Perceived socially responsible-HRM on talent retention: The mediating effect of trust and motivation and the moderating effect of other-regarding value orientation

Introduction

Studies have shown that there is a growing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and talent management, and the identified links between their aspects. Thus, the current study examined the relationship between socially responsible human resource management (SRHRM)-identified as CSR strategies and practices directed at employees to underpin the effectiveness of CSR implementation-and talent retention. In addition, this study employed a mediation-moderation framework with employee attitude (motivation and trust) as a mediating variable and other-regarding value orientation (ORVO) as a moderating variable. Thus, the current study contributes to talent management and CSR current knowledge by analyzing the depth of the relationship by way of exploring the moderating and mediating process. It answers the "how" and "when" questions and explains the mechanism through which an organization can use its socially responsible HRM practices for retaining talented employees.

Methods

A total of 418 people from the Klang Valley area in Malaysia participated in the study. The hypotheses in the study were tested using PLS structural equation modeling.

Results

The results of the study showed that (a) perceived SRHRM was positively related to talent retention, (b) this relationship was partially mediated by the employee's attitude (motivation and trust), and (c) ORVO did not moderate the relationship between perceived SRHRM and talent retention.

Discussion

Furthermore, the study findings provide concrete and actionable recommendations on how to formulate and implement appropriate SRHRM policies and practices as they are not only essential for the successful implementation of external CSR programs but also essential for retaining talented employees and for improving their motivation and organizational trust.

Why do good soldiers in good organizations behave wrongly? The vicarious licensing effect of perceived corporate social responsibility

Purpose

While most corporate social responsibility (CSR) research has focused on its positive effects, the potential “dark side” of CSR has received scant attention. Grounded in vicarious moral licensing theory and insights from related literature, the current study examines how employees' perceptions of external CSR could result in unintentional negative consequences like unethical pro-organizational behavior via psychological entitlement. The study also investigates the direct and conditional effects of private self-awareness.

Design/methodology/approach

A two-wave survey of 609 full-time employees from various occupations was conducted to empirically test the hypotheses. Several techniques and remedies were applied to control the quality of the sample data and mitigate the effects of potential common method bias.

Findings

The results demonstrate that unethical pro-organizational behavior can be an unintentional negative outcome of perceived external CSR, and psychological entitlement mediates the relationship.

Research limitations/implications

This work contributes to the moral licensing literature by examining vicarious moral licensing in the work domain. It offers several new and significant implications for research on CSR, psychological entitlement, and unethical pro-organizational behavior. The results suggest that managers should be mindful of unethical pro-organizational behavior as a potential negative consequence of external CSR engagement.

Originality/value

This study is among the first attempts to examine vicarious moral licensing in the work domain and investigates a largely neglected research area – the negative aspect of external CSR.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Cheating Behavior: The Mediating Effects of Organizational Identification and Perceived Supervisor Moral Decoupling

Previous corporate social responsibility (CSR) studies at the employee level have focused on the influence of CSR on employees' positive attitudes and behavior. However, little attention has been paid to the relationship between CSR and unethical behavior and the underlying mechanism. Based on social information processing theory, this study investigates how CSR affects employee cheating via employees' organizational identification and perceived supervisor moral decoupling. Additionally, this study discusses the moderating effect of employee bottom-line mentality on these relationships. We test this two-path model using a sample of MBA students in China. The results indicate that both organizational identification and perceived supervisor moral decoupling mediate the relationship between CSR and cheating, and employee bottom-line mentality moderates the effect of CSR on perceived supervisor moral decoupling. Specifically, for employees low in bottom-line mentality, CSR has a significantly negative impact on perceived supervisor moral decoupling, but the same relationship is insignificant for employees with a strong bottom-line mentality. Overall, our results uncover the relationship between CSR and employee cheating and extend the understanding of the influence of CSR on employees.

Perceived corporate social responsibility and employee ethical behaviour: do employee commitment and co-worker ethicality matter?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays an important role in promoting workplace ethics. However, most research has focused on CSRs’ performance or favourable performance-related behaviour outcomes. Little is known about how individual employees perceive CSR and how this affects their ethical behaviour. This research examines how employees' perceived corporate social responsibility (PCSR) facilitates their ethical behaviour. Specifically, we hypothesise that PCSR influences employee ethical behaviour by enhancing employees' organisational commitment. The relationship between employees' commitment and ethical behaviour is contingent on their co-workers' ethical behaviour. The hypothesised relationships were assessed using partial least squares structural equation modelling with a sample of 300 employees from ‘The Ghana Club 100’ firms. Our findings suggest that employee commitment serves as an effective mechanism through which employees' perception enhances their ethical behaviour. The findings also show that the weaker the co-workers' ethical behaviour, the stronger the relationship between employee commitment and ethical behaviour. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Relationship of CSR and Employee Creativity in the Hotel Sector: The Mediating Role of Job Autonomy

Despite the growing surge in the literature about employee creativity, the mainstream literature largely views it from an organizational perspective, and ignores the underlying mechanism that motivates employees to be engaged in different creative tasks. Against this backdrop, the current work was carried out to explore the relationship of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee creativity with the mediating effect of autonomy to explain the motivational pull for employee creativity. The data were collected from the employees of the hotel sector of Pakistan through a self-administered questionnaire (n = 511) and were analyzed by employing the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The results revealed that CSR, through the mediating effect of job autonomy, influences employees’ creativity significantly. The findings of the current analysis will help both academia and professionals from the hotel sector to understand the importance of CSR as a booster for employee creativity. Furthermore, the potential role of job autonomy as a mediator in explaining this relationship will also help policymakers to understand the importance of freedom at the workplace to engage the workforce in different extra-roles, including creativity.

The Relationship Between Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee-Related Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis

Although there is much research on the relationships of corporate social responsibility and employee-related outcomes, a systematic and quantitative integration of research findings is needed to substantiate and broaden our knowledge. A meta-analysis allows the comparison of the relations of different types of CSR on several different outcomes, for example to learn what type of CSR is most important to employees. From a theoretical perspective, social identity theory is the most prominent theoretical approach in CSR research, so we aim to investigate identification as a mediator of the relationship between CSR and employee-related outcomes in a meta-analytical mediation model. This meta-analysis synthesizes research findings on the relationship between employees' perception of CSR (people, planet, and profit) and employee-related outcomes (identification, engagement, organizational attractiveness, turnover (intentions), OCB, commitment, and job satisfaction), thereby distinguishing attitudes and behavior. A total of 143 studies (N = 89,396) were included in the meta-analysis which was conducted according to the methods by Schmidt and Hunter (except of the meta-analytical structural equation model). Mean effect sizes for the relationship between CSR and employee-related attitudes and behaviors were medium-sized to large. For attitudes, the relationships were stronger than for behavior. For specific types of CSR, average effect sizes were large. Identification mediated the relation between CSR and commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB, respectively. Based on our results, we give recommendations concerning the design of CSR initiatives in a way that benefits employees.

Predicting employee engagement with micro-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in the public accounting firms

Purpose

This research aims to examines the impact of micro-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on employee engagement within the public accounting firm setting.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses a quantitative approach with a survey instrument as the data collection tool. A total of 269 complete responses were collected from employees working in the public accounting firms. Micro-level CSR practices were analysed with a hierarchical component model (HCM) in partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to examine the influence of such practices on employee engagement. A predictive performance metric was applied to assess the out-of-sample prediction.

Findings

This study uncovers a positive and significant relationship between micro-level CSR practices and employee engagement. Furthermore, the PLSpredict results indicate that the current model possesses high predictive power with all indicators in the PLS-SEM analysis demonstrating lower root mean squared error (RMSE) values compared to the naïve linear regression model benchmark.

Research limitations/implications

While the methods applied in this analysis are at the frontier of CSR research, the present study has not explored the heterogeneity amongst groups of respondents and size of accounting firms. Sampling weight adjustment for the purposes of representativeness was not used in the current research. These could be the subject of future work in this area.

Practical implications

These research findings shed light on the positive manifestation effect of micro-level CSR practices at firm level as well as individual level. Through micro-level CSR practices, firms can reap the benefits of enhanced employee engagement, which leads to productive workforce while also facilitating increased employees’ intrinsic job satisfaction.

Social implications

Micro-level CSR practices address the needs of the millennium workforce, whereby employees are no longer solely focussed on pay checks as their compensation. Employees are seeking out employers whose CSR practices appeal to their social conscience. Micro-level CSR practices meet the needs of the contemporary workforce yet enable companies to attract and retain skilled employees.

Originality/value

The originality of this research is attributed to the vigorous statistical analysis by the use of HCMs and PLSpredict in PLS-SEM context for the assessment of predictive performance. Also, micro-level CSR practices are conceptualised in HCM for parsimonious purpose.

Scrutinizing Social Identity Theory in Corporate Social Responsibility: An Experimental Investigation

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is widely established by companies that aim to contribute to society and minimize their negative impact on the environment. In CSR research, employees’ reactions to CSR have extensively been researched. Social identity theory is often used as a theoretical background to explain the relationship between CSR and employee-related outcomes, but until now, a sound empirical examination is lacking, and causality remains unclear. CSR can unfold its effect mainly because of three theoretically important aspects of CSR initiatives, which increase identification, i.e., distinctiveness, prestige, and salience of the out-group. This study examines how far identification can explain the effect of CSR on employees. In an experimental vignette study (N = 136 employees), CSR was manipulated in three degrees (positive, neutral, and negative) to examine its effects on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). In the vignettes, information on distinctiveness, prestige, and salience of the out-group were presented. Regression analyses showed that CSR significantly predicted commitment and job satisfaction, but not OCB. We found mediation effects of CSR on commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB through identification, but the effect of CSR on identification explained only little variance which indicates additional underlying mechanisms. The applicability of social identity theory for explaining CSR is discussed. Moreover, we discuss further explaining mechanisms.

Who is attracted to socially responsible organizations? Roles of job applicants' volunteer experience and motives

Purpose

Based on the multiple domain perspective and self-identity theory, this study aims to investigate the effect of job applicants' volunteer experience on their attraction to organizations that engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Moreover, it examines the mediating effect of the CSR work role definition in this relationship and proposes a moderated mediation model of how the effect of volunteer experience on organizational attractiveness through the CSR work role definition differs according to other- and self-oriented motives.

Design/methodology/approach

Hypotheses were tested with a moderated mediation model using a scenario-based questionnaire with a sample of 146 undergraduate students in South Korea.

Findings

Job applicants' volunteer experience was positively related to attraction to socially responsible organizations, and the CSR work role definition mediated this relationship. The conditional indirect effect of job applicants' volunteer experience on their attraction to socially responsible organizations through the CSR work role definition was significant only for job applicants with lower other- and self-oriented motives.

Practical implications

The study findings suggest that organizations performing CSR should examine whether job applicants have experience with volunteering activities and the motives behind their participation in such activities.

Originality/value

This study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of how job applicants are attracted to organizations that perform CSR and when such attraction is significant by considering their perception of the CSR work role definition and motives for volunteering activities.

The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Employees’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model of Grit and Meaning Orientation

Even though research on the micro-effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been growing, our understanding of the psychological mechanisms through which perceived CSR affects employees’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) remains insufficient. Based on social identity theory and the concept of whole self, this study examines the mediating role of meaning orientation as a psychological mechanism and tests the moderating role of grit, using survey data collected from 361 South Korean workers. Our results show that the positive association between perceived CSR and OCB is mediated by meaning orientation. In addition, grit strengthens the perceived CSR-meaning orientation relationship, which in turn boosts employees’ OCB. This study contributes to the literature by revealing a psychological mechanism and how it is moderated by individual traits, which are crucial in predicting CSR’s micro-effects. We discuss how our results can be practically applied by organizations as part of sustainable human resource management.

CSR and identification: the contingencies of employees’ personal traits and desire

Purpose

Micro corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an emerging concept in management that relates to the examination of employees’ reaction to CSR initiatives. In this stream of literature, this study aims to investigate the underlying mechanism and boundary conditions of CSR and employees’ organizational identification relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The data of middle managers (n = 187) were collected from a large hospitality and real estate organization actively involved in CSR activities in Pakistan. The authors conducted two surveys using the self-administered questionnaire with a temporal break. Structural equation modeling was run using AMOS to analyze the data.

Findings

The authors found that organizational pride meditates while desire to have a significant impact through work (DSIW), gender and organizational tenure moderates the relationship between CSR and organizational identification.

Practical implications

The study implies that the management can take the opportunity to make use of the positive response of the employees by investing in social and environmental causes.

Originality/value

The study contributes to CSR, organizational behavior literature, and person-organization fit theory by explaining the complete path of CSR and identification. It unfolds the underlying mechanism and contingencies of CSR-Identification link that are overlooked in the literature .

Do instrumental and symbolic factors interact in influencing employer attractiveness and job pursuit intention?

Purpose

The changing demographics of talent market calls for a better understanding of the expectations of diverse job seekers. However, there is limited research on employer attractiveness (EA) factors which cover the expectations of new generation job seekers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of career growth opportunities (CGO), work–life benefits (WLB) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputation on the perceived attractiveness of an organization as an employer and the job pursuit intention (JPI) of job seekers.

Design/methodology/approach

A 2 (CGO: many vs limited)×2 (WLB: many vs limited)×2 (CSR reputation: high vs low) between-subjects experimental design was used for this study. A total of 240 respondents participated in the study.

Findings

The results showed that provision of CGO had the highest effect on both EA and JPI. This effect was strong enough to compensate for limited WLB and a low CSR reputation. A significant interaction effect between CGO and CSR reputation revealed that the effect of CSR reputation on EA depends on the availability of many or limited CGO.

Originality/value

The study contributes and expands literature on attributes relevant in job choice decisions by providing useful insights regarding how job seekers weigh these attributes while making an employment choice. Also, the study offers suggestions for designing organizations’ recruitment strategy for attracting talent.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Engagement: Enabling Employees to Employ More of Their Whole Selves at Work

Research at the individual level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been growing rapidly. Yet we still lack a more complete understanding of why and how individuals (i.e., employees) are affected by CSR. This study contributes to that gap by exploring the relationship between CSR and employee engagement. Moreover, in order to address the problem of low levels of employee engagement in the workplace, CSR is proposed and tested as a pathway for engaging a significant part of the workforce. Building on engagement theory, a model is tested in which CSR enables employees to bring more of their whole selves to work, which results in employees being more engaged. Data from 15,184 employees in a large professional service firm in the USA was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results show that authenticity (i.e., being able to show one’s whole self at work) positively and significantly mediates the relationship between CSR and employee engagement. However, the other mediator tested in this study, perceived organizational support (POS; i.e., direct benefits to the employee), did not significantly mediate the relationship. In addition, results of moderated mediation suggest that when CSR is extra-role (i.e., not embedded in one’s job design such as volunteering), it weakens the relationship between CSR and employee engagement. Moreover, post hoc analyses show that even when POS is controlled for, authenticity has an impact above and beyond POS on employee engagement. These results extend prior CSR literature which has often been top–down and has focused on how employees will be positively affected by what the organization can give them (e.g., POS). Rather, a bottom–up approach might reveal that the more that employees can give of their whole selves, the more engaged they might be at work.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Organizational Psychology: An Integrative Review

The author reviews the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature that includes the individual level of analysis (referred to as micro CSR in the article) based on 166 articles, book chapters, and books. A framework is provided that integrates organizational psychology and CSR, with the purpose of highlighting synergies in order to advance scholarship and practice in both fields. The review is structured so that first, a brief overview is provided. Second, the literatures on organizational psychology and CSR are integrated. Third, gaps are outlined illuminating opportunities for future research. Finally, a research agenda is put forward that goes beyond addressing gaps and focuses on how organizational psychology and CSR can be partners in helping move both fields forward-specifically, through a humanistic research agenda rooted in positive psychology.