Beyond Association: How Employees Want to Participate in Their Firms' Corporate Social Performance

• Author: David J. Hagenbuch,Doyle J. Lucas,Steven W. Little
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12049
• Date: 01 March 2015
• Published date: 01 March 2015

Beyond Association: How

Employees Want to Participate

in Their Firms’ Corporate

Social Performance

DAVID J. HAGENBUCH, STEVEN W. LITTLE AND

DOYLE J. LUCAS

ABSTRACT

Although many studies have found a positive relation-

ship between corporate social performance and employer

attractiveness, few have examined how different forms of

responsibility might mediate that attraction, particularly

when those social practices afford different degrees of

employee participation. The current study undertook this

line of inquiry by examining prospective employees’

attraction to three common approaches to corporate

social performance (CSP) that offer increasing levels of

participation: donation, volunteerism, and operational

integration. Unexpectedly, findings from an empirical

investigation challenged the study’s main hypothesis;

that is, prospective employees were least attracted to

firms that integrated their social and financial goals.

Consequently, important implications and questions

remain for both employers and business educators.

David Hagenbuch is an Associate Professor of Marketing in the Department of Management

and Business at Messiah College, Mechanicsburg, PA. E-mail: dhagenbu@messiah.edu. Steven

W. Little is a Principal Consultant, Strategic Solutions Group, InfoWorks, Inc. Nashville, TN

37205 U.S.A. E-mail: steve.little@infoworks-tn.com. Doyle J. Lucas is a Professor of Manage-

ment and D.B.A. Program Director at Anderson University Falls School of Business 1100 East

Fifth Street Anderson, Indiana 46012 U.S.A. E-mail: djlucas@anderson.edu.

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Business and Society Review 120:1 83–113

© 2015 Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.,

350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK.

One of the greatest challenges organizations face involves

attracting and retaining top employees, who increasingly

look for jobs that allow them to make meaningful contri-

butions to society. CNNMoney.com highlighted this trend: “When

it comes to recruiting the Millennial Generation, it isn’t only about

salary . . . it’s about community service. Young people entering

the job market today want to work for companies that care about

the world” (Luhby 2008).

Many studies have found positive relationships between firms’

corporate social performance (CSP) and their attraction to new

employees (e.g., Backhaus et al. 2002; Turban and Greening

1997). Little research, however, has considered whether prospec-

tive employees find certain approaches to CSP more attractive

than others. More specifically, one might question whether pro-

spective employees are more attracted to CSP that offers them

direct participation in their organizations’ social practices versus

CSP that merely provides an association (e.g., “My company

donated to disaster relief”). This article presents the findings of an

empirical study that aimed to identify prospective employees’

attraction to three common approaches to CSP that offer increas-

ing levels of employee participation: donation, volunteerism, and

operational integration. Unexpectedly, the findings challenged the

study’s main hypothesis that prospective employees would choose

to maximize participation through an integrated approach to CSP.

THE THREE APPROACHES TO CSP

Wood (1991) defined CSP as “a business organization’s configura-

tion of principles of social responsibility, processes of social

responsiveness, and policies, programs, and observable outcomes

as they relate to the firm’s societal relationships” (p. 693), thereby

offering a picture of the business–society relationship that is

supportive of the integration of social and economic goals. Simi-

larly, reviews of the literature and business practice suggest that

most if not all forms of corporate benevolence can be categorized

as one of three approaches to CSP: donation, volunteerism, or

operational integration (e.g., Sorenson et al. 2010). Figure 1 illus-

trates the relationships among the three approaches, as well as

their respective paths to achieving corporate and societal goals.

84 BUSINESS AND SOCIETY REVIEW