CSR Activity as a Double-edged Sword: Its Role in Employees’ OCB and CWB

• In Event: 161 - Section on Organizations, Occupation and Work Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Organizational Legitimacy and Illegitimacy

Abstract

This study proposes that, depending upon employees’ perceptions on authenticity, an organization’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative could promote either employees’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) or their counterproductive work behavior (CWB). If employees perceive the authenticity of their organization’s CSR motive, then they will engage in OCB and disengage in CWB. In contrast, if employees are suspicious of the authenticity of their organization’s CSR activity, then they will act in the opposite way. We propose further that employees use two legitimacy mechanisms, external and internal, to determine their perceptions of CSR authenticity. The external legitimacy mechanism provides employees with the understanding of CSR such that a need to deal with pressures from business compulsions motivates their organization to adopt CSR. The internal legitimacy mechanism, on the other hand, helps employees explain CSR such that it is a practice for an organization to realize and promote its moral mission and values. We assumed that internal legitimacy encourages positive perceptions about CSR authenticity in employees, whereas external legitimacy does the reverse. The upshot is that an enhanced perception of CSR authenticity leads to employees’ OCB, while a negative perception leads to their CWB. We tested these hypotheses with two studies: a vignette study and a field study. Both studies consistently supported our hypotheses. This study highlights that, contrary to the euphoria presumably associated with CSR activity, an inauthentic CSR initiative can lead employees to display negative behaviors toward their organization.

Authors

• Jeongkoo Yoon, Ewha Womans University

• Soojung Lee, Ewha Womans University