"Identity, justice, and social responsibility: Micro-foundations of CSR"

Abstract

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) literature over the past fifty years has focused on economic, ethical, and institutional drivers and outcomes of CSR engagement, while the psychology of CSR has largely been ignored (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; McWilliams & Siegel, 2001; Rupp, Williams, & Aguilera, 2010). The model proposed in this paper, based on an examination of the current literature in the fields of organizational justice, organizational psychology, and CSR, explores how situational and personality variables coalesce into a CSR propensity. CSR propensity is contextualized within situations which activate certain identities leading to the engagement of specific justice motives. Personality variables, including social value orientation and responsibility disposition, moderate the CSR propensity of the individual within the situation. The proposed CSR propensity typology includes Strategic, Ethical, and Virtuous. The model presented provides two distinct contributions in moving individual level analysis of CSR forward: establishing a CSR propensity typology based on motivation and developing the concept of Virtuous CSR.