Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior:
Corporate Social Responsibility Article Summaries
Much has been written about the importance of CSR (corporate social responsibility) generating interest among consumers. But according to Rupp (et al. 2018) in the article “Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Engagement: The Moderating Role of CSR?Specific Relative Autonomy and Individualism” from the Journal of Organizational Behavior,
CSR can also be a vital component of motivating employees. This motivation can be both internally-derived (giving a sense of motivation to the employee when functioning within the organization) and externally-derived (motivating the employee through a larger sense of being part of an organization which is good to society). The enhancement effect has been found to be valid across a wide variety of cultural contexts, and the author’s study involved a sampling of 673 employees in Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
The authors argue, however, that there are other variables which can affect the extent to which CSR initiatives motivate the individual employee. Employee autonomy in regards to CSR actions can enhance motivation, according to Rupp’s model as can employee individualism. Offering voluntary opportunities to participate in activities are often more motivating than imposing such activities on employees with a strong individualistic orientation, and the authors suggest the use of regular announcements via email and other channels to make such voluntary participation opportunities known. In contrast, for employees with less individualistic orientations, work engagement may be reduced if CSR opportunities are primarily through opt-in efforts, as they tend to prefer mandatory organization-wide efforts. Self- determination theory was the governing framework of the study, although it could be argued that if the authors had chosen to focus more on cultural differences, employees from more hierarchical and communitarian cultures may have been more comfortable with general rather than self-determined CSR efforts.
In contrast, Opoku?Dakwa, Chen, & Rupp (2018) in their article “CSR Initiative Characteristics and Employee Engagement: An Impact?Based Perspective” from the Journal of Organizational Behavior, use the framework of social cognitive theory to provide a theoretical framework to support the ideals of CSR, arguing that all human beings seek to shape their environments. They also argue the extent to which CSR can motivate employees is driven by the extent to which individuals believe that they can take actions which will impact their environment in an effective manner. Enhancing employee participation in CSR is thus driven by demonstrating to employees that CSR has a positive material effect. The authors make a contrast between two different kinds of CSR: one with an employee focus, which encourages employees to be their own advocates and to act as advocates for workers’ rights, and one with an employer focus. The latter effort stresses the organization’s humanitarian and service efforts but often is used to improve organizational public service efforts rather than to generate benefits for employees.
Ideally, the best CSR programs fuse both perspectives to enhance employee retention and motivation. Enhancing employee self-efficacy and workers’ ability to improve their own conditions make employees more motivated to serve the organization’s goals. They become more empowered to improve the lives of others and further the organization’s aims in the marketplace. One example cited within the article is that of GE’s attempt to hire more female engineers. This improved the conditions for employees at the organization as well as new hires by creating a more diverse, female-friendly environment but also improved the organization’s functionality by enabling it to better address the concerns of female consumers externally. When employees feel that they can change the organization but view their future as complementary to the organization’s humanitarian and business aims, CSR efforts are more likely to flourish.



References
Opoku?Dakwa, A., Chen, C.C., Rupp, D.E. (2018). CSR initiative characteristics and employee
engagement: An impact?based perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior,
39:580–593. Retrieved from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/job.2281 Rupp, D. E., Shao, R., Skarlicki, D.P., Paddock, E.L., Kim, T?Y, & Nadisic T. (2018).
Corporate social responsibility and employee engagement: The moderating role of CSR?
specific relative autonomy and individualism. Journal of Organizational Behavior,
39:559–579. Retrieved from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/job.2282

Corporate social responsibility and employee engagement: The
moderating role of CSR?specific relative autonomy and
individualism
Corporate social responsibility and employee engagement: The
moderating role of CSR?specific relative autonomy and
individualis