Corporate Social Performance and Employees: Construed Perceptions, Attributions and Behavioral Outcomes

Abstract:     
Employees constitute an important stakeholder group in the context of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. However, evidence regarding how employeesassess Corporate Social Performance (CSP) is very limited. Against this background, this study contributes by examining how employee CSP perceptions and attributions affect key behavioral outcomes: employee advocacy behaviors, intentions to stay, and firm loyalty. Moreover, we examine whether CSP attributions are influenced by construed CSP attributions of an important external stakeholder – that is, customers. Finally, we investigate whether construed customer CSP perceptions moderate the CSP perceptions-outcomes linkage. Based on a sample of 438 employees, we find that (a) employees’ CSP perceptions are formed by their attributions regarding the motives underlying the CSR initiatives, which are, in turn, influenced by construed customer CSP attributions; (b) employees’CSP perceptions influence affective commitment and this effect gets stronger with higher levels of construed customer CSP perceptions; and (c) CSP perceptions influence behavioral outcomes mainly through affective commitment.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 50

Keywords: CSR, Employees, Social Identity Theory, Affective Commitment, Multi-Level, Moderation Effects

JEL Classification: M12, M14

working papers series