Corporate social responsibility, sense of belonging, and organisational citizenship behaviour

Abstract

Organisations within the contemporary workplace are no longer merely focused on the conventional ‘bottom line’, but are instead becoming increasingly invested in satisfying the ‘triple-bottom line’, which emphasises not only economic sustainability, but also ecological and social sustainability (Dyllick & Hockerts, 2002). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) speaks directly to this holistic approach to sustaining economic imperatives whilst still contributing meaningfully to employees, the environment, and the wider community. In line with the notion of an increased focus on ethical behaviours such as CSR within the 21st century organisation, scholars have also become interested in organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB). OCB is a form of non-obligated helping that involves engaging in behaviours beyond mere job description, and has been shown to increase the overall effectiveness of the business (Babcock-Roberson & Strickland, 2010; Organ, 1988). Rupp, Ganapathi, Aguilera, and Williams (2006) suggest that employees make distinct judgements about their organisation’s internal and external CSR activities and that these perceptions can have an impact on behaviours such as OCB. In light of the benefits associated with both CSR and OCB at a macro (company-wide) and a micro (individual) level, it is surprising that there appears to be a lack of empirical research investigating the specific link between CSR and OCB. As such, this study sought to explore the relationships between three different types of CSR (conceptualised here as philanthropic, environmental, and internal) and two distinct types of OCB (namely, OCB targeted at the individual and OCB targeted at the organisation). Rupp et al. (2006) also argue that the extent to which employees’ relational needs are met are likely to influence their perceptions of their company’s CSR engagement (or lack thereof), subsequently impacting on beneficial behaviours such as OCB. Consequently, this study explored whether sense of belonging (as represented by perceived insider status and sense of community) within the organisation mediated the proposed relationship between CSR and OCB. The study employed a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional, correlational design in order to determine the aforementioned relationships. The sample consisted of 206 South African employees from a variety of organisations and positions and these consenting participants were asked to complete the following self-report questionnaires: Pitt and Siemers’ (2012) CSR scales, Lee and Allen’s (2002) OCB scales, Stamper and Masterson’s (2002) Perceived Insider Status scale, and the Sense of Community Index 2 (SCI-2) developed by Chavis, Lee, and Acosta (2008). From the analysis of the subsequent data obtained, significant, positive correlations were found between all three types of CSR and OCB targeted at the organisation but not targeted at the individual. Significant, positive relationships were also established between CSR and particular aspects of sense of belonging, namely perceived insider status, overall sense of community, and both the benefits and membership dimensions of sense of community. The relationships between philanthropic and internal CSR and organisationally-targeted OCB were found to be significantly mediated by all the sense of belonging variables, with the exception of community recognition. Interestingly, the relationship between environmental CSR and organisationallytargeted OCB was only found to be mediated by perceived insider status and community membership. These results indicate that employee perceptions of their company’s CSR activities predicts their sense of belonging within the company, subsequently increasing the likelihood that they will engage in OCB that benefits the organisation. The results obtained have the potential to contribute to the development of theory regarding which factors may be most powerful in encouraging both CSR and OCB engagement, and may serve as a catalyst for future investigations of how businesses can make CSR engagement more visible to their employees in order to maximise important behaviours such as OCB.