Abstract
Existing works on the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and performance have investigated how CSR affects external stakeholders (e.g., shareholders, customers, local communities, and environment). However, the effect of CSR on internal stakeholders such as employees who ultimately determine organizational performance is relatively underexplored. Institutional theory suggests that institutional enablers, e.g., CSR practices, influence macro-level variables, like organizational performance, via micro-level intermediating processes, such as perceptions, attitudes and behaviors of employees. Thus, this paper proposes that internal mechanisms are essential to explain the CSR-performance link. Using a 3-wave time-lagged survey data of 301 workers in South Korean firms (144 men and 157 women, average age: 40.30), this research examines how psychological safety and job satisfaction of an employee function as sequential mediators in the CSR-performance link. Moreover, the current research also investigates how job insecurity negatively moderates the link between CSR and psychological safety. The results demonstrated that psychological safety and job satisfaction function as sequential internal mediators in the link. In addition, job insecurity negatively moderated the influence of CSR on psychological safety. The results suggest that an employee’s perceptions and attitudes, such as job insecurity, psychological safety, and job satisfaction, significantly influence the relationship between CSR and performance.
Highlights
Since the 1960s, scholars and practitioners in the business field have become increasingly interested in corporate social responsibility (CSR)
This paper suggests that employees are likely to doubt the authenticity of the firm’s CSR activities when they feel a sense of job insecurity
Our results showed that the model fit of our hypothetical model (i.e., Model 1) were sufficient (χ2 = 355.07; comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.938; Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.923; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.055)
Summary
Since the 1960s, scholars and practitioners in the business field have become increasingly interested in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Other works have argued that CSR is insignificant or has a negative impact on organizational performance due to its inefficient use of organizational resources [3,10,11,12,13]. Scholars suggest that this inconsistent outcome originates from a lack of research on the moderators/mediators in the CSR-performance link [3,10,11,12,13]. To deal with the mixed outcomes of the influence of CSR on organizational performance, more attention should be paid to the exact mechanisms and contingent factors in the association [9,13,14]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
