When Employees Walk The Company Talk: The Importance Of Employee Involvement In Corporate Philanthropy

• Published date: 01 September 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21806
• Date: 01 September 2017
• Author: Steffen Raub

Human Resource Management, September–October 2017, Vol. 56, No. 5. Pp. 837–850

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21806

Correspondence to: Steffen Raub, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, HES-SO // University of Applied Sciences Western

Switzerland, Route de Cojonnex 18, 1000 Lausanne 25, Switzerland, Phone: +41 21 7851789, Fax: +41 21 7851111,

E-mail: steffen.raub@ehl.ch

WHEN EMPLOYEES WALK THE

COMPANY TALK: THE IMPORTANCE

OF EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT IN

CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY

STEFFEN RAUB

Although corporate philanthropy is often viewed as a vehicle for fostering

employee commitment, research suggests that it does not always accomplish

this goal. Drawing on theories on prosocial sensemaking and on social identity

theory, I propose that involving employees in corporate philanthropy encourages

more benevolent attributions for philanthropy, thereby promoting higher attitu-

dinal and behavioral commitment. In Study 1, a fi eld study with employees and

supervisors in a chemical-pharmaceutical fi rm, employee involvement in corpo-

rate philanthropy predicted higher attitudinal and behavioral commitment to the

fi rm. In Study 2, a laboratory experiment, participants reported higher attitudinal

and behavioral commitment to a company when it was described as involving

employees in philanthropy. In both studies, benevolent attributions mediated

the associations of employee involvement in philanthropy with both attitudinal

and behavioral commitment. My research provides new insights for understand-

ing the impact of corporate philanthropy on a particularly important group of

stakeholders—employees—and shows how employee involvement may encour-

age insiders to act to improve the organization’s external image. ©2016 Wiley

Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: corporate philanthropy, organizational commitment, participation,

prosocial sensemaking

Businesses face increasing pressure from

various stakeholder groups to engage

in philanthropic activities (Margolis &

Walsh, 2003) and commit substantial

expenditures to corporate philanthropy.

In 2014, charitable giving by US corporations

exceeded $20 billion (Committee Encouraging

Corporate Philanthropy, 2014). Management

scholars have argued that one of the primary ben-

efits of corporate philanthropy lies in cultivating

increased commitment among employees. The

logic is that philanthropic companies will be

viewed as more socially responsible, and thus

be more successful in building a committed

workforce. Indeed, there is some evidence that

employees report stronger feelings of commit-

ment to philanthropic companies as compared to

those who do not engage in philanthropy (e.g.,

Brammer, Millington, & Rayton, 2007; Greening

& Turban, 2000; Peterson, 2004; Rupp, Ganapathi,