Employee-Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Employee Pro-Environmental Behavior (PEB): The Moderating Role of CSR Skepticism and CSR Authenticity

Badar Latif,Tze San Ong,Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman,Abdelrhman Meero,Mohsin Ali

doi:10.3390/su14031380

Abstract

Despite the substantial attention given to pro-environmental behavior (PEB) by academicians, practitioners, and policymakers, few studies have investigated how employee-perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects employees’ PEB. Moreover, though the concept of PEB has been found to elicit a wide range of positive benefits for employee behaviors and attitudes, it has rarely been applied to the context of the manufacturing sector. Underpinned by the social identity theory (SIT) and the attitude-behavior-context (ABC) theory, the present study investigates the impact of employee-perceived CSR on employees’ PEB through the moderating roles of employee–CSR skepticism and employee–CSR authenticity. The convenience sampling technique was used to select employees from Pakistani manufacturing firms to participate in the study’s survey. Analysis results of data from 235 respondents across 115 manufacturing firms suggest that employee-perceived CSR positively drives employees’ PEB. In addition, the findings offer valuable insights on employee–CSR skepticism and employee–CSR authenticity. Specifically, CSR skepticism weakens the link between perceived CSR and PEB, while CSR authenticity strengthens this link. By providing implications and limitations, the present study discusses that organizations can convey the message of their credible, genuine, and authentic CSR efforts to their employees for social, economic, and environmental wellbeing. The study’s discussions and conclusions are presented.

Highlights

In the 21st century, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increasingly gained traction among academicians, practitioners, and policymakers [1]
For Hypothesis 3 (H3), higher perceptions of CSR authenticity strengthen the positive relationship between perceived CSR and pro-environmental behavior (PEB)
H3 was supported as the interaction effect of perceived CSR and CSR skepticism exhibited a moderate negative effect on PEB

Summary

Introduction

In the 21st century, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increasingly gained traction among academicians, practitioners, and policymakers [1]. The macro aspects of CSR (e.g., environmentally sustainable development) and their effects on sustainable performance have been studied in detail [3]. The micro-aspects of CSR (e.g., employee–CSR perception) and their effects on individual actions and behaviors have not yet been fully developed and are still in the emerging stage. In this regard, employee-perceived CSR appears as a relevant concept, which is defined as “degree of employees’ perception about the support provided by their employer to the CSR-related activities” [4]. The survey of literature indicates that most of the studies have examined the consumer-related perception to measure CSR [5,6,7].

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion