What drives employees to participate in corporate social responsibility? A personal characteristics - CSR capacity - organizational reinforcing model of employees’ motivation for voluntary CSR activities

Abstract

Employees’ participation in corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a channel that not only helps corporations convey their social responsibility messages but also, in the long run, enhances stakeholder-organization relationships and builds corporate image. Given the important role employees play in CSR, inadequate attention is paid to their motivation to engage in voluntary CSR activities, and there is a research gap in the literature in terms of a lack of a systematic view of that motivation. Therefore, this study seeks to narrow this gap by exploring the factors influencing individual employees’ motivation to take part in voluntary CSR activities, using a qualitative approach, with empirical data collected from employees of leading CSR companies in Vietnam. Through grounded theory analysis, our findings lead to the proposal of a personal characteristics – CSR capacity – organizational reinforcing model, revealing different intrinsic and extrinsic elements, categorized into personal characteristics, CSR capacities and organizational reinforcement, that motivate employees to participate and engage in voluntary CSR activities. Our findings and the proposed model offer a significant contribution to the CSR literature and organization management theories, and also provide insights and practical implications for those involved in CSR endeavors, including human resource (HR) managers in organizations. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2021.1967422 .