Important implications for theorists and managers and potential avenues for future research are conferred in this paper.

Synthesizing and comparing the different effects between internal and external corporate social responsibility perceptions and organizational citizenship behavior: A need theory perspective

“…Thus, this study extends the psychological mechanism between CSR perception and employee OCB. Moreover, the results also echo that CSR perceptions are more tied to employee emotions and attitudes than behaviors (Aggarwal & Singh, 2022; Paruzel et al, 2021).…”

“…First, although previous studies explored the relationship between CSR and OCB, this study not only divides CSR perceptions into ICSR and ECSR but also explores the comparative effects of ICSR and ECSR on OCB. The results show that ICSR has more benefits for OCB than ECSR, which echoes that ICSR activities have a stronger association with employee performance than ECSR (Aggarwal & Singh, 2022; Zhao, Wu, et al, 2022). Second, it extends the application of Maslow's–“need theory” for the micro‐CSR area, a relatively new theoretical perspective to social identity theory and social exchange theory.…”

“…PEP and affective commitment as psychological mechanisms help explain the CSR perception and OCB relationship. This research was conducted following a call for additional investigations that ICSR has a more significant association with employee‐related outcomes than ECSR (Aggarwal & Singh, 2022). This study also extends the application of need theory in the micro‐CSR area.…”

“…During Covid-19, employees paid more attention to their benefits (i.e., stable employment) (Low & Bu, 2022) than indirect benefits (i.e., external prestige). ICSR has a more significant relationship with employees' attitudes and behaviors, inferring that employees react better to self-centered CSR strategies that directly serve their own needs and interests than ECSR strategies (Aggarwal & Singh, 2022). ICSR evokes employees' positive emotions, inspiring them to pay back to their organizations through higher affective commitment and OCB (Farooq et al, 2017).…”

Employees' positive perceptions of corporate social responsibility create beneficial outcomes for firms and their employees: Organizational pride as a mediator

“…Research on the reactions of employees to CSR initiatives has grown considerably. While recent studies found that CSR can lead to competitive advantage (Aggarwal & Singh, 2022; Chen & Khuangga, 2021; Zhou et al, 2018), they also point out the urgent need for additional investigations to better understand how organizations' CSR programs affect employees (Velasco Vizcaíno et al, 2021; Zhou et al, 2018). De Roeck and Maon (2018) call for research that integrates theories and concepts because the extant body of literature is highly fragmented.…”