Corporate Social Responsibility Attitudes Research Articles

How spirituality affects individuals’ attitudes towards corporate social responsibility: a moderated mediation model

Research on individuals’ attitudes toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a micro level has increasingly emerged in recent years, yet the role of spiritual values and principles has been ignored as its antecedents in extant literature. To fill the research gap, we examine the relationship between spirituality and individual CSR attitudes and further analyze this relationship by revealing the mediating role of idealism and the moderating role of relativism. Data were gathered from a two-wave survey conducted in Pakistan and 147 questionnaires were collected. The results indicate that spirituality is positively related to CSR attitudes, and this relationship is mediated by idealism. Relativism strengthens not only the positive relationship between spirituality and idealism but also the indirect relationship between spirituality and CSR attitudes via idealism. The findings contribute to the research on the micro-foundations of CSR by taking spirituality into account. Theoretical and practical implications for future research are also discussed.

Corporate social responsibility and individual behaviour.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) research can help to address some of society's grand challenges (for example, climate change, energy sustainability and social inequality). Historically, CSR research has focused on organizational-level factors that address environmental and social issues and the firm's resulting financial performance, with much less focus on individual-level factors. In response to research calls to consider the individual level of analysis, we provide a narrative review to improve our understanding of the interconnections between CSR and individual behaviour. We organize existing research around three individual-level categories: CSR perceptions, CSR attitudes and CSR behaviours. We summarize research elucidating how perceptions and attitudes influence behaviours and how organization and higher-level CSR context and individual-level CSR readiness moderate perceptions-behaviours and attitudes-behaviours relationships. We offer a conceptual model that organizes the diverse, conflicting and multidisciplinary research on the CSR-individual behaviour link and that can be used to guide future research.

The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility in Pakistan's Health Insurance Industry in Preserving a Sustainable Competitive Advantage

In Pakistan, health care system is vulnerable and under developing phase. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities influence the health insurance sector's competitiveness. This study attempts to investigate the connection between CSR practices and the long-term competitive advantage of Pakistani health insurance carriers. To create a lasting competitive advantage, it aims to pinpoint the precise CSR actions that significantly affect consumer perception, brand reputation, and market placement. The rising significance of CSR in business and its potential effects on the health insurance sector are the driving forces behind this study. Customers are drawn to businesses that show a commitment to ethical business practices as society's consciousness regarding environmental and social concerns rises. To get in-depth understanding of health insurance firms' CSR practices and attitudes, the study uses a qualitative technique. Interviews and focus groups have used to gather data and Thematic analysis has been used as an analysis tool. The themes obtained through thematic analysis are Initiatives to Promote Community Health, Sustainability in corporate sector and social impact, Healthcare accessibility and Affordability, Healthcare Sustainability Promotion, Collaboration and social engagement among corporate stakeholders. CHASS theoretical model has developed based on obtained factors. Future potential for the study includes offering vital information to health insurance firms on the best CSR projects to engage in, strengthening their competitive posture in the market.

Impact of different types of corporate social responsibility on fit, attitude and behavior

Purpose Despite the fact that fit positively influences customers’ attitudes toward companies, previous research reveals differing roles of fit in the domain of corporate social responsibility (CSR) based on criteria and degree. Because the impact of fit between customers and service companies in the domain of CSR remains unclear in the hospitality context, this study aims to examine the effects of different CSR types on customer–CSR fit, attitude and behavioral intentions in hospitality settings. Design/methodology/approach A total of 219 usable hotel customer responses were collected and analyzed using SmartPLS software. Findings Results show that companies’ demonstration of CSR toward social/nonsocial stakeholders is most effective for increasing perceived fit by customers, followed by CSR toward employees and toward customers. Also, this study identifies perceived fit as an indicator of customers’ positive attitudes and revisit intentions. This study enhances our understanding of relationships among three dimensions of CSR activities and customers’ responses. Originality/value This study provides guidelines with which hospitality companies can create sustainable growth by engaging the welfare of communities, employees and customers.

Transparency in corporate social responsibility communication on social media

PurposeRetailers recently have started communicating their corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments to their consumers directly on social media. That is to say, CSR communication has expanded to social media that allow two-way communication, distinct from traditional CSR communication channels. As transparency has been recognised as a crucial factor influencing the effectiveness of traditional CSR communication, this study investigated its role in the social media context.Design/methodology/approachA two-level, single-factor (i.e. transparency of a mock retail company's CSR communication) between-subjects experimental design was employed, and 237 responses from an online survey were used for PROCESS macroanalysis.FindingsTransparent CSR communication was found to increase the consumers' perceived CSR credibility and attitude toward the company, which influenced consumers' subsequent purchase intention (functionalistic outcome) and intention to respond to the CSR communication (constitutive outcome). The results of the study also corroborated that consumers' level of elaboration when processing CSR communication on social media depends upon their level of concern over the social issue.Originality/valueThe study extends the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to CSR communication in the social media context by validating that consumers' level of information elaboration is determined by their level of concern over the social issue. In addition, it provides the first empirical support for the significance of transparent CSR communication on social media and explains the mechanism of transparency's influence. Transparency indirectly affects consumers' behavioural intentions by forming a favourable attitude toward a retailer. The findings can help retail practitioners communicate CSR commitments persuasively on social media. The study also integrates functionalistic and constitutive perspectives of social media CSR communication, which is notable and discussed in depth.

The effects of consideration of future consequences and CSR fit in stigmatized industries: Perceived CSR motives as mediators

This study explored the effects of fit between corporations and their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in stigmatized industries. Specifically, it examined how these effects vary depending on stakeholders’ consideration of future consequences (CFC) in influencing individuals’ attitudes toward CSR and corporations and purchase intentions; further, it explored whether such interaction effects are mediated by three underlying perceived motives. The study involved a between-subjects experiment with 144 college students. The results showed that high-CFC individuals perceived corporations with strong fit to their CSR initiatives as more stakeholder- and self-serving. The interaction effect also was mediated by stakeholder-serving motives in influencing purchase intentions and by self-serving motives in influencing CSR and corporation-related attitudes.

Influence of corporate social responsibility and brand attitude on purchase intention

Purpose This study aims to analyse the influence of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on purchase intention; this study also examines the mediating effect of generation Y’s attitude towards the brand and the moderating effect of their attitude towards CSR. Design/methodology/approach This study tested the model with a sample of 392 generation Y consumers using Smart partial least squares (PLS)-structural equation modelling. Findings Brand attitude partially mediates the positive influence of perceived CSR (PCSR) on purchase intention. Gen Y’s attitude towards CSR increases the impact of PCSR on brand attitude and purchase intention. Practical implications To multiply the effects of CSR and brand attitude, retail marketing managers can develop strategies that strengthen the links between awareness, knowledge, brand affection and purchase intent by encouraging Gen Y consumers to engage with the brand’s CSR strategy. Originality/value This study advances the literature on CSR and consumer behaviour by providing an integrated view of the hierarchy of effects model and a generational cohort perspective in predicting purchase intention. sponsabilidad social corporativa y la actitud hacia la marca en la intención de compra

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Internal Consequences: The Moderating Role of Employees’ Position Levels

Before understanding customers’ perceptions of hotel CSR, it is important to understand service providers’ responses to hotel CSR because they are the key person to implement the CSR strategy. Therefore, this study investigates the structural relationship among multidimensional CSR performance, attitude, emotions, and resultant behaviors as perceived by hotel employees. In addition, moderating role of employees’ positional levels in the proposed model is evaluated. The findings show that environmental, ethical, and financial/economic domains consisting of hotel CSR performance effectively explain the resultant behaviors that follow. However, social/philanthropic and legal domains do not have considerable effects. The positions held by hotel employees partially moderate the relationships between the proposed constructs. The results of this study add important insights to the existing literature and help hotel practitioners better understand how multidimensional CSR causes positive attitudes, emotions, and behaviors and how the structural model changes depending on the position levels. These results are achieved by using the newly developed hotel CSR measurement scale, which was made through careful and rigorous six-stage procedures.

The Role of Ethical Ideologies and Economic Conservatism on Corporate Social Responsibility Attitudes

The Role of Ethical Ideologies and Economic Conservatism on Corporate Social Responsibility Attitudes

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS CSR IN THE CONTEXT OF DECISIONS RELATED TO TAKING UP A JOB AND REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYERS

The aim of this article is to present the challenge to shape attitudes towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) of future employees and managers. CSR could be an important factor that may influence the career decisions of future employees. The research concentrates particularly on the cognitive and behavioral components of CSR. Therefore, the theoretical part of this paper presents the importance of CSR within the process of an employee applying for a job, and shows how employees need to feel the appreciation from management for their commitment to CSR values. This paper also emphasizes the importance of the education system in shaping CSR attitudes. Within the empirical part of the paper a research problem is presented, which targets the difference between actual CSR knowledge and CSR behaviors and decisions. A survey was conducted among 266 students from the Faculty of Management at the University of Lodz. The findings indicate significant discrepancies between the declared knowledge and choices of students with regard to applying for a job and the requirements for employers. The presented attitudes of the respondents are inconsistent and require further answers.

Islamic Religiosity and CSR Attitudes—The Case of Egyptian Managers

In this research, we investigated the complex relationship between Islamic religious beliefs and corporate social responsibility (CSR) attitudes and behaviour. We defined four aspects of religiosity, four types of individual attitudes toward CSR, and five types of CSR behaviour. The empirical analysis of the responses of 274 questionnaires showed that there is a very different picture of the Islamic religiosity of the Egyptian managers, with low correlations between the cognitive, intrinsic, extrinsic, and behavioural aspects of religiosity. The results show that there are significant and negative impacts of Islamic religious beliefs on various types of CSR attitudes and behaviour. The joint mediating role of attitudes toward CSR is almost non-existent and Islamic religious beliefs exert a direct impact on CSR behaviour. Our findings offer important implications for CSR scholars to use a multidimensional measure to assess the religious beliefs of managers and their impacts on CSR attitudes. These findings also enhance business managers’ awareness of the interconnection of religiosity and CSR.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PERCEPTION ON JOB PERFORMANCE: DOES CORPORATE REPUTATION MATTER?

The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and job performance through the mediating role of job attitudes. In addition, the moderating role of organizational reputation is also considered. Based on stakeholder theories, signaling theory, social exchange theory, and social identity theory, a research model has been developed. Data has been collected from 636 employees working in SMEs in Vietnam to provide empirical evidence. Research results showed that corporate social responsibility has made a positive contribution to improving job performance and this relationship was partially mediated by job attitudes. In addition, organizational reputation strengthened the positive connection between CSR and job attitudes. Finally, the study suggested some managerial implications to help leaders have appropriate policies to improve employees’ job performance.

THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYEE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ATTITUDES ON JOB SATISFACTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT: EVIDENCE FROM SRI LANKAN INSURANCE INDUSTRY

The purpose of this study was to highlight the employees’ CSR attitudes and their impact on job satisfaction and organizational commitment using the evidence from the employees in the Sri Lankan insurance industry. Economic, ethical, legal, and discretionary responsibility for employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment were considered as the study variables. Primary data was collected using a convenient sample method by distributing a questionnaire among 200 employees in five selected insurance companies in Sri Lanka. The study findings revealed that corporate social responsibility attitudes variables namely ethical and discretionary CSR attitudes have a positive relationship and significant impact on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Economic responsibility attitudes have a significant impact on job satisfaction and have no significant impact on organizational commitment. Legal CSR attitudes have no significant impact on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The findings of this study contribute to finding out the impact of employee CSR attitudes on job satisfaction and organizational commitment in employees in the Sri Lankan insurance industry and findings can be used for employers to take a better decisions.

Employee perception of corporate social responsibility authenticity: A multilevel approach.

Stakeholder interest in the accuracy of Environment Social and Governance (ESG) data and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) authenticity has increased, as more companies are disclosing their ESG data. Employees are one of the most important stakeholders of a company, and they have access to more CSR information than other external stakeholders. Employees have a dual role of observing and participating in CSR. Employee perceptions of CSR authenticity play a key role in the positive effects of CSR. In this study, the research model was analyzed through multilevel analysis to contribute to the literature on the mechanism by which CSR affects employees’ job attitudes and perceptions of CSR authenticity. First, hypothesis testing confirmed that external CSR is positively associated with employees’ perceptions of CSR authenticity. Second, CSR authenticity mediates a positive relationship between external CSR and emotional commitment. As the direct effect of external CSR on emotional commitment was not statistically significant, it could be confirmed that the full mediation relationship was significant through CSR authenticity. This study makes three theoretical contributions to the literature on employees’ perceptions of CSR. First, it examines the mechanism of the impact of CSR on employees. By examining the mechanism by which employees recognize and interpret CSR, this study attempts to uncover the black box that CSR affects employees. Second, this study contributes to the literature on CSR authenticity by explaining the mediating role of CSR authenticity in the relationship between CSR and employee job attitudes through construal level theory. Finally, this study contributes to the employee-based CSR literature by analyzing the effect of CSR as an organizational-level variable on emotional commitment as an individual-level variable through multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM).

Green Innovation Behavior Toward Sustainable Tourism Development: A Dual Mediation Model

The rapid increase in globalization has fostered the emerging ecological challenges to halt human civilization, substantially highlighting the need for environmental management. The study’s primary objective is to analyze the impact of environmental perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and attitude toward environmental CSR on sustainable tourism development while considering the mediating role of national park identification goals and employee pro-environmental behavior. The data was collected from the 338 employees working in the Chinese tourist firms’. The study variable’s reliability and validity was checked by using Composite Reliability (CR) and Average Variance Extracted (AVE). Study results show that environmental CSR perception and attitude toward environmental CSR positively impact sustainable tourism development, national park Goal identification, and employee pro-environmental behavior. National Park goal identification and employee pro-environmental behavior mediate between sustainable tourism development and environmental perception of corporate social responsibility and attitude toward environmental CSR.

Investigating Trust to Bridge the Attitude–Behaviour Gap: A Study of Socially Responsible Customers in a Low Trust Society

While corporate social responsibility (CSR) is widely investigated in the Western world, the CSR attitude–behaviour gap is still wide and underexplored in the context of developing countries. Limited empirical research has tried to examine how CSR customer awareness (CA) may lead to subjective cognitive attributes such as customer’s trust on CSR, which in turn leads to behavioural outcomes (e.g., purchase intention) in a low trust society. To address these shortcomings in the literature, this article builds on the stakeholder theory to examine the influence of CSR CA on purchase intention (PI), considering the facilitatory roles of customer’s trust on CSR when company evaluation (CE) and product association (PA) moderate the mediated relationship. The data were collected in Pakistan from a sample of 321 socially responsible customers. Hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modelling using mediation and moderated mediation analysis. The results demonstrated that customers’ trust on CSR mediated the relationship between CSR CA and PI. PA was insignificantly different for low and high components of PA on the CA–trust–PI link compared to CE that was significantly different for the CA–trust–PI link. This indicates that, when socially responsible customers process CSR information, CE plays an important role regarding the associative attributes on the CA–trust–PI link than PA in low trust societies. The discussion and implications conclude the research study.

Business student attitudes toward corporate social responsibility: a Vietnamese study

AbstractGlobally, organizations are increasingly embracing corporate social responsibility (CSR) to strengthen competitive advantage. Although CSR is recognized to be context-sensitive, the literature is still lacking studies that examine CSR in different contexts, particularly non-western ones. Our study adds to a deeper understanding of CSR in Vietnam by identifying the predictors of CSR attitudes of business students. Vietnam has rich cultural, social, and economic characteristics that offer new theoretical perspectives and insights on the contextual nature of CSR. Our findings showed that CSR attitudes related positively to idealism and student seniority, and negatively to materialism and male students. A positive CSR–relativism relationship was uncovered. Spirituality related positively to the importance of CSR to business sustainability and negatively to CSR's importance to short-term competitiveness. The findings have theoretical and practical implications on the understanding and practice of CSR that would benefit CSR researchers, business organizations, and education institutions.

Investigating corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) and its impact on social judgments in the weak institution: moderating the role of corporate ability

PurposeIn weaker institutions, lack of corporate social responsibility (CSR) constituencies causes organizations to naturally incline toward corporate socially irresponsible actions. Grounded in the institutional theory, this paper aims to explore the nature of corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) in the weaker institution and its effect on legitimacy and reputation. The presence of corporate ability moderates the impact of CSIR on legitimacy and reputation.Design/methodology/approachA list of manager’s contact information was generated from an online database. In total, 1,500 employees in 560 Pakistani organizations received the self-reported survey. In total, 203 managers working in 110 Pakistani organizations responded with the completed questionnaire that provided empirical support to the hypotheses.FindingsInstitutional drivers were positively significant to CSIR and negatively associated with the manager’s CSR attitudes. CSIR was negatively significant to legitimacy and reputation. Group differences between high and low corporate ability indicated that corporate ability played a vital role between CSIR and reputation.Practical implicationsThese results have important implications for leaders, business-to-business and human resource (HR) managers in weaker institutions highlighting that organization’s supply chain partners consider adopting CSR practices. This can help the organization avoid undesirable and detrimental impact on its legitimacy and reputation, which are linked to irresponsible behaviors. HR managers should build CSR cognition in employees to bring effective change in the organization.Originality/valueLack of investigation into corporate ability and CSIR has raised questions about the organization’s efforts in the weaker institution that are sensitive to institutionalized corruption. This research adds to the literature by exploring how the organizations develop legitimacy and reputation while still acting irresponsibly in a weaker institution, presenting a paradox.

Local culture as a corporate social responsibility multiplier: Confucian values' mediation between firm policies and employees' attitude

PurposeThe Western-centric nature of research into corporate social responsibility (CSR) has left gaps in one’s understanding of local culture's role in augmenting or undermining the impact of firms' CSR policies. This paper constructs and tests variables measuring “Confucian values” mediation between Chinese employees' perceived CSR and their job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling, using data from 311 responses completed by employees at Chinese private companies, located in China's Cheng-Yu economic area (Chongqing and Chengdu).FindingsChinese employees' perceived CSR had a positive significant effect on job attitudes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment). However, perceived CSR had no significant positive impact on organizational citizenship behavior. The authors also found that Confucian values are a partial mediator between perceived CSR and job attitudes and a full mediator between perceived CSR and organizational citizenship behavior.Originality/valueThe results enrich one’s understanding of cultural values in these relationships and suggest further research into how firms and governments in Confucian-based societies can better operationalize Confucian values to argument the firm's and country's CSR identity, thus improving job attitudes and public relations among customers who share this cultural heritage. For non-Confucian societies and foreign firms operating in China, the results encourage searches for Confucian value substitutes, such as trust and education, to incorporate into CSR mechanisms that promote these values among employees. The authors suggest approaches for furthering these agendas.

The effects of resilience and familiarity on the relationship between CSR and consumer attitudes

PurposeThis study aims to explore the effects of consumer resilience and brand familiarity on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumer attitudes toward the company conducting CSR in places that have suffered from traumatic events such as natural or anthropogenic disasters and uncertainty of public health issue.Design/methodology/approachThis study collected survey-based data from 194 participants who suffered from natural and anthropogenic disasters in the state of Texas. Path analysis was used to test each structural relationship among variables after verifying the reliability and validity of each variable. Analysis of variance was used to investigate the difference in resilience between the two groups.FindingsThis study verified that there is a positive relationship between CSR and consumer attitude. More importantly, the results show that both resilience and familiarity play an important role as a mediator in the relationship between CSR and attitudes. In particular, it tells us that a group with high resilience shows a higher possibility of having positive attitudes toward the company than another group having low resilience.Originality/valueThis study empirically tested the impacts of CSR, resilience and brand familiarity on building consumer attitudes. Furthermore, this study explored the effects of resilience and brand familiarity on the relationship between CSR and attitudes. Thus, this study was able to contribute to understanding the effects of CSR, resilience and familiarity on building a positive attitude in the specific settings, in terms of traumatic events, theoretically and practically.