Effects of Internal CSR Activities on Social Performance: The Employee Perspective

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) continues to receive greater attention in the current business world. Many studies on CSR focus on manufacturing or industrial companies by examining external CSR activities from external stakeholders’ perceptions. However, academic institutions such as higher education institutions (HEIs) remain highly unexplored in the context of internal corporate social responsibility (ICSR). Employees are the most valuable and vital assets for every business organization. Therefore, this study focuses on CSR’s internal dimensions to determine its impact on social performance in HEIs in Ghana. Recognizing the social exchange theory (SET), we specifically examined the effects of five internal CSR dimensions (i.e., health and safety, human rights, training and development, workplace diversity, and work-life balance) on social performance. We used a multi-case approach to assess internal CSR activities in private and public Ghanaian universities. We purposely selected three public universities and one private university because of their varying contexts and academic mandates. We used structured questionnaires to collect data from both teaching and non-teaching staff of the selected universities. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the data. We found that health and safety, workplace diversity, and training and development positively and significantly impact social performance. At the same time, human rights and work-life balance have an insignificant effect on social performance. Thus, ICSR practices have a substantial influence on both employees’ and organization’s performance, and hence this study gives important implications for both researchers and practitioners