Applicants' and Employees' Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Effects of First-Party Justice Perceptions and Moral Identity

• Published in: Personnel psychology Vol. 66; no. 4; pp. 895 - 933
• Main Authors: Rupp, Deborah E., Shao, Ruodan, Thornton, Meghan A., Skarlicki, Daniel P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Durham Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2013
• Subjects: Employees; Job Applicants; Justice; Morality; Organizational behavior; Perceptions; Social responsibility; Studies
• ISSN: 0031-5826; 1744-6570
• DOI: 10.1111/peps.12030

This research explored individuals’ reactions to perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) using a multimotive framework. In 2 studies, the authors explored the boundary conditions of CSR effects among job applicants and internal employees. A scenario‐based experiment (N = 81) showed that the effect of CSR perceptions on job applicants’ job pursuit intentions was mitigated by applicants’ first‐party justice experiences, whereas it was amplified by their moral identity (Study 1). Survey data from 245 full‐time employees (Study 2) further supported the interactive effects revealed in Study 1. Specifically, first‐party justice perceptions attenuated the positive relationship between employees’ CSR perceptions and their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB); and the relationship between CSR perceptions and OCB was more pronounced among employees high (versus low) in moral identity. Our findings bridge the CSR and organizational justice literatures, and reveal that the effects of individuals’ CSR perceptions are more complicated than previously thought. The findings shed light on micro (employee)‐level CSR phenomena and offer implications for both research and practice.