How the Level of Firm Support for Employee Volunteering Affects Employee Work Productivity and Altruistic Behavior Inside the Firm

• In Event: Social Values and Empathy

Abstract

Employee volunteering refers to employees giving time to volunteer for charitable causes with explicit support from their employer. Offering support for employee volunteering is one of the fastest-growing areas of employee benefits. Using a laboratory experiment, I examine the effectiveness of individual employee volunteering programs in motivating employees’ altruistic behavior outside the firm, as well as their work productivity and altruistic behavior inside the firm. I predict and find that the level of firm support for employee volunteering not only affects employees’ volunteering engagement outside the firm, but also affects employees’ work productivity inside the firm. Moreover, I predict and find that although the presence of firm support for employee volunteering spills over to positively influence employee altruistic behavior inside the firm, the level of firm support is less consequential. The findings of my study suggest that individual employee volunteering programs can serve as an effective management control tool that leads to multidimensional benefits beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) objectives, and thus provide useful insights to firms when designing their employee volunteering programs.

Author

• Grazia Xiong, University of South Carolina