CSR and turnover intentions: examining the underlying psychological mechanisms

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of employees’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions on their turnover intentions. It strives to understand the underlying psychological mechanisms by proposing and testing mediation and moderation hypotheses. Specifically, employee engagement was examined as mediator and gender, belief in the importance of CSR and CSR awareness were examined as moderators of the proposed relationship between CSR and turnover intentions. Design/methodology/approach - The target population for the study consisted of junior, middle and senior business professionals from both public and private sector manufacturing and service firms operating in India. The data were collected with the help of self-administered questionnaires via both personal visits to the organizations and internet-based questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the study hypotheses. Findings - The study results suggest a significant influence of employees’ CSR perceptions on their turnover intentions. Additionally, the study delineates the role of employee engagement in understanding the potential of a firm’s involvement in CSR activities in influencing employee attitudes and behaviour at work. Interestingly, significant gender variations were observed in the proposed set of relationships. Belief in the importance of CSR and CSR awareness were also found to significantly moderate the relationship between CSR and turnover intentions. Practical implications - By providing persuasive evidence on tangible business benefits of CSR initiatives, this study addresses the concerns of corporate managers to prove the business potential and value engendered by their CSR efforts. Originality/value - The study makes a novel contribution by not only examining the direct association between the CSR and turnover intentions, but also by going a step ahead to unfurl the underlying psychological mechanisms for better understanding of the relationships.