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Hypocritical organizations: Implications for employee social responsibility

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  • Babu, Nishat
  • De Roeck, Kenneth
  • Raineri, Nicolas

Abstract

The implications of corporate hypocrisy for corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the employee level of analysis remain largely unexplored. Drawing on attribution theory and the sensemaking perspective of CSR, we develop a model that highlights the negative effects of corporate hypocrisy on employees' voluntary contribution to their firm's social responsibility program (employee social responsibility, or ESR), as mediated by symbolic CSR attributions. Moreover, by incorporating the CSR sensitivity framework, we develop a more nuanced model that acknowledges the role of task significance in strengthening the aforementioned relationship. The results from our cross-lagged study first suggest that corporate hypocrisy negatively affects ESR through the intermediary role of symbolic CSR attributions. Second, the findings reveal that task significance moderates the relationship between corporate hypocrisy and ESR, such that both the direct and indirect effects are stronger for employees whose jobs are higher in task significance. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Babu, Nishat & De Roeck, Kenneth & Raineri, Nicolas, 2020. "Hypocritical organizations: Implications for employee social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 376-384.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:114:y:2020:i:c:p:376-384
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.034
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    3. Belinda Wade & Andrew Griffiths, 2022. "Exploring the Cognitive Foundations of Managerial (Climate) Change Decisions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 15-40, November.
    4. Xie, Jiangtao & Jain, Tanusree, 2024. "Unpacking micro-CSR through a computational literature review: An identity heterogeneity view of internal stakeholders," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    5. Petra Jarkovská, 2021. "Understanding the link between the organizations social responsibility and employees work attitudes in tourism industry setting," Economics Working Papers 2021-02, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Faculty of Economics.
    6. Lucas Amaral Lauriano & Juliane Reinecke & Michael Etter, 2022. "When Aspirational Talk Backfires: The Role of Moral Judgements in Employees’ Hypocrisy Interpretation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(4), pages 827-845, December.
    7. Kenneth de Roeck & Nicolas Raineri & David Jones & Sabrina Scheidler, 2024. "Giving the benefit of the doubt: Investigating the insurance-like effect of CSR in mitigating negative employee reactions to psychological contract breach," Post-Print hal-04238140, HAL.
    8. Zhou, Yusheng & Wang, Xueqin & Yuen, Kum Fai, 2021. "Sustainability disclosure for container shipping: A text-mining approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 465-477.
    9. Wei Li & Weining Li & Veikko Seppänen & Timo Koivumäki, 2022. "How and when does perceived greenwashing affect employees' job performance? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1722-1735, September.
    10. Xingqiang Du & Yiqi Zhang & Shaojuan Lai & Hexin Tao, 2024. "How Do Auditors Value Hypocrisy? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(3), pages 501-533, May.
    11. Hua Jiang & Yang Cheng & Keonyoung Park & Wei Zhu, 2022. "Linking CSR Communication to Corporate Reputation: Understanding Hypocrisy, Employees’ Social Media Engagement and CSR-Related Work Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, February.
    12. Junyu Liu & Yuan Gao & Yuping Wang & Changhua Shao, 2024. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Investor Relations Management: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-25, July.
    13. Min-Jik Kim & Byung-Jik Kim, 2021. "The Performance Implication of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Role of Employee’s Prosocial Motivation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-14, March.
    14. Jennifer L. Robertson & A. Wren Montgomery & Timur Ozbilir, 2023. "Employees' response to corporate greenwashing," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4015-4027, November.
    15. François Maon & Valérie Swaen & Kenneth de Roeck, 2021. "Coporate branding and corporate social responsibility: Toward a multi-stakeholder interpretive perspective," Post-Print hal-03275858, HAL.
    16. Gullifor, Daniel P. & Petrenko, Oleg V. & Chandler, Jeffrey A. & Quade, Matthew J. & Rouba, Yury, 2023. "Employee reactions to perceived CSR: The influence of the ethical environment on OCB engagement and individual performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    17. Ramona Demasi & Christian Voegtlin, 2023. "When the Private and the Public Self Don’t Align: The Role of Discrepant Moral Identity Dimensions in Processing Inconsistent CSR Information," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(1), pages 73-96, September.
    18. Hericher, Corentin & Bridoux, Flore & Raineri, Nicolas, 2023. "I feel morally elevated by my organization’s CSR, so I contribute to it," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    19. Zhe Zhang & Juan Wang & Ming Jia, 2022. "Multilevel Examination of How and When Socially Responsible Human Resource Management Improves the Well-Being of Employees," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 55-71, February.
    20. Yi-Ping Chang & Hsiu-Hua Hu & Chih-Ming Lin, 2021. "Consistency or Hypocrisy? The Impact of Internal Corporate Social Responsibility on Employee Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-21, August.
    21. Yiming Wang & Yuhua Xie & Mingwei Liu & Yongxing Guo & Duojun He, 2024. "Silent Majority: How Employees’ Perceptions of Corporate Hypocrisy are Related to their Silence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(2), pages 315-334, November.
    22. Saheli Goswami & Gargi Bhaduri, 2023. "Communicating Moral Responsibility: Stakeholder Capitalism, Types, and Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, March.

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