When do corporate social responsibility initiatives impact on customer-facing employees? Evidence from India and the Netherlands

Abstract

The vast majority of the extant literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has focused on the macro (firm) level of analysis by examining the linkage between CSR and firm-level outcomes. As such, very few studies have focused on the micro (individual) level of analysis. Against this backdrop, the present study focuses on the individual level of analysis thereby contributing to the emerging psychology of CSR literature, which considers employees' perceptions of their employing organizations' social actions as more important than organizations' objective CSR performance (Rupp, Shao, Thornton and Skarlicki (2013), ‘Applicants’ and Employees’ Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Effects of First-Party Justice Perceptions and Moral Identity,’ Personnel Psychology, 66, 895–933). Moreover, the study is one of the first examining the role of context in employee attitudes toward CSR. In particular, it builds on the psychology of CSR (e.g. Rupp et al. 2013) literature to propose a research framework that delineates the moderating effects of satisfaction with payment, satisfaction with the job itself and individualism in the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) perceptions and customer-facing employees' behavioral outcomes. Data are collected from customer-facing employees in two major organizations in the Netherlands and India. Results suggest a complex interplay between CSP perceptions and the two facets of job satisfaction, and that national context is likely to moderate the contingent effects of CSP perceptions on customer-facing employees' behavioral outcomes.