Can organizations get away with greenwashing? CSR attributions and counterproductive sustainability behaviors

Abstract

Over the past couple of decades, research on the perks of corporate social responsibility has reported that it is a source of competitive advantage and can increase the bottom‐line performance of the organization. However, a somewhat small proportion of this research is focused on the ‘greenwash’ side, which posits that not all CSR would lead to positive impacts. By extending this line of research, the current study is aimed at investigating the differential impacts of CSR by developing a scale for the three‐dimensional model of CSR attributions coined by Ahmad in 2017, that is, Embedded, P‐Social, and P‐Instrumental CSR, and testing the same with counterproductive sustainability behaviors. The attribution theory was used to explain the relationship between the study variables. Data (N = 311) were collected from the tourism and hospitality sectors. It was found that Embedded and P‐Social CSR practices would be attributed to more genuine CSR and would lead to a reduction in counterproductive sustainability behaviors. Furthermore, the P‐Instrumental CSR would be attributed to more selfish and instrumental practices and hence would be considered as greenwashing, which will consequently lead to enhancing counterproductive sustainability behaviors. The study further tested the mediating role of employees' organizational trust, which was also supported by the results. Several theoretical and practical implications are discussed.