Abstract
Many organizations encourage their employees to participate in charitable activities as part of their corporate social responsibility strategies. As a result, there has been an increased research interest in employee volunteering behavior. However, while previous research on employee volunteering decisions has focused on both individual-level and organizational-level factors, there has been less focus on peer involvement and volunteer cause proximity. To go some way to filling this research area, this paper conducted two studies to examine the possible effects of colleague participation, colleague position and public cause proximity on employee volunteering intentions. Study 1 found that colleague participation and public cause proximity had significant effects on employee volunteering, and Study 2 found that power distance played a moderating role in the relationship between colleague position and employee volunteering. This study contributes to theoretical research on employee volunteering and provides some information to assist firms retain engaged volunteers.
Highlights
Organizations often encourage their employees to participate in charitable welfare activities in their local communities as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies (Basil et al, 2009)
After the influence of colleague participation on employee volunteering was confirmed and as it was not clear whether the involved colleague’s position impacted other employees’ volunteering decisions, and Study 2 was conducted to reveal the effects of colleague position and public cause proximity on volunteering and the moderating role of power distance
The main effects of colleague involvement and cause proximity demonstrated that followers that were more involved with the cause tended to be more interested in participating to help the cause, and that local rather than non-local volunteer campaigns incited more favorable volunteering intentions, which suggested that these employees were willing to consider volunteer campaigns even if they were not personally relevant
Summary
Organizations often encourage their employees to participate in charitable welfare activities in their local communities as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies (Basil et al, 2009). Previous studies have taken organizational- and job-level engagement perspectives to examine whether perceived organizational support enhanced volunteer engagement and associated attitudes As it remains unclear how the situational factors from both the work and cause domains interactively impact volunteer decisions, this paper responds to these calls. This study, sought to identify the adaptive role of power distance by examining its enlarging effect on the relationships between colleague position and cause proximity and employee volunteering intentions The results from this examination add to the thinking about reference groups and physical distances in the volunteering field and provide insights and guidance for enterprise volunteer projects
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