This study explored employee perceptions of participation in a corporate-sponsored volunteer initiative. Drawing on both questionnaire and focus group data, this study reaffirms the importance of altruistic concerns as a key driver for employee involvement in corporatesponsored volunteering. Characteristics of the volunteering activity also emerged as important determinants of employee's initial engagement and ongoing motivation for involvement in corporate-sponsored volunteering. In the same way that models of work design point to the value of enriched jobs, we see that there is (...) scope to consider how corporate-sponsored volunteer programmes can be enriched so that employees have satisfying experiences and are more likely to participate. Enhancing perceptions of task significance and meaningfulness and incorporating relational elements into the volunteer activity seem to be especially critical in this regard. (shrink)

Despite recognizing the importance of developing authentic corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, noticeably absent from the literature is consideration for how employees distinguish between authentic and inauthentic CSR programs. This is somewhat surprising given that employees are essentially the face of their organization and are largely expected to act as ambassadors for the organization’s CSR program (Collier and Esteban in Bus Ethics 16:19–33, 2007 ). The current research, by conducting depth interviews with employees, builds a better understanding of how employees (...) differentiate between authentic and inauthentic CSR programs, and how these judgments influence their perceptions of the organization. We find that employees rely on two different referent standards to form authenticity judgments—the extent to which the image put forth in the CSR program aligns with the organization’s true identity and the extent to which the CSR program itself is developmental. To assess the former, employees draw on cues about resource commitment, alignment between elements of the organization’s CSR program, emotional engagement, justice, and embeddedness. The latter assessments are based on the extent to which the organization adopts a leadership role with regards to its CSR initiatives. We also find that perceived authenticity can lead to positive outcomes such as organizational identification and employee connections. This study contributes to the broad literatures on both CSR and authenticity, as well as more specifically adding to the conversation on authenticity as a potentially valuable lens for enriching business ethics theorizing. (shrink)

Abstract Our Hong Kong-based study used interviews with volunteers and other stakeholders to investigate the perceived integrity and commitment of firms’ adoption of actively managed corporate volunteerism (AMCV), to examine whether AMCV was removing barriers against voluntary community service work and to identify volunteers’ motives for AMCV involvement. Interviewees perceived that firms were adopting strategically instrumental approaches to AMCV, combining community service provision with corporate image promotion and/or with organisational development. They indicated that although AMCV was mobilizing people, who would (...) not otherwise have chosen to volunteer, instances of ‘conscription’ were uncommon. Those who had served as volunteers described positive motives for their own involvement, such as altruism, principlism, self-development, loyalty to the firm and relationship building with colleagues and service recipients. Some expressed that volunteering had been a highly rewarding self-transformation experience. Our study also used the career orientations inventory (COI) to examine career anchors. COI scores indicated that non-governmental organisation (NGO)-based employees and some firm-based paid AMCV organisers preferred the service/dedication to a cause anchor and that firm-based unpaid organisers-cum-participants preferred the lifestyle anchor. Volunteers without organiser roles had miscellaneous preferences but leaned toward the security anchor. From our findings, we argue that it would benefit all parties if firms, in close collaboration with NGOs, were to expand the range of volunteering opportunities that are available to employees and help them to choose activities and roles that are congruent with their career anchors, if they so wish. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Paper Pages 1-29 DOI 10.1007/s13520-011-0011-3 Authors Robin Stanley Snell, Department of Management, Lingnan University, 8, Castle Peak Road, Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China Amy Lai Yu Wong, Department of Management & Marketing, Faculty of Business, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China Journal Asian Journal of Business Ethics Online ISSN 2210-6731 Print ISSN 2210-6723. (shrink)

Employee volunteerism can be an effective strategy for increasing the effectiveness of corporate philanthropy. However, in order to be effective, volunteer initiatives should be directed by the firm to ensure a strategic fit and focus on the core competencies of the firm. Therefore, internal marketing strategies are needed to ensure managers receive employee support. Our research quantitatively extends research by Peloza and Hassay {journal of Business Ethics 64(4), 357-379, 2006) who argued that employee volunteerism is motivated by egoistic, altruistic and (...) organizational citizenship motives. Our findings suggest that volunteer opportunities that fulfill egoistic and organizational citizenship motives will be effective, but that the altruistic motive is not significant. We also find that formal policies concerning manager recognition or time off are not effective, providing more discretion for individual managers. Implications for managers seeking to increase the effectiveness (and therefore support the business case) of their corporate philanthropy are discussed. (shrink)

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The purpose of this study is to examine the motivations andoverarching criteria behind employee participation in corporate volunteering.This participation is extremely limited. It seems appropriate toenhance it, both due to the internal benefits entailed for the companyitself, and the external impact it exhibits. With that being said, we stumbleupon several problems set out in literature that are confirmed throughour research. Ignorance of the precise causes and true decisive factors thatguide employee participation in corporate volunteering programmesprevents the development of suitable strategies (...) that help boost the percentagesof employee participation. We have conducted an empirical and qualitative study with the aimof being able to construct a model to gain greater knowledge of this phenomenonand to grasp the social significance of this problem. Participantobservation was applied as an ethnographic method for data collection.Thus, we have accompanied and interacted with the employees under study. This approach represents a less intrusive method to avoid selfservingand politically-correct responses that do not reflect employees’true stimuli. (shrink)

The academic literature reveals the need to undertake more in-depth field studies in order to discover the organisational culture, the difficulties and the perceptions surrounding CSR in SMEs. This study presents the results of analysis of four case studies on Catalan companies that stand out for their social and environmental practices. The conclusions of this paper are the result of dialogue with the main actors – four medium-sized companies – focusing on their actions, understandings and resistance with regard to CSR. (...) The methodological perspective used was Grounded Theory, with the aim of the study being to contribute towards formalising CSR in SMEs, in their daily practices, by analysing some primary data. The results obtained show how difficult it is for SMEs to understand CSR, beyond the explanation of the specific practices carried out by the companies. They highlight the role played by the values of the founding director in the implementation of CSR programmes; they reveal that SMEs still have a long way to go towards learning how to inform both internal and external stakeholders of their best practices, and; finally, they show the interesting links that SMEs establish between responsible practices, improved competitiveness and economic results. Finally, the text points out the implications that the results of this analysis may have on creating ways of promoting CSR in SMEs. We believe that, in light of the opinions expressed by the companies, public organisations should try to concentrate on creating a favourable framework for responsible competitiveness, as a way to deal with CSR when addressing SMEs. (shrink)

The conceptual literature increasingly portrays corporate philanthropy (CP) as an old-fashioned and ineffective operationalization of a firm’s corporate social responsibility. In contrast, empirical research indicates that corporations of all sizes, and both in developed and emerging economies, actively practice CP. This disadvantaged status of the concept, and research, on CP, complicates the advancement of our knowledge about the topic. In a systematic review of the literature containing 122 journal articles on CP, we show that this business practice is loaded with (...) unique characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses, and both conceptual and practical challenges that require renewed attention. We identify six interrelated but distinctive research themes in the literature: concept, motives, determinants, practices, business outcomes, and social outcomes. Dividing the literature on CP into six research themes creates an insightful comprehensive map of this intellectual terrain. Moreover, we distinguish among the level at which CP is analyzed: individual, organizational, institutional, or any combination of these levels. The review reveals significant gaps in the knowledge on CP. Most importantly we find that the conceptualization is limited, the research is mostly quantitative, the effects of CP on society are severely under-researched, and there is a lack of multilevel analyses. A detailed future research agenda is offered, including specific suggestions for research designs and measurements. (shrink)

Given the preponderance of corporate social responsibility initiatives across the corporate landscape and the correspondingly escalating demand for volunteers who participate in these initiatives, a need exists to better understand how to effectively motivate their voluntary engagement with tasks. Against this backdrop, this study argues the need to enhance their volunteer work meanings. We hypothesize that pride in volunteer work and volunteering as a calling are determinants of perceptions of the meaningfulness of volunteer work. In addition, we reveal that an (...) organization’s social responsibility climate (SRC) is a key moderator in these relationships. Interestingly, an SRC is a double-edged sword such that it strengthens the relationship between meaning and pride, yet weakens the relationship between meaning and calling. Findings are discussed, along with managerial implications and future research directions. (shrink)

Previous research on corporate community involvement (CCI) initiatives indicates that such behaviour is critical for building neighbourhood relationships and extending corporate influence in the community, but there is little theoretical work that provides a clear picture of managing the nature of the initiatives from different stakeholder management approaches. Drawing from theoretical insights of stakeholder theory and the concept of social capital, this article proposes nine strategic directions for CCI initiatives, and concludes by discussing the management implications of the proposed strategic (...) directions. Our proposed approaches have the potential to improve current understanding and practice of corporations and their CCI initiatives. (shrink)

While the effect of culture on finance and management has been well documented in the literature, it is unclear whether and by which channel(s) ethnic diversity affects corporate social responsibility (CSR). Integrating social identity theory and neo-institutional theory, we investigate the ethnic diversity–CSR relation and explore potential mechanisms and boundary conditions. Based on the distribution of ethnic groups across different regions in China, We find that ethnic diversity negatively affects firms’ CSR performance. We document that social trust mediates the negative (...) ethnic diversity–CSR relationship, and linguistic diversity strengthens and marketization mitigates this relation. The results are robust for potential endogeneity and alternative measures of ethnic diversity and CSR performance. Our study highlights the impact of ethnic diversity on corporate behaviors, and provides practical and ethical implications on CSR promotion. (shrink)

This study adopts an intrapersonal perspective to explore how and when employees shift roles from help giver to help seeker by investigating the relationship between their help-giving and following help-seeking behavior. Based on self-regulation theory, we hypothesize two contradictory psychological processes (i.e., consistency vs. licensing) via which employees determine whether to seek help after giving help. Importantly, we differentiate autonomous help-seeking from dependent help-seeking and propose stronger effects of help-giving on dependent help-seeking. Further, we identify leader respect as a moderator (...) to solve the opposite effects of employees’ help-giving on their subsequent help-seeking indicated by the two contradictory mechanisms. Results of two field studies consistently showed that the negative (positive) relationship between help-giving and dependent help-seeking was serially mediated by personal reputation and reputation maintenance concerns (perceived increase of moral credits and help-seeking justification). Results regarding autonomous help-seeking were inconsistent and help-giving only positively affected autonomous help-seeking via perceived increase of moral credits and help-seeking justification in Study 2. Leader respect weakened the positive (in Study 1) but strengthened the negative relationship (in Study 1 and 2). We discuss theoretical implications for helping literature, self-regulation theory, and moral behavior research. (shrink)

Organizational citizenship behavior can foster organizational competitiveness and survival especially, facing a rapidly changing environment. There are some empirical pieces of research that shed light on the effects of OCB on extrinsic rewards, since OCB, through performance appraisal, affects extrinsic rewards which will influence OCB as well. However, researchers have overlooked the reverse effect of extrinsic rewards on OCB. It is necessary to explore the mechanism between positive verbal rewards and OCB. This study integrated psychological ownership and affective commitment to (...) form a structural model based on social exchange theory and cognitive evaluation theory. These results show that positive verbal rewards are positively correlated with psychological ownership, psychological ownership is positively correlated with affective commitment and OCB, and affective commitment is positively correlated with OCB. As refers to the mediating effects, psychological ownership fully mediates the relationship between positive verbal rewards and affective commitment. Furthermore, affective commitment plays a partial mediating role in the effect of psychological ownership on OCB. Accordingly, this psychological mechanism between positive verbal rewards and OCB reveals important theoretical and practical implications. (shrink)

While corporate social responsibility (CSR) is expected to benefit the firm and attract employees, few have examined the effects of CSR on employees outside of work. Extending the organizational citizenship literature, we conceptualize employee engagement in CSR at work and outside of work as a form of “societal citizenship behavior.” Across two studies of working adults, we examine the relationship between identification with an employer that engages in CSR and different forms of employee societal citizenship behaviors (e.g., donations, volunteering) outside (...) of work. In Study 1 (N = 430 employees), we focus upon CSR donation programs and find that identification with an employer that engages in CSR and participating in employer CSR donation programs affect employee citizenship behavior (donations) outside of work. In Study 2 (N = 285 employees), we examine a broader set of citizenship behaviors inside and outside of work and find the relationships hold. Identification with an employer that engages in CSR relates positively to citizenship behavior at work and outside of work. In total, our study results suggest that employer CSR affects employee citizenship behaviors outside of work. We end with directions for future research. (shrink)

Corporate Philanthropy is multi-dimensional, differs between sectors and involves both individual and organisational decision-making to achieve business and social goals. However, the CP literature characteristically focuses on strategic decisions made by business leaders and ignores the role of employees, especially those in lower status and lower paid positions. To redress this imbalance, we conducted a qualitative study of employees’ involvement in CP processes in ten workplaces in the South East of England to identify whether and how they are involved in (...) CP decision-making and to capture their perspective on the nature of CP and the benefits generated by such activities. We specifically chose to study workplaces where employees are involved in the actual execution of the CP strategy, prioritising companies with a visible presence on the high street. The results illustrate the benefits of involving employees in CP decision-making, which we argue derives in part from the ‘liminal-like states’ that typify CP activities organised by shop floor staff, involving the temporary overturning of hierarchies, humanising of workplaces and opportunities for lower level staff to prioritise their personal philanthropic preferences and signal their charitable identity to colleagues and customers. Whilst the data also suggest that CP decision-making remains predominantly top-down and driven by profit-oriented goals, we conclude that employees should be involved in choosing charitable causes as well as in designing and implementing workplace fundraising, in order to maximise the advantages of CP for the company and for wider society. (shrink)

Organizational citizenship behaviors have been the topic of much research attempting to understand the motivations, manifestations, and impacts of these behaviors on organizational development. However, studies have been based essentially on an anthropocentric and intra-organizational perspective that tends to ignore broader environmental issues. Due to the complexity of environmental issues and their human, informal, and preventive aspects, consideration of these issues requires voluntary and decentralized initiatives that draw on organizational citizenship behaviors. The role of these behaviors has been neglected, or (...) even ignored, in studies of environmental management, which have focused mainly on the explicit, formal, and prescriptive aspects of organizations. The aim of this article is to shed light on the pertinence of organizational citizenship behaviors in improving the efficacy and efficiency of environmental management. The article discusses how the principal dimensions of these behaviors can be applied to the environmental practices of organizations and underlines their importance in responding to essential challenges of environmental management, including the complexity of environmental issues, limitations of formal management systems, the need to consider tacit knowledge, the importance of helping relationships, and the promotion of␣social legitimacy among organizations. Measures to encourage eco-efficiency and establish a favorable context for the emergence of citizenship behaviors are also proposed. (shrink)

This paper investigates the role that universities play in supporting social entrepreneurs (SEs) across their ecosystem. Adopting the resource-based view (RBV) approach, we argue that universities attract, mobilize, and deploy multiple resources that benefit SEs through four main mechanisms (i.e., teaching, research, outreach, and the development of partnerships). We use a qualitative approach of 62 semi-structured interviews and 8 focus groups in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia. Our contribution shows that employing different resources and engaging in supportive activities of universities towards (...) SEs facilitate the development of university capabilities, such as an increased reputation, development of leadership skills for students and staff, and wider access to ecosystem resources that support other university activities related to teaching, research, and community outreach. The role that partnerships play in the development of these capabilities is fundamental, thanks to the different strategic alliances and mobilization of resources between universities and other actors while supporting SEs. This study contributes to our understanding of the role universities can play to intensify the nature of supportive ecosystems for SEs. This contribution is relevant not only to academics but also to practitioners, as this will shed light on the building, development, and scaling of a supportive ecosystem for SEs. (shrink)

Drawing from conservation of resources theory, this study investigates the interactive effect of employees’ family-to-work conflict and Islamic work ethic on their helping behavior, theorizing that the negative relationship between family-to-work conflict and helping behavior is buffered by Islamic ethical values. Data from Pakistan reveal empirical support for this effect. Organizations whose employees suffer resource depletion at work because of family obligations can still enjoy productive helping behaviors within their ranks, to the extent that they support relevant work ethics.

Cause-related marketing has risen to become a popular strategy to increase business value through profit-motivated giving. Despite the growing number of articles published in the last decade, no comprehensive analysis of the most discussed constructs of cause-related marketing is available. This paper uses an advanced Text Mining methodology to conduct a comprehensive analysis of 246 articles published in 40 different journals between 1988 and 2013 on the subject of cause-related marketing. Text Mining also allows quantitative analyses to be performed on (...) the literature. For instance, it is shown that the most prominent long-term topics discussed since 1988 on the subject are “brand-cause fit”, “law and Ethics”, and “corporate and social identification”, while the most actively discussed topic presently is “sectors raising social taboos and moral debates”. The paper has two goals: first, it introduces the technique of CTM to the Marketing area, illustrating how Text Mining may guide, simplify, and enhance review processes while providing objective building blocks to be used in a review; second, it applies CTM to the C-RM field, uncovering and summarizing the most discussed topics. Mining text, however, is not aimed at replacing all subjective decisions that must be taken as part of literature review methodologies. (shrink)

In academic research, many attempts have been undertaken to legitimize corporate community involvement by showing a business case for it. However, much less attention has been devoted to building understanding about the actual dynamics and challenges of managing CCI in the business context. As an alternative to existing predominantly static and top-down approaches, this paper introduces a social movement framework for analyzing CCI management. Based on the analysis of qualitative case study data, we argue that the active role of employees (...) pressuring for CCI policies and practices, as well as the organization audience responses to their efforts, are at the core of the challenges involved in managing CCI. These challenges also pose limits to how far CCI can be extended to a “business as usual” activity. (shrink)

In academic research, many attempts have been undertaken to legitimize corporate community involvement by showing a business case for it. However, much less attention has been devoted to building understanding about the actual dynamics and challenges of managing CCI in the business context. As an alternative to existing predominantly static and top-down approaches, this paper introduces a social movement framework for analyzing CCI management. Based on the analysis of qualitative case study data, we argue that the active role of employees (...) pressuring for CCI policies and practices, as well as the organization audience responses to their efforts, are at the core of the challenges involved in managing CCI. These challenges also pose limits to how far CCI can be extended to a "business as usual" activity. (shrink)

Management of organizational tensions can facilitate the simultaneous advancement of economic, social, and environmental priorities. The approach is based on managers identifying and managing tensions between the three priorities, by employing one of the three strategic responses. Although recent work has provided a theoretical basis for such tension acknowledgment and management, there is a dearth of empirical studies. We interviewed 32 corporate sustainability managers across 25 forestry and wood-products organizations in Australia. Study participants were divided into two groups: those considered (...) effective at corporate sustainability and a status-quo group. Contrary to current theory, our findings showed that acknowledgment of organizational tensions was widespread in the Australian forestry and wood-products industry and not limited to those managers who are effective at managing corporate sustainability. What differed was the degree to which managers did something about the perceived tensions—with the effective group more consistently acting to manage and resolve paradoxical scenarios. Our findings suggest that existing theoretical constructs of tension management may not adequately capture the individual-level complexity involved with managing tensions in practice. (shrink)

The purpose of cause-related marketing (CRM) is to publicise and capitalise on a firm's corporate social performance (CSP) by enhancing its legitimacy in the eyes of its stakeholders. This study focuses on the firm's internal stakeholders - i.e. its employees - and the extent of their involvement in the selection of social campaigns. Whilst the difficulties of managing a firm that has lost or damaged its legitimacy in the eyes of its employees are well known, little is understood about the (...) extent to which managers and their social partners listen to and involve their employees in the legitimation process. Through telephone interviews with non-profit organisations and senior managers of service sector firms, the extent of employee involvement in CRM campaigns and the perceived benefits of doing so are investigated. Amongst other things, we find that (i) the extent of employee participation varies significantly across firms; (ii) larger CRM campaigns tend to be managed centrally with relatively less employee participation than smaller ones and (iii) financial services firms are more likely to make CRM decisions centrally, with relatively less employee participation than retail services firms. (shrink)

Given that citizenship challenges the basis and workings of the basic institutions market, state, and civil society, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) become an important moral tenet found in some codes of ethical principles. This study explores service-oriented OCBs and their determinants. Three dimensions of service-oriented OCBs (loyalty, service delivery, and participation) are hypothetically influenced by distributive justice, procedural justice, personal cooperativeness, and the need for social approval through the mediation of organizational commitment. The three dimensions of OCBs are hypothetically influenced (...) by personal cooperativeness, need for social approval, task interdependence, and outcome interdependence through the mediation of social network ties. The model is tested using data from contact employees at several financial holding companies in Taiwan. Test results reveal that the relationships between need for social approval and organizational commitment and those between task interdependence and social network ties are insignificant, whereas all other paths are significant. This study also provides managerial implications and limitations. (shrink)

Social alliance is defined as the collaboration between for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Building on the insights derived from the resource-based theory, we develop a conceptual framework to explain how socially entrepreneurial nonprofit organizations can improve their social alliance performance by adopting strategic alliance management routines. We test our framework using the data collected from 203 UK-based SENPOs in the context of cause-related marketing campaign-derived social alliances. Our results confirm a positive relationship between social alliance management routines and social alliance performance. (...) We also find that relational mechanisms, such as mutual trust, relational embeddedness, and relational commitment, mediate the relationship between social alliance management routines and social alliance performance. Moreover, our findings suggest that different types of social alliance motivation can influence the impact of social alliance management routines on different types of the relational mechanisms. In general, we demonstrate that SENPOs can benefit from adopting social alliance management routines and, in addition, highlight how and when the social alliance management routines–social alliance performance relationship might be shaped. Our study offers important academic and managerial implications, and points out future research directions. (shrink)

The corporate social responsibility literature devotes relatively little attention to the strategic role played by employee voluntary activities (EVAs) in social alliances. Using the resource-based perspective of the organization to frame the data collection and the analyses, this article investigates: (1) the role of EVAs in the development of corporate and non-profit organizations (NPOs) competitive assets and (2) the management approaches to how both parties can develop their own resources by combining them with the shared resources with the purpose of (...) enhancing its competitive advantage in its own sector. The database is composed of 70 specifically designed interviews with managers of UK-based firms and NPOs. The analyses suggest, among other things, that the majority of corporate and non-profit managers find that EVAs generate substantial tangible and intangible benefits for their respective organisations, creating genuine synergies. We also find evidence of a general preference for the management approaches of such programmes in both types of organisation. (shrink)

The purpose of cause-related marketing is to capitalise on a firm’s social engagement initiatives to achieve a positive return on a firm’s social investment. This article discusses two strategic perspectives of cause-related marketing and their impact on a firm’s decision-making regarding campaign development. The instrumental dominant logic of cause-related marketing focuses on attracting customers’ attention in order to generate sales. The relational dominant logic of cause-related marketing focuses on building relationships with the target stakeholders through the enhancement of a firm’s (...) legitimacy. The combination of these two types of logic gives rise to four types of cause-related marketing: altruistic, commercial, social and integrative. This paper uses the qualitative method to explore a firm’s marketing decision choices regarding campaign-related decision dimensions—campaign duration, geographical scope, cause selection, and implementation strategy—for each type of cause-related marketing. The finding provides theoretical, managerial and public policy implications. (shrink)

Business and Society Review, Volume 126, Issue 4, Page 407-431, Winter 2021.

Company support for employee volunteerism (CSEV) benefits companies, employees, and society while helping companies meet the expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). A nationally representative telephone survey of 990 Canadian companies examined CSEV through the lens of Porter and Kramer's (2006, 'Strategy and society: the link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility', Harvard Business Review, 78-92.) CSR model. The results demonstrated that Canadian companies passively support employee volunteerism in a variety of ways, such as allowing employees to take time (...) off without pay (71%) or adjusting their work schedules (78%). These Responsive CSR efforts contribute to the company's value chain by enhancing employee morale, a perceived CSEV benefit. More active forms of support requiring company time or money are less common; for example, 29% allow time off with pay. Companies perceive that support for employee volunteering enhances their public image, a Responsive CSR strategy when employed to ameliorate a damaged reputation or a Strategic CSR strategy when contributing to a competitive position. A minority perceive challenges like covering the workload. Many companies target and/or exclude particular causes and link CSEV efforts with other philanthropic donations, suggesting a Strategic CSR application of CSEV. Where programs exist, they frequently are neither tracked nor evaluated, suggesting that companies are not using these programs as strategically as they might. (shrink)

Despite enthusiastic claims around the benefits of corporate volunteering for the workplace and its widespread implementation, the impact of such programs for beneficiaries and non-profit organizations remains uncertain, particularly when employees’ participation is one-off. Previous research suggests that the benefits of CV for employees, businesses, and society are more likely to occur if employees internalize a volunteer identity—that is, if being a volunteer becomes a part of their self. This leads them to sustain their participation in CV over time, maximizing (...) CV’s positive effects on all stakeholders. This study explores the factors explaining why employees internalize a volunteer identity in a corporate context. We do so by empirically testing Grant’s :589-615, 2012) volunteer work design theoretical model with a sample of 619 employees involved in CV programs, and by comparing its relevance with an alternative, extended model relying on insights from self-determination theory. Whereas we find only partial and weak empirical support for the VWD model, our SDT-extended model is supported empirically. These results show that the quality of motivation that employees experience while volunteering plays a more important role than repeated participation, as it illuminates the process of how factors such as the quality of the projects, organizational support for CV, as well as the causes targeted affect the internalization of a volunteer identity. In particular, we show that employees are more likely to internalize a volunteer identity if they can choose what cause to engage for and if they feel that the projects they participate in are meaningful. Surprisingly, we also show that a prestigious cause as well as recognition and managerial support foster a controlled form of motivation for employees, which are then unlikely to internalize a volunteer identity. In doing so, we contribute to a better understanding of how CV can have lasting benefits for both business and society, and provide business leaders with actionable insights about how to design impactful CV programs. (shrink)

In 2004, the United States Sentencing Commission amended the Federal Sentencing Guidelines to allow firms that create “effective compliance and ethics programs” to receive better treatment if prosecuted for fraud. Effective compliance and ethics, however, appear to be limited to activities focused on complying with the firms’ internal legal and ethical standards. We explored a potential connection between the firms’ external corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviors and internal compliance: Is there an organizationally valid relationship between these two firm activities? That (...) is, when organizations demonstrate CSR with behaviors external to the firm, such as employee volunteerism, are their employees more likely to demonstrate uncompromised legal and ethical compliance behavior internally? We collected data from 164 working professionals enrolled in a top-tier MBA program in the southeastern United States regarding their employer-sponsored volunteer activities and their intentions to comply in various organizational compliance vignettes. We found that employer-sponsored volunteerism is associated with uncompromised compliance choices in one of the three vignettes. This finding indicates preliminary support for further inquiry into the relationship within the firm between external CSR behaviors and policies regarding organizational compliance. Post hoc analyses suggest that employer-sponsored volunteerism is strongly associated with a positive organizational identity, but organizational identity is not associated with the significant compliance vignette. This evidence suggests that the underlying mechanism that connects external CSR behaviors and internal compliance intentions is complex and requires future study. (shrink)

Although many studies have found a positive relationship 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. (shrink)

This article describes a quantitative examination of corporate volunteering research in the form of a bibliometric analysis. Using author, journal, geography, epistemological, and industry data from 115 refereed and 445 non-refereed publications published during 1990–2015, we identify corporate volunteering as a rather young research field. Although the field has progressively developed, it is still limited in magnitude, with recent signs of stagnation. The current state is characterized by moderate publication and author activity rates, with a shift toward more peer-reviewed publications (...) conducted in coauthorship, mostly in the disciplines of business, management, and ethics; a focus on financial services as well as the professional service sector; few high-impact studies; and a narrow geographic spread, with North America as the market leader and a rising interest in Western European countries. Findings on the field's prevalent research orientation further indicate a strong employee-centered focus emphasizing the underlying business case. However, in contrast to the overarching concept of corporate social responsibility research, a relatively large share of the corporate volunteering literature also addresses society-related issues, namely, corporates' relationship with non-profits. (shrink)