Impact of organizational climate on ethical empowerment and engagement with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Abstract

Few studies have focused explicitly on the management, involvement and engagement of employees in relation to Corporate Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Focusing upon two case studies from the oil industry, we investigate the impact of three kinds of ethical climate on employee participation in ethical value setting within a Corporate Marketing and CSR context. We develop a conceptual framework that indicates connections between perceptions of ethical climate in the work place and levels of ethical empowerment on employee commitment, and its effects, in turn, on CSR beliefs and intentions. Managerial implications of our findings relating to CSR include: (i) need for a balance between differing types of internal ethical environments to best support socially responsible intentions; (ii) that there are potentially two differing types of commitment to ethical values within an organization with the greater need for affective commitment; (iii) requirement for an effective monitoring program to understand employee ethical and moral values aiding alignment between employee values and organizational values to ensure maximum strategic impact.