Corporate social responsibility, sense of belonging, and organisational citizenship behaviour
Date
2015-09-04
Authors
Ramsden, Kate
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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.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for
the degree of Masters in Psychology by Coursework and Research Report
in the field of Organisational Psychology in the Faculty of Humanities,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg on 16 March 2015