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When Corporate Social Responsibility Backfires: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • John A. List

    (Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637)

  • Fatemeh Momeni

    (Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637)

Abstract

This paper uses a natural field experiment to connect corporate social responsibility (CSR) to an important but often neglected behavior: employee misconduct and shirking. Through employing more than 1,500 workers, we find that our use of CSR increases employee misbehavior—24% more employees act detrimentally toward our firm by shirking on their primary job duties when we introduce CSR. Observed data patterns across the treatments are consonant with a model of “moral licensing,” whereby the “doing good” nature of CSR induces workers to misbehave on another dimension that is harmful to the firm.

Suggested Citation

  • John A. List & Fatemeh Momeni, 2021. "When Corporate Social Responsibility Backfires: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(1), pages 8-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:67:y:2021:i:1:p:8-21
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2019.3540
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    References listed on IDEAS

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