Effects of internal and external corporate social responsibility on employee job satisfaction during a pandemic: A medical device industry perspective

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed human lifestyles and contributed to the creation of a new normal in the business environment. This study examines the direct and indirect impacts of internal and external corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on employee job satisfaction through organisational identification, conditional on employee age. A total of 236 valid responses were received from eight multinational medical device manufacturers in Malaysia. Partial least squares and PROCESS algorithms were employed to assess the hypothesised interactions between the predictors and criterion variables. The empirical results showed that internal CSR (i.e., CSR to employee) could significantly drive a greater sense of belonging and work satisfaction. Surprisingly, however, external CSR (i.e., CSR to community) negatively affects job fulfilment in the medical devices industry during the pandemic. Nevertheless, the findings also showed that ongoing CSR activities in the community could build organisational identification and subsequently improve job satisfaction. Conversely, CSR to environment did not statistically influence job satisfaction, either directly or indirectly. The mediating effects of organisational identification were not associated with employee age. This study provides a practical framework for effective CSR strategies amid the pandemic that can help organisations align with social responsibility, enhance their reputation, and contribute to society.