Multi‐foci CSR perceptions, procedural justice and in‐role employee performance: the mediating role of commitment and pride

• Published date: 01 January 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12140
• Author: Martin R. Edwards,Selin Kudret
• Date: 01 January 2017

Multi-foci CSR perceptions, procedural justice and

in-role employee performance: the mediating role

of commitment and pride

Martin R. Edwards,School of Management and Business, King’sCollege London

Selin Kudret, Kingston Business School, Kingston University

Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 27,no 1, 2017, pages 169–188

This study explores differential employee responses to perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR)

treatment of social and non-social stakeholder foci of the community, customers, shareholders and

environment along with first-party employee justice perceptions. At a finance-sector multinational, we test

the mediating role of commitment and pride in accounting for the relationship between perceptions of

stakeholder treatment and in-role performance. We propose and pilot a new multi-foci CSR measure

and include this in a mediated model within a separate study. Socially responsible treatment of customers

and the environment play a role in predicting performance; these foci are related to either pride or

commitment. Community CSR, first-party justice perceptions and commitment predict performance either

directly or indirectly. Our research shows an absence of any positive employee response associated with

CSR towards shareholders. The study uncovers new insights i nto our understanding of complexities in

employee responses to CSR activities.

Contact: Dr Martin R. Edwards, Schoolof Management and Business, King’s College London, 150

Stamford Street, London SE1 2NH, UK.Email: martin.r.edwards@kcl.ac.uk

Keywords: CSR;procedural justice; in-role performance; commitment; pride

INTRODUCTION

The last few decades have witnessed considerable interest in research exploring the

impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. However, until recently,

CSR has been ‘virtually absent from journals devoted to micro OB, micro

HRM’(Aguinis and Glavas, 2012: 943). Whilst some recent studies have begun to rectify this

(e.g. Farooq et al., 2013, 2014; Hofman and Newman, 2014; Newman et al., 2015), Wang et al.

(2016) argue that assessing the impact of CSR is a complex undertaking and research has yet

to fully explore the multi-dimensional nature of CSR activities. We address this gap by

exploring differential employee responses to perceptions of CSR actions targeted across

multiple stakeholders –that is, employees’‘looking-in’and ‘looking-out’of the organisation

(Rupp, 2011: 75). Importantly, we examine the role that affective commitment and

organisational pride play in mediating the relationship between employees’CSR perceptions

and in-role performance.

Although a limited number of studies have shown links between employees’non-

stakeholder specific CSR perceptions and performance (e.g. Jones, 2010; Vlachos et al., 2014)

and direct relationships between CSR perceptions targeted at different stakeholder foci and

performance (Newman et al., 2015), research has yet to uncover the potential mediating

processes through which employees’CSR judgments linked to different stakeholders predict

in-role employee performance. We contribute to the literature by exploring such mediated

HUMAN RESOURCEMANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL27, NO 1, 2017 169

©2017 John Wiley& Sons Ltd

Pleasecite this articlein press as: Edwards,M.R. and Kudret,S. (2017) ‘Multi-fociCSR perceptions,proceduraljustice and in-roleemployeeperformance:

themediating role of commitmentand pride’.Human Resource M anagement Journal 27: 1, 169–188

doi: 10.1111/1748-8583.12140

bs_bs_banner

processes. Additionally, very little theorising has been presented to explain why and how one

might expect employees to respond differently to CSR actions focused towards different

internal and external stakeholder targets. We address this gap whilst taking into account the

important role first-party justice perceptions (Rupp, 2011) play in predicting employee

outcomes. We also contribute to the literature by including shareholders as a target in

investigating employees’CSR-related perceptions. Shareholders are considered a primary

stakeholder group (Greenwood, 2001). However, CSR studies have yet to explore employee

judgments that their employer acts in the interests of this stakeholder group. We contribute

to the literature by including shareholders as a key stakeholder group in assessing employee

responses. Finally, we address limitations of existing multiple-stakeholder CSR measures and

offer a new measure that consists of an equivalent set of items across social stakeholders, thus

presenting a multi-foci CSR measure.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESES

Corporate socialresponsibility from a stakeholderperspective: looking-in and looking-out

Although there is no agreed definition of CSR at present, it is apparent from reviews of the

literature (Carroll, 1999; Aguinis and Glavas, 2012) that CSR can be considered to involve

voluntary corporate activities which go beyond purely economic interests or legal obligations

and that theseactions need to take into account theneeds of a range of stakeholders. Considering

CSR from a stakeholderperspective ‘puts names and faces on the societal members or groups

who are most important to business and to whom it must be responsive’(Carroll, 1991: 43).

Notable CSR definitions that include a specific reference to stakeholders include ‘corporate

behaviours that aim to affect stakeholders positively and that go beyond [the organisation’s]

economic interest’(Turker, 2009: 413) and ‘context-specific organisational actions and policies

that take into accountstakeholders’expectationsand the triple bottom line of economic, social,

and environmentalperformance’(Aguinis and Glavas, 2012: 933).A number of recent projects

exploring employee responses to CSR take a stakeholder perspective (e.g. Farooq et al.,2014;

Hofman and Newman, 2014). We follow this approach and define CSR actions as voluntary

and responsiblecorporate actions that focus on stakeholders’needs and stretchbeyond an organisations’

economic interestsand legal obligations.

Although stakeholders can entail ‘any group or individual who can affect or is affected by

the achievement of the organisation’sobjectives’(Freeman, 1984: 46), Rupp’s (2011) ‘looking-

in’and ‘looking-out’distinction draws a line between responsible and fair organisational

actions focused on employees compared with other stakeholders. Rupp argues that

employees’first-party organisational justice perceptions can be considered inward-facing

treatment,or ‘looking-in’(2011: 77). Complementing this,third-party justice refersto employee

judgments of how fairly the organisation treats those outside the organisation. Employee

perceptions of an organisation’s external facing CSR actions can be regarded as ‘looking-out’

(Rupp, 2011: 77).Taking Rupp’s (2011) integrative organisationaljustice perspective, we argue

that first-party organisational justice (looking-in) stands for the internal focus of a multi-

stakeholder CSR construct and should be investigated alongside third-party justice

(CSR; looking-out). This way, the impact of first and third-party justice perceptions on key

outcomes of interest can be accurately examined.

Assessing employee perceptions of organisational treatment of different stakeholders

Recently, scholars highlight the multi-dimensional and complex nature of the CSR

construct and urge researchers to assess CSR directed towards different stakeholders

Multi-fociCSR perceptions, justiceand performance

170 HUMANRESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL,VOL 27, NO 1, 2017

©2017 John Wiley& Sons Ltd.