Corporate social responsibility and organizational commitment

Abstract

PurposeThis paper investigated how perception of organization's social responsibility influenced employees' organizational commitment (OC). Besides, the moderation effect of importance of ethics and social responsibility (ICSR) has been investigated on the relationship.Design/methodology/approachResponses from 142 business professionals working in Iran have been investigated. Exploratory factor analysis, reliability assessment and regression were applied to analyze the data.FindingsThis research indicated that corporate social responsibility (CSR) positively influenced OC of employees. However, no moderation effect was observed in this study.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provided support for Turker's model in a different setting and added to the body of knowledge in this area by investigating Iranian context which has been rarely discussed in the literature.Practical implicationsThe findings of this research confirmed that employees show higher commitment when working in socially responsible organization. It also showed that all the four categories of CSR examined in this study (CSR to social and non‐social stakeholders, CSR to employees, CSR to customers, and CSR to government) significantly affect OC.Social implicationsThe findings of this research confirmed that employees show higher commitment when working in socially responsible organization. It also showed that all the four categories of CSR examined in this study (CSR to social and non‐social stakeholders, CSR to employees, CSR to customers, and CSR to government) significantly affect OC.Originality/valueGiven that most of previous studies on CSR‐OC relationship are conducted in Western and European settings, this study provides insights from a culturally different context by examining the relationship in a developing country where CSR is still at its infancy levels. The paper also provides empirical support for a recently proposed CSR model and validates it in a different setting.