Abstract
Research has shown that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can have a positive impact on the firm’s reputation and financial performance. Moreover, CSR activities can have a positive impact on employees’ workplace experience. Consistent with past research, we argue that perceived organizational CSR value can have a positive impact on job satisfaction. We also argue that employees’ moral identity can play an important moderating role on the perceived CSR effect. Specifically, the current study was designed to test the predictive effects of perceived organizational CSR value on job satisfaction. In addition, the study was designed to test the moderating roles of two moral identity dimensions, internalized and symbolic moral identity, on the effect of perceived organizational CSR value on job satisfaction. The study results were generally supportive of the hypotheses. Managerial implications of the study findings were also discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2012). What we know and don’t know about corporate social responsibility: a review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 38(4), 932–968.
Albinger, H. S., & Freeman, S. J. (2000). Corporate social performance and attractiveness as an employer to different job seeking populations. Journal of Business Ethics, 28(3), 243–253.
Aquino, K., & Reed, A., II. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1423–1440.
Aquino, K., Reed, A., Thau, S., & Freeman, D. (2007). A grotesque and dark beauty: how moral identity and mechanisms of moral disengagement influence cognitive and emotional reactions to war. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43(3), 385–392.
Aquino, K., McFerran, B., & Laven, M. (2011). Moral identity and the experience of moral elevation in response to acts of uncommon goodness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(4), 703–718.
Ashmore, R., Deaux, K., & McLaughlin-Volpe, T. (2004). An organizing framework for collective identity: articulation and significance of multidimensionality. Psychological Bulletin, 130(1), 80–114.
Baker, T. L., Hunt, T. G., & Andrews, M. C. (2006). Promoting ethical behavior and organizational citizenship behaviors: the influence of corporate ethical values. Journal of Business Research, 59(7), 849–857.
Bauman, C. W., & Skitka, L. J. (2012). Corporate social responsibility as a source of employee satisfaction. Research in Organizational Behavior, 32(1), 63–86.
Becker, T. E. (1992). Foci and bases of commitment: are they distinctions worth making? Academy of Management Journal, 35(1), 232–244.
Becker-Olsen, K. L., Cudmore, B. A., & Hill, R. P. (2006). The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior. Journal of Business Research, 59(1), 46–53.
Bensman, J., & Lilienfeld, R. (1979). Between public and private: the lost boundaries of the self. New York: Free Press.
Bergman, R. (2004). Identity as motivation: toward a theory of the moral self. In D. K. Lapsley & D. Narvaez (Eds.), Moral development, self, and identity (pp. 21–46). Mahwah: Erlbaum.
Biswas, U. A., Garg, S., & Singh, A. (2016). Examining the possibility of achieving inclusive growth in India through corporate social responsibility. Asian Journal of Business Ethics, 4(1–2), 61–80.
Blasi, A. (1984). Moral identity: its role in moral functioning. In W. Kurines & J. Gewirtz (Eds.), Morality, moral behavior and moral development (pp. 128–139). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Caldwell, D. F., Chatman, J. A., & O’Reiley, C. A. (1990). Building organizational commitment: a multiform study. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63(3), 245–261.
Chen, M. (1995). Asian management systems: Chinese, Japanese and Korean styles of business. London: International Thomson Business Press.
Choi, W. J., & Winterich, K. P. (2013). Can brands move in from the outside? How moral identity enhances out-group brand attitudes. Journal of Marketing, 77(2), 96–111.
Cote, J. A., & Buckley, M. R. (1987). Estimating trait, method, and error variance: generalizing across 70 construct validation studies. Journal of Marketing Research, 24(3), 315–318.
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542–575.
Ditlev-Simonsen, C. D. (2015). The relationship between Norwegian and Swedish employees’ perception of corporate social responsibility and affective commitment. Business & Society, 54(2), 229–253.
Dubinsky, A. J., Howell, R. D., Ingram, T. N., & Bellenger, D. (1986). Salesforce socialization. Journal of Marketing, 50(4), 192–207.
Ellemers, N., Kingma, L., van de Burgt, J., & Barreto, M. (2011). Corporate social responsibility as a source of organizational morality, employee commitment and satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Moral Psychology, 1, 97–124.
Flammer, C. (2013). Corporate social responsibility and shareholder reaction: the environmental awareness of investors. Academy of Management Journal, 56(3), 758–781.
Flammer, C. (2015). Does corporate social responsibility lead to superior financial performance? A regression discontinuity approach. Management Science, 61(11), 2549–2568.
Forehand, M. R., Deshpandé, R., & Reed, A., II. (2002). Identity salience and the influence of differential activation of the social self-schema on advertising response. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(6), 1086–1099.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.
Glavas, A., & Kelley, K. (2014). The effects of perceived corporate social responsibility on employee attitudes. Business Ethics Quarterly, 24(2), 165–202.
Grappi, S., Romani, S., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2013). Consumer response to corporate irresponsible behavior: moral emotions and virtues. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 1814–1821.
Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development: implications for caring and justice. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hofstede, G., & Bond, M. H. (1988). The Confucius connection: from cultural roots to economic growth. Organizational Dynamics, 16(4), 5–21.
Hunt, S. D., Wood, V. R., & Chonko, L. B. (1989). Corporate ethical values and organizational commitment in marketing. Journal of Marketing, 53(3), 79–90.
Joreskog, K. G., & Sorbom, D. (2012). LISREL 9.1 [computer software]. Lincolnwood: Scientific Software International.
Korschun, D., Bhattacharya, C. B., & Swain, S. D. (2014). Corporate social responsibility, customer orientation, and the job performance of frontline employees. Journal of Marketing, 78(3), 20–37.
Lapsley, D. K., & Narvaez, D. (2004). A social-cognitive approach to the moral personality. In D. K. Lapsley & D. Narvaez (Eds.), Moral development, self and identity (pp. 189–212). Psychology Press.
Lee, M. S., Motion, J., & Conroy, D. (2009). Anti-consumption and brand avoidance. Journal of Business Research, 62(2), 169–180.
Lee, E. M., Park, S. Y., & Lee, H. J. (2013). Employee perception of CSR activities: its antecedents and consequences. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 1716–1724.
Margolis, J. D., & Walsh, J. P. (2001). People and profits? The search for a link between a company’s social and financial performance. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Moorman, R. H. (1991). Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviors: do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship? Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(6), 845–855.
Öberseder, M., Schlegelmilch, B. B., & Murphy, P. E. (2013). CSR practices and consumer perceptions. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 1839–1851.
Paulhus, D. L. (1991). Measurement and control of response bias. In J. P. Robinson, P. R. Shaver, & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes (pp. 17–59). San Diego: Academic Press, Inc..
Platow, M. J., Durante, M., Williams, N., Garrett, M., Walshe, J., Cincotta, S., Lianos, G., & Barouche, A. (1999). The contribution of sport fan social identity to the production of prosocial behavior. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 3(2), 161–169.
Plouffe, C. R., Bolander, W., Cote, J. A., & Hochstein, B. (2016). Does the customer matter most? Exploring strategic frontline employees’ influence of customers, the internal business team, and external business partners. Journal of Marketing, 80(1), 106–123.
Reed, A., II, & Aquino, K. F. (2003). Moral identity and the expanding circle of moral regard toward out-groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(6), 1270–1286.
Reed, A., II, Aquino, K., & Levy, E. (2007). Moral identity and judgments of charitable behaviors. Journal of Marketing, 71(1), 178–193.
Reed, A., Forehand, M., Puntoni, S., & Warlop, L. (2012). Identity-based consumer behavior. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29(4), 310–321.
Reynolds, S. J., & Ceranic, T. (2007). The effects of moral judgment and moral identity on moral behavior: an empirical investigation of moral individual. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(6), 1610–1624.
Riketta, M. (2005). Organizational identification: a meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66(2), 358–384.
Ruiz-Palomino, P., Martinez-Canas, R., & Fontrodona, J. (2013). Ethical culture and employee outcomes: the mediating role of person-organization fit. Journal of Business Ethics, 116(1), 173–188.
Sen, S., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2001). Does doing good always lead to doing better? Consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility. Journal of Marketing, 38(2), 225–243.
Shao, R., Aquino, K., & Freeman, D. (2008). Beyond moral reasoning: a review of moral identity research and its implications for business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(4), 513–540.
Sheikh, S., & Beise-zee, R. (2015). Perception of corporate social responsibility among devout and nondevout customers in an Islamic society. Asian Journal of Business Ethics, 4(2), 131–146.
Singhapakdi, A., & Vitell, S. (2007). Institutionalization of ethics and its consequences: a survey of marketing professionals. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 35(2), 284–294.
Singhapakdi, A., Sirgy, M. J., Lee, D. J., & Vitell, S. J. (2010). The effects of ethics institutionalization on marketing managers: the mediating role of implicit institutionalization and the moderating role of socialization. Journal of Macromarketing, 30(1), 77–92.
Sirgy, M. J. (2002). The psychology of quality of life. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Sirgy, M. J., & Lee, D. J. (2016). Work-life balance: a quality-of-life model. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 11(4), 1059–1082.
Sirgy, M. J., Gao, T., & Young, R. F. (2008). How does residents’ satisfaction with community services influence quality of life (QOL) outcomes? Applied Research in Quality of Life, 3(2), 81–105.
Skitka, L. J. (2003). Of different minds: an accessible identity model of justice reasoning. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7(4), 286–297.
Stites, J. P., & Michael, J. H. (2011). Organizational commitment in manufacturing employees: relationships with corporate social performance. Business & Society, 50(1), 50–70.
Strauss, K. (2017). The companies with the best CSR reputations in the world in 2016. Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2016/09/15/the-companies-with-the-best-csr-reputations-in-the-world-in-2016/#5a04b7527506. Accessed 6 Aug 2017.
Sweetin, V. H., Knowles, L. L., Summey, J. H., & McQueen, K. S. (2013). Willingness-to-punish the corporate brand for corporate social irresponsibility. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 1822–1830.
Thanetsunthorn, N. (2015). The impact of national culture on corporate social responsibility: evidence from cross-regional comparison. Asian Journal of Business Ethics, 4(1), 35–56.
Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2010). Construal-level theory and psychological distance. Psychological Review, 117(2), 440–463.
Turban, D. B., & Greening, D. W. (1997). Corporate social performance and organizational attractiveness to prospective employees. Academy of Management Journal, 40(3), 658–672.
Valentine, S., & Fleischman, G. (2008). Ethics programs, perceived corporate social responsibility and job satisfaction. Journal of Business Ethics, 77(2), 159–172.
Valentine, S., Godkin, L., & Lucero, M. (2002). Ethical context, organizational commitment, and person-organization fit. Journal of Business Ethics, 41(4), 349–360.
Valentine, S., Greller, M. M., & Richtermeyer, S. B. (2006). Employee job response as a function of ethical context and perceived organization support. Journal of Business Research, 59(5), 582–588.
Vanhamme, J., & Grobben, B. (2009). “Too good to be true!” The effectiveness of CSR history in countering negative publicity. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(2), 273–283.
Vitell, S. J., & Singhapakdi, A. (2008). The role of ethics institutionalization in influencing organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and esprit de corps. Journal of Business Ethics, 81(2), 343–353.
Winterich, K. P., Mittal, V., & Aquino, K. (2013). When does recognition increase charitable behavior? Toward a moral identity-based model. Journal of Marketing, 77(3), 121–134.
Yu, K. Y. T. (2014). Person–organization fit effects on organizational attraction: a test of an expectations-based model. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 124, 75–94.
Zhu, L. L., Martens, J. P., & Aquino, K. (2012). Third party responses to justice failure: an identity-based meaning maintenance model. Organizational Psychology Review, 2, 129–151.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
Perceived organizational CSR value (responses were captured on 7-point Likert-type scales)
-
1.
Top management believes that socially responsible behavior, not just legal compliance, is paramount to the success of the organization.
-
2.
In my organization there is a sense of responsibility among employees for maintaining a socially responsible reputation.
-
3.
In my organization, there are no rewards for socially responsible decisions.*
-
4.
Top management believes that our organization should help to improve the quality of life and the general welfare of society.
Moral identity (responses were captured on 7-point Likert-type scales)
Respondents were prompted to visualize a person who is caring, compassionate, fair, friendly, generous, helpful, hardworking, honest, and kind, and then asked to show the level of agreement with different moral identity statements.
-
1.
It would make me feel good to be a person who has these characteristics. (IMI)
-
2.
Being someone who has these characteristics is an important part of who I am. (IMI)
-
3.
I often wear clothes that identify me as having these characteristics. (SMI)*
-
4.
I would be ashamed to be a person who had these characteristics. (IMI, reverse coded)*
-
5.
The types of things I do in my spare time (e.g., hobbies) clearly identify me as having these characteristics. (SMI)
-
6.
The kinds of books and magazines that I read identify me as having these characteristics. (SMI)
-
7.
Having these characteristics is not really important to me. (IMI, reverse coded)*
-
8.
The fact that I have these characteristics is communicated to others by my membership in certain organizations. (SMI)
-
9.
I am actively involved in activities that communicate to others that I have these characteristics. (SMI)
-
10.
I strongly desire to have these characteristics. (IMI)
Job satisfaction (responses were captured on 7-point Likert-type scales)
-
1.
Generally speaking, I am very satisfied with this job.
-
2.
I frequently think of quitting this job. (reversed-score item)*
-
3.
I am generally satisfied with the kind of work I do in this job.
-
4.
Most people on this job are very satisfied with the job.
-
5.
People on this job often think of quitting.*
Note: deleted items are marked with *
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Singhapakdi, A., Lee, DJ., Sirgy, M.J. et al. Effects of perceived organizational CSR value and employee moral identity on job satisfaction: a study of business organizations in Thailand. Asian J Bus Ethics 8, 53–72 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-019-00088-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-019-00088-1