Does an (in)congruent corporate social responsibility strategy affect employees' turnover intention? A configurational analysis in an emerging country

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives toward internal and external stakeholders can independently contribute to employee attitudes and behaviors. However, little is known about the joint effects of (in)congruent internal-external CSR strategies on employee outcomes. Drawing from social exchange theory, we argue that when employees perceive that their organizations excessively favor CSR efforts to external rather than internal stakeholders, it can trigger a psychological contract breach, resulting in increased employees' turnover intention. We utilized a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method and the data of 511 employee from various industries in the Philippines to investigate the interaction effects. The results revealed that a congruent CSR strategy with high internal and external CSR perceptions is critical in fulfilling employees' psychological contracts and retaining employees. However, for employees with low perceived internal CSR, a high incongruent CSR perception led to a psychological contract breach and ultimately to high turnover intention.Psychological contract breach weakened the negative joint effect of high perceived internal and external CSR on turnover intention and strengthened the positive effect of high perceived incongruent CSR on turnover intention. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Examining the Mediating Role of Work Engagement in the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Turnover Intention: Evidence from Nigeria

“…Turnover is the rate at which employees leave an organization or the rate at which organizations lose employees, with excessive turnover rate being a costly problem (Lee et al 2008;Nejati et al 2021). Leading costs associated with turnover include indirect costs, such as loss of productivity or service quality, and direct costs of replacement and training (Mobley et al 1979;Ribeiro et al 2020;Tracey and Hinkin 2010;Virador and Chen 2022).…”

“…As a result, the literature has been providing cumulative evidence of a significant link between CSR and diverse job-related attitudes and behaviors, such as job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, or individual performance (Duarte et al 2019;Freire et al 2022;Onkila and Sarna 2022;Pérez et al 2018;Santini et al 2021;Scholten et al 2022;Wisse et al 2018). In addition, a link between employees' CSR perception and outcomes, such as work engagement and turnover intention, has been drawn (Albasu and Nyameh 2017;Ali et al 2021;Chaudhary 2017;Glavas and Piderit 2009;Nejati et al 2021;Virador and Chen 2022). Ideally, employee perception of meaningful CSR engagement births intrinsic reward on the employee, and that promotes work engagement and decreased turnover intention.…”

Perception of CSR Activities, Organizational Trust, and Employee Outcome: Evidence from Iraq Telecom Market in Post-Pandemic COVID-19

“…However, the influence of CSR on employee loyalty did not prove to be statistically significant, in line with observations by Ngo, Tran, and Luu (2021). Moreover, the observed negative relationship between CSR and turnover intention mirrors outcomes seen in other global contexts, signifying that heightened perceptions of an organization's CSR involvement correspond to reduced intentions to leave (Farooq et al, 2019;Castro-González et al, 2021;Virador and Chen 2023).…”

Influence of Narcissistic CEOs on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Choices: The Moderating Role of the Legal Environment

“…In comparison, firm’s CSR activities related to internal stakeholders is often defined as internal CSR activities, which are more inward activities oriented. 36 Previous studies argue that the main form of external CSR was and remains charitable donations, 37 and employee welfare as the typical proxy variables for internal CSR activities. 38 Charity donations help to improve a firm’s prestige, prosocial image, and allow greater public endorsement.…”