Organizational Justice, Behavioral Ethics, and Corporate Social Responsibility: Finally the Three Shall Merge

Collaboration as a structural aspect of proactive social sustainability: the differential moderating role of distributive and procedural justice

Purpose

This paper aims to adopt the strategy-structure-performance (SSP) framework to explore how proactive social strategy could motivate firms to collaborate with suppliers on social sustainability initiatives, and how such collaborative efforts could unlock a win-win opportunity for both noneconomic (social performance) and economic (operational performance) performance. Additionally, drawing on the tenets of the social exchange theory, the different moderating effects of distributive justice and procedural justice on the social collaboration-performance relationship are also examined.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses survey data collected from 215 manufacturing companies in China. The proposed hypotheses are tested using multiple linear regression models as well as the PROCESS macro within SPSS.

Findings

The results suggest that (1) a proactive social strategy could motivate firms to collaborate with suppliers on joint social activities and (2) social collaboration with suppliers can have a significant positive effect on both social and operational performance. The moderation results suggest that distributive justice has a differential effect on the collaboration-performance link. Particularly, distributive justice strengthens the relationship between social collaboration and operational performance, while it weakens the relationship between social collaboration and social performance. Surprisingly, procedural justice did not have a significant moderating effect on the social collaboration-performance link.

Originality/value

This paper extends the SSP framework to the social sustainability context by not only stressing the importance of proactivity in managing sustainability, but also revealing collaboration as a structural aspect that could achieve superior performance benefits. This study also contributes to sustainable supply chain literature by exploring the moderating roles of justice elements.

Promoting environmental performance through corporate social responsibility in controversial industry sectors

Using two theoretical lenses-social identity theory (SIT) and organizational citizenship behavior towards environment (OCBE)-the current study examines the impact of employee CSR perceptions on environmental performance via mediation of employee pro-environmental behavior and organizational citizenship behavior towards environment (OCBE) utilizing data from three controversial industry sectors (i.e., hotel, tobacco, oil, and gas). We conducted a multi-time survey (sample n = 282) of employees working in organizations operating in controversial industry sectors to test a serial mediation model. The collected data were analyzed through partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique using Smart PLS 3.3.2. The findings suggest that employee CSR perception significantly influences environmental performance. Furthermore, the mediating effects of employee pro-environmental behavior and OCBE were also found statistically significant. Using theories of SIT and OCBE, this study is an attempt to unveil what is unknown about CSR perception and environmental performance relationships.

Culture, productivity and competitiveness: disentangling the concepts

Purpose

Culture has been identified as one of the main drivers of the “competitive productivity” (CP) of nations. However, research studies examining the relationships between culture, competition and productivity are highly fragmented across different streams of literature, leaving researchers with a lack of a holistic view of the topic. This study reviews research studies that examined the relationships between culture and productivity and between culture and competitiveness, as well as the joint relationships between culture, productivity and competitiveness in leading economic, business and management journals in the period 2009–2018 in order to identify research gaps and opportunities for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a combination of bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer, text analysis using Leximancer and systematic review by expert reviewers to analyze 293 articles that consider culture, productivity and competitiveness published in leading business, management and economics journals in the period 2009–2018.

Findings

The findings indicate that, although productivity and competitiveness are often discussed jointly in some policy circles, research studies on the roles of culture on productivity and on competitiveness take place in quite different streams of academic literature, drawing on different sets of concepts and theoretical frameworks. The concept of innovation appears prominently in both sets of the literature as an antecedent of both productivity improvement and international competitiveness.

Research limitations/implications

The findings highlight the need for more research studies which jointly examine culture, productivity and competitiveness and the relationships between them.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first attempts to systematically analyze the literature on the relationship between culture and CP.

Investigating the relationship between perception of an organisation’s ethical culture and worker motivation

Purpose

This study aims to examine whether an individual’s perception of the ethical culture of their organisation could be used to predict their work motivation.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the corporate ethical virtues model as a foundation, the role of distributive justice was explored through the development of a composite measure for assessing ethical organisational culture. The resulting six-factor solution was then used. Australian employees (N = 330; Mage = 38.40) completed an online survey examining perceptions of ethical culture, distributive justice and work motivation.

Findings

Results indicated that higher work motivation was associated with a higher perception of an organisation’s ethical culture. Additionally, the six dimensions of ethical culture accounted for significant variance in worker motivation, with factors relating to congruency of peers, clarity and feasibility being the best predictors.

Originality/value

This study provides useful cues for future research and interventions enabling organisations to take a more targeted approach to influence their ethical culture and, consequently, an individual’s motivation to work.

Employee perspective on CSR: a review of the literature and research agenda

Purpose

This paper aims to review the available academic literature on CSR from employees’ perspective, with an objective to better understand the individual-level analysis of CSR and clarify the current state of thinking in the area. Specifically, the authors present the evolution of the concept of CSR, from the historical overview to the emergence of recent theory and conceptualizations; the underlying theoretical foundations of CSR; the studied variables for CSR; and the research gaps and future work avenues in the field of CSR.

Design/methodology/approach

In all, 158 articles from 72 journals were included in the review, and a comprehensive analysis of the reviewed articles was performed.

Findings

This paper makes a significant contribution to the literature by presenting a comprehensive review of the articles published in academic journals, focusing on employees’ perspective of CSR. The findings advance the understanding of the research trend in employee-focused micro-level CSR research. They will assist organizations better understand “why,” “how” and “when” employees react to CSR initiatives of an organization. This paper also identifies the existing gaps in employee-centric CSR research, which will provide important directions for future research in the area.

Research limitations/implications

The review focused exclusively on journal publications. Dissertations, conference papers, working papers and practitioner papers were excluded, as they are not peer-reviewed.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the comprehensive review papers that focus exclusively on employees’ perspective of CSR, by analyzing 158 articles from the period 1961-2017.

Influence of Perceived Socially Responsible Human Resource Management on Task Performance and Social Performance

While previous research has already revealed the positive influence of socially responsible human resource management (SRHRM) on organizations, little is known about whether employees’ perceived SRHRM can lead to a win–win situation between organization and society. We address this void by examining whether employees’ perceived SRHRM can contribute to organizational performance (operationalized as task performance and organizational citizenship behavior, OCB), and social performance (operationalized as volunteering). Using a sample of 314 employee–supervisor dyads from three large manufacturing enterprises in Southeast China, we found that perceived SRHRM could increase employees’ OCB and volunteering, but not task performance, through both cognitive (i.e., prosocial identity) and affective (i.e., affective empathy) paths. Furthermore, perceived SRHRM was more positively related to prosocial identity and affective empathy when distributive justice was high. We finally discuss the implications of our findings for both theory and practice.

Employees' Perceptions of CSR, Work Engagement, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Mediating Effects of Organizational Justice

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the individual level has emerged as an important field of research. However, a more comprehensive understanding of how CSR affects employee work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is still lacking. Based on social exchange theory, we examine the effects of employees’ perceptions of CSR on OCB and work engagement as well as the mediating mechanism of distributive and procedural justice, based on data collected from 350 employees working in the banking sector of Pakistan. Our study suggests that employees’ perceptions of CSR positively predict OCB and work engagement, and that work engagement is positively related to OCB. Both distributive and procedural justice positively mediate the effects of employees’ perceptions of CSR on OCB and work engagement.

Reflections on the so-called value-free ideal

Purpose

– Value-free science is an ideal that is neither possible nor desirable, especially for social sciences. The subject of social sciences is individuals and groups; hence social, moral, ethical, or political values are inherent and unavoidable in all steps of the scientific process. Further, the authority of science requires the scientist to be responsible experts in ensuring the reliability of knowledge and in assessing the risks in applying the research findings in social policies and practices. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the role of values in business school research.

Design/methodology/approach

– The author explains the two primary types of values relevant for science: epistemic – norms and standards to ensure good science – and social – criteria not relevant for discovering the truth of knowledge but may influence decisions related to science especially in evaluating the cost of wrongful conclusions from the research evidence. Based on an analysis of published criticisms of business school research and the author’s own analysis, the author describes how business school research is infused with social and political values, undermining the objectivity and quality of science by business scientists.

Findings

– The author endorses the idea of responsible science – science that recognizes the mutual dependence between science and society, and that aims to satisfy both epistemic and social values. The author offers a modest proposal to encourage transformation of business school research to meet both rigor (valid and reliable knowledge) and relevance (useful for practice) – the hallmark of responsible science.

Research limitations/implications

– The ideas in this essay have implications for further work on identifying the relevant epistemic and social values to guide business school research.

Originality/value

– The idea of responsible science can potentially transform business school’s research to become both scientifically rigorous and societally relevant.