Journal of Strategy and Management

Corporate social responsibility strategies and their impact on employees’

commitment
Linda Mory Bernd W. Wirtz Vincent Göttel
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JSMA
9,2
Corporate social responsibility
strategies and their impact
on employees’ commitment
172 Linda Mory and Bernd W. Wirtz
Received 2 December 2014
German University of Administrative Sciences, Speyer, Germany, and
Revised 20 May 2015 Vincent Göttel
Accepted 12 July 2015
German Research Institute for Public Administration, Speyer, Germany

Abstract
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how employees perceive corporate social
responsibility (CSR) within their organizations, thus employees’ Internally Perceived CSR and how it
impacts their organizational commitment.
Design/methodology/approach – For conceptualizing, the constituents of Internally Perceived
CSR – Individual CSR-Perception, Organizational CSR-Perception and their respective factors – are
derived from social exchange theory, social identity theory and further relevant literature. The study’s
research model is tested through a survey consulting 386 respondents from a company operating in
renewable energies.
Findings – The results lead to the following conclusions: Internally Perceived CSR strongly impacts
employees’ Affective Organizational Commitment and comparatively low influences Normative
Organizational Commitment. Moreover, Affective Organizational Commitment mediates Normative
Organizational Commitment.
Originality/value – The implementation of CSR has evolved to a crucial component of both
organizational behavior and management. Nevertheless, the internal CSR-dimension has been largely
neglected so far.
Keywords Organizational commitment, Social exchange theory, Social identity theory,
Individual CSR-Perception, Internally Perceived CSR, Organizational CSR-Perception
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Today, given the circumstance of stringent scrutiny toward corporate behavior,
organizations are under pressure to develop and implement solid overarching
corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies (e.g. Basu and Palazzo, 2008). Yet, the
good news about this situation is the positive impact such strategies can have on
organizations’ sustainable competitive advantage (Rettab et al., 2009).
Thus, many organizations make substantial investments in CSR to take care of all
their stakeholders and thus remain successful in the market. Regarding the respective
money spent, namely, as an investment rather than mere expenses implicates that the
former is supposed to pay off for organizations in the long term. Existing research in
this line of thought mainly investigated the impact of CSR-related activities on financial
performance and behavioral changes of the general public, the community or
consumers toward organizations. Yet, less research has concentrated on staff’s
perception of organizations’ internal CSR as well as if and how this perception can be
Journal of Strategy and
Management beneficial for the latter (Ali et al., 2010).
Vol. 9 No. 2, 2016
pp. 172-201
Following up on this, even though CSR as a whole, its influence on different
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1755-425X
stakeholder groups and the expected Return on Investment have become important
DOI 10.1108/JSMA-12-2014-0097 concerns for organizations, it is still hard to spot one single consistent definition of the
 concept in scientific research. In fact, academics suggest that even though “[…] many Corporate
definitions of CSR advanced in past research […]” (Maignan and Ralston, 2002, p. 498), social
“[…] often no clear definition is given, making theoretical development and
measurement difficult […]” (McWilliams et al., 2006, p. 1).
responsibility
Consequently, even though the discussion about how to implement CSR-activities strategies
has been going on both within organizations’ management and organizational science
for years now, there is still no final consensus about what constitutes CSR in detail 173
(McWilliams et al., 2006).
Hence, when reflecting on these thoughts, it should also be questioned if maybe “[…]
the confusion is not so much about how CSR is defined, as about how CSR is socially
constructed in a specific context” (Dahlsrud, 2008, p. 1) hinting at the challenge of
implementing CSR toward different stakeholder groups in a situation-oriented manner.
Connected to this consideration, when referring to existing scientific literature
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(e.g. Vlachos et al., 2010; Zhang, 2010), the European Commission (2001, 2011) as well as
the current DIN-ISO26000 (2011) standard, these sources altogether state that it should
be distinguished between an external and an internal dimension of organizations’
social responsibility.
While earlier research focussed largely on the external view (Al-bdour et al., 2010) and
especially consumers as one single stakeholder group (Vlachos et al., 2010), recently there
has been a growing conviction in the CSR-literature that organizations’ engagement should
not only exhaust itself externally but also include employees through the respective
implementation of internal CSR-measures (Basu and Palazzo, 2008). This is accounted for
by the notion of staff as a crucial asset for organizations (Fichman and Levinthal, 1991)
and the idea that corporate social measures directed toward employees may motivate
the latter and foster their commitment toward the organization (Brammer et al., 2007).
Following up on this matter, this paper initially continues with a more detailed
contemplation of the study’s stimulus and purpose after which the model’s theoretical
development is introduced. In the further course of the paper, an empirical test of the
generated hypotheses is illustrated by using an adequately high sample size for validation.
The data set for this analysis consists of employees’ questionnaire responses from a
company that builds renewable energy supply facilities, generating a sample size of 386.
While a concise conclusion completes the paper, in the previous section a discussion of the
findings is conducted within which the study’s implications and limitations are reflected on.

Stimulus and purpose of the study

So far only few studies have empirically examined aspects of CSR’s internal dimension as
well as its impact on employees’ organizational commitment (e.g. Al-bdour et al., 2010;
ALshbiel and AL-Awawdeh, 2011; Brammer et al., 2007). Given that the mentioned authors
call for more in-depth research on internal CSR – for example by inviting to further support
their studies “[…] so that it could be determined if the relationship of internal CSR practices
and OC can be sustained” (Al-bdour et al., 2010, p. 279) – a causal-analytical study dealing
with the mentioned phenomenon in more detail seems appropriate. Especially since the
existing studies apply quite basic empirical methods only, using a more complex
procedure like structural equation modeling offers potential for promising results and
further development of the existing research agenda in the field of CSR.
Therefore, the present study now takes a closer look at how employees perceive
internal CSR within their organizations and thus at employees’ Internally Perceived
CSR. In more detail, it is initially proposed that employees perceive organizations’ CSR
related, internal efforts on an individual as well as on an organizational level and
 JSMA that therefore Internally Perceived CSR is constituted by employees’ Individual
9,2 CSR-Perception and employees’ Organizational CSR-Perception.
By these we understand first the employee’s perception of the organization’s applied
social behavior toward the individual employee and second the employee’s perception
of the organization‘s applied social behavior toward staff as a collective. Also, the two
constructs are further differentiated inasmuch as Individual CSR-Perception stands for
174 the employee’s perception of what the organization has to offer the individual employee
in terms of internal CSR while Organizational CSR-Perception represents the
employee’s perception of how the organization internally implements CSR toward the
organization’s staff in a broader picture, on an aggregated level.
Employees’ organizational commitment again is said to depend on an organization’s
internal CSR-efforts (e.g. ALshbiel and AL-Awawdeh, 2011; Brammer et al., 2007).
Building on this phenomenon – based both on social exchange theory and social
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identity theory as applied before in related literature (Gond et al., 2010) – we now
developed a structural model that connects employees’ Internally Perceived CSR,
constituted by the two constructs Individual CSR-Perception and Organizational
CSR-Perception, both to employees’ Affective and Normative Organizational Commitment.
Given the scientific and practical relevance of the research topic as well as the lack of
extant research, the main purpose of the paper is thus to contribute to the
conceptualization of Internally Perceived CSR and its constituents as well as to
investigate how employees’ perceptions impact their Affective and Normative
Organizational Commitment; continuance commitment being disregarded due to
non-significant factor results in former studies (e.g. Al-bdour et al., 2010).

Theoretical development and hypotheses generation

Both social exchange theory and social identity theory offer viable approaches to
respectively establish Internally Perceived CSR as constituted by the two constructs
Individual CSR-Perception and Organizational CSR-Perception (see for the following
also Mory, 2014).
As will be shown in more detail in the following sections, social exchange theory
transferred to an organizational context does so by illuminating how employees’ Individual
CSR-Perception is influenced through their social exchange processes within the
organization. Further, as far as their Organizational CSR-Perception is concerned, social
identity theory helps explain employees’ identification with the organization in part through
their perception of the organizations’ internal social behavior toward staff as a whole.
Therefore, these theoretical considerations initially result in the following
hypothesis for the construct Internally Perceived CSR:
H1. Employees’ Internally Perceived CSR is a reflective, latent construct of third
order and captures the following two constructs of second order, namely,
Individual CSR-Perception and Organizational CSR-Perception.

Social exchange theory and Individual CSR-Perception

In establishing Internally Perceived CSR, social exchange theory offers a suitable
approach for conceptualizing employees’ Individual CSR-Perception, since first of all it is
the dominant theory in literature dealing with the relationship between employers and
employees (Takeuchi et al., 2009; see for the following also Mory, 2014; Mory et al., 2015a).
Second, one of its founder’s seminal considerations about general social exchange
between persons also appropriately matches the relationship between organizations and
 their employees in the investigation of this study: “Persons that give much to others try Corporate
to get much from them, and persons that get much from others are under pressure to give social
much to them” (Homans, 1958, p. 606).
From the organization’s perspective, the postulate’s parts can be applied to
responsibility
organizations giving much to employees in terms of internal CSR and in return hoping strategies
for more of their organizational commitment as well as to organizations receiving more
of employees’ commitment but in return are under pressure to further offer them 175
adequate internal CSR-measures.
From the individual employee’s perspective, the first part can be interpreted as
employees committing their labor to organizations and in return expecting the latter‘s
internal CSR-measures while for our purpose the second part can be understood as
employees receiving the desired CSR-measures, hence feeling both emotionally
motivated and normatively obliged to increase their organizational commitment.
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When looking at these considerations similar to a circular flow and close to the
nature of relationships in a social context (Takeuchi et al., 2009), both parties
reciprocally exchange resources while always striving for a balance in the give-and-take
of this continuous process. In our study, for Internally Perceived CSR’s first
constituent – Individual CSR-Perception – we focus on investigating the particular part
of this process in which the employees’ perception of the organization’s CSR-measures
toward the individual employee are supposed to be one part of the perception
increasing the employee’s Affective and Normative Organizational Commitment.

Conceptualizing Individual CSR-Perception

Initially it is proposed that the construct Individual CSR-Perception is characterized by
the three factors CSR fostered empowerment, CSR fostered participation and CSR
fostered development. Building on the above mentioned thoughts about social
exchange theory and the derived exchange processes of employees with organizations,
all three factors offer what the organization can provide the individual employees
within terms of internal CSR.
The employee’s perception of these provisions – that is in our case the Individual
CSR-Perception – again constitutes thus one part of employees’ Internally Perceived
CSR which again is supposed to influence employees’ organizational commitment or
rather what the employee will provide the organization within exchange for the
perceived CSR-measures.
Put another way, in this study it is suggested that if employees feel sufficiently
empowered, able to participate and supported to further develop themselves in the
organization, their according perception of this situation will increase their
organizational commitment in exchange.
These considerations are also in line with the European Commission’s (2001) Green
Paper in which it is stated that a notable part of CSR’s internal dimension should be
accounted for by measures like empowerment and development, the latter being named
there “life-long learning” (p. 8). Likewise, the European Commission (2001) stresses the
importance of creating opportunities for employees’ participation in making business
decisions. Therefore, for the construct Individual CSR-Perception, the above thoughts
result in the following hypothesis:

H2. Employees’ Individual CSR-Perception is a reflective, latent construct of second

order and captures the following three factors, namely, CSR fostered
empowerment, CSR fostered participation and CSR fostered development.
 JSMA CSR fostered empowerment
9,2 In relevant CSR-literature, for example Gunay (2010) hints at the importance of
considering “employee empowerment” (p. 412) in corporate leaders’ governance.
In further relevant papers, the factor has likewise been referred to as “employee
empowerment” (Ugboro, 2006, p. 232) or “psychological empowerment” (Butts et al.,
2009, p. 122; Menon, 1999, p. 161 ff.).
176 In the context of this study, CSR fostered empowerment is understood as a
motivating tool in the organization’s internal CSR-implementation through which
employees receive the opportunity to proactively influence their working processes and
contexts (Butts et al., 2009).
The factor mainly traces back to Spreitzer (1996) and her notion of empowerment as
constituted by the dimensions “[…] meaning, competence, self-determination and
impact” (p. 483 f.). While such a four-dimensional view of the factor however is rarely
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adopted in the extant literature (e.g. Ugboro, 2006), also in this study’s internal CSR
context only the latter two dimensions are applicable.
Self-determination and impact however, the former standing for employees’
independence in designing their own work and the latter comprising to what extent
employees can actually affect their work result (Ugboro, 2006), are suitable for our
purpose. This can be argued since these dimensions can only be enabled for employees
by the organization in the first place, thus becoming suitable components of our
model’s factor CSR fostered empowerment that is employees’ empowerment through
the organization’s internal CSR-engagement. In this way CSR fostered empowerment
makes an appropriate factor for what employees can perceive as the organization
offering them individually in terms of internal CSR-measures that is for the
Individual CSR-Perception.
Beyond that, the connection between CSR fostered empowerment and employees’
organizational commitment has already been investigated earlier by proposing and
confirming “[…] empowerment to also evoke affective commitment to the organization,
particularly through a process of reciprocation” (Butts et al., 2009, p. 124), thereby again
confirming the suitability of social exchange theory for deriving the construct
Individual CSR-Perception and here its specific factor CSR fostered empowerment.

CSR fostered participation

When regarding existing literature about CSR’s internal dimension and organizational
commitment, the factor participation in terms of organizations offering employees
the possibility of actual “[…] participation in the business […]” (Al-bdour et al., 2010,
p. 263) should not be neglected.
Supporting this study’s line of thought about the factors of Individual CSR-
Perception, Kipkebut (2010) states that researchers already have noticed the
importance of participation in related contexts earlier: “Several studies have found
that participation in decision making is linked to organizational commitment (Malhotra
et al., 2007; Pfeffer, 1999)” (p. 50).
Building on these extant studies, when it comes to internal CSR practices directed
toward the individual employee, CSR fostered participation also makes one factor of the
construct Individual CSR-Perception in this study. In this regard, Kipkebut (2010)
further supports the idea about the factor accounting for such employee perceptions
and their resulting positive shift: “Involving employees in the decision making process
[…] sends a message to the employees that they are valued and trusted (Allen and
Meyer, 1990; McElroy 2001)” (p. 50).
 What is now most salient about this factor is that CSR fostered participation Corporate
itself includes a connection to someone in doing something. The employee is given social
the opportunity to partake in making decisions about the business together with
others in the organization – that is supervisors, colleagues, subordinates, etc. – in a
responsibility
co-creative process. strategies
The on-the-job relationships between the organization’s interacting parties resulting
from such internal CSR-practice in this case again are said to be significantly impacting 177
the actors and their future level of organizational commitment (Hunt et al., 1985).
Also, further illustrating in more detail the theoretical development in this study, the
above mentioned co-creation again is associated with reciprocal exchange processes as
postulated in social exchange theory (Homans, 1958), thus again confirming the
appropriateness of the approach for conceptualizing Individual CSR-Perception as
partly constituted by CSR fostered participation in this study.
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CSR fostered development

The factor CSR fostered development regarding employee-directed internal CSR is
frequently referred to in the context of lifelong learning. This is the case especially
against the background of demographic changes in society, as also included in
the European Commission’s (2001) Green Paper. Occasionally also subsumed under the
terms human resources management or career development, for organizations this
notion comprises providing employees with training activities in every step of their
professional life where necessary (European Commission, 2001).
Academics dealing with topics related to internal CSR further denote the factor as
“Skills Development” (Spence, 2007, p. 540), “Employee Development” (Lee and
Bruvold, 2003, p. 982), “Training and Education” (Al-bdour et al., 2010, p. 269) or simply
“Training” (Brammer et al., 2007, p. 1705).
For Lee and Bruvold (2003) investing in the development of employees equals
“[…] equipping employees with new knowledge and skills […]” (p. 983) which
afterwards again helps employees to cope with future challenges at work, or put
another way “[…] which they can then adapt and, in turn, perform effectively […]”
(Lee and Bruvold, 2003). Given this consideration, once more one is reminded of social
exchange theory’s cornerstones of reciprocation and the related give-and-take process
as adapted to the relationship between the organization and its employees.
Connected to these thoughts, in relevant literature on internal CSR, researchers
further discussed, empirically examined and confirmed the factor’s relevance also from
an economic viewpoint (Al-bdour et al., 2010; Brammer et al., 2007,), that is not only as a
socially responsible measure but also a profitable investment benefitting the individual
employee but also the organization.
Overall, as in this paper’s introduction already mentioned regarding overall
CSR-initiatives, also the factor CSR fostered development enabled through internal
CSR-engagement can in this regard be seen as generating sustainable competitive
advantage for the organization (McElroy 2001). Furthermore, the positive connection
between the factor and organizational commitment, especially regarding the affective
component, has been accounted for in multiple studies (Brammer et al., 2007; Lee and
Bruvold 2003). Additionally, a relation between CSR fostered development and
Normative Organizational Commitment is assumed (Al-bdour et al., 2010). Even though
largely neglected in the relevant CSR-literature so far, at the same time it is reasonable
to expect employees to feel morally obliged to improve their job performance if the
organization invests own resources in advancing the employees’ capabilities.
 JSMA Therefore, in this study we propose CSR fostered development as partly accounting
9,2 for the Individual CSR-Perception which again as a constituent of Internally Perceived
CSR leads the latter to influence employees’ organizational commitment on an affective
and a normative level.

178 Social identity theory and Organizational CSR-Perception

For Internally Perceived CSR’s second constituent now – Organizational CSR-
Perception – social identity theory is consulted. This is accounted for by the theory’s
notion of the social identity concept as a measure to explain people’s behavior within
groups (Tajfel and Turner, 1986; see for the following also Mory, 2014; Mory et al., 2015b).
Derived from social identity theory, employees generally seem to identify with
organizations when the characteristics of both parties are in line with each other,
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whereupon highest identification is assumed when the organization already has a

favorable reputation and in this way can positively contribute to employees’
self-perceived status and sense of self in society (Gond et al., 2010).
In this regard, since CSR-measures at least partly can also be acknowledged to aim
at improving an organization’s reputation and image, these measures also make
organizations more attractive for employees and their identification with the
organization (Lin, 2010).
Therefore, how employees internally perceive the organization’s past and present
social behavior toward staff as a collective – their Organizational CSR-Perception – is
as part of their Internally Perceived CSR suggested to influence employees’
identification with the organization and in this way also their organizational
commitment, again on an affective and a normative level.
To summarize, in this study – against the background of social identity theory and
the adoption of its postulates to an organizational context – we understand
employees’ Organizational CSR-Perception as a crucial constituent of their Internally
Perceived CSR.

Conceptualizing Organizational CSR-Perception

The construct Organizational CSR-Perception is suggested to consist of the factors
CSR credibility, CSR continuity, CSR motivation and CSR experience. As just touched
upon in the above section, these factors are derived from social identity theory since it
is assumed that employees’ perception of how much the organization’s
implementation is in line with their own ideals together with an organization’s
general reputation regarding internal CSR influences how much employees can
identify with the respective intra-group behavior that is in this case the behavior of
the organization (Gond et al., 2010).
Following up on this, the factors encompass employees’ perception of how
organizations implement internal CSR-measures toward the former as a collective,
that is how credible, how continuous as well as based on which motivation and body
of experience.
Eventually, which degree of organizational commitment employees provide the
organization with, in the present study is proposed to partly depend on their respective
identification level through these factors, thus on employees’ Organizational
CSR-Perception, together with the Individual CSR-Perception building employees’
overall Internally Perceived CSR.
 Therefore, these considerations result in the following hypothesis for the construct Corporate
Organizational CSR-Perception: social
H3. Employees’ Organizational CSR-Perception is a reflective, latent construct of responsibility
second order and captures the following four factors, namely, CSR credibility, strategies
CSR continuity, CSR motivation and CSR experience.
CSR credibility 179
The factor CSR credibility in the study’s internal CSR context refers to the respective
measures realized by the organization. Therefore, the primary concern is if the social
activities implemented toward the employees are designed in a plausible and
convincing manner.
As an important construct of marketing research, credibility has been in-depth
investigated in this field for several decades. In the CSR-literature, the factor’s
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relevance was among others described by Bhattacharya et al. (2007) who emphasize
especially the importance of corporate communication’s credibility regarding CSR
practices as well as the right choice of internal communication sources to avoid
employees turning cynical.
Also, more generally regarding the alliance between a social cause and corporate
brands, the positive impact of organizations’ credibility on their image concerning
social responsibility has been empirically investigated and confirmed (Matthes, 2009).
Given that organizations’ credibility in relation to social engagement is key for
reducing tensions and skepticism between consumers and organizations in the
context of CSR (Alcañiz et al., 2010), one related objective of the present study is to
verify also from an employee perspective that an organization’s credibility is one
element for justifying and legitimizing the business in terms of its internal
CSR-efforts.
As a consequence, we suggest CSR credibility to partly account for what we call the
Organizational CSR-Perception of employees which as part of their Internally Perceived
CSR again is proposed to influence their organizational commitment.
Social identity theory again is used here as a rationale since the assumption of
employees’ identification with the organization due to the former’s perception of
credible internal CSR-implementation by the latter stands to reason based on relevant
existing literature. For example, Bhattacharya et al. (2007) in their empirical research
receive practitioners’ feedback illustrating that if they really perceive their organization
to do any good, they feel better about themselves. Accordingly, the authors interpret
this circumstance and notion in employees’ minds as resulting in internal outcomes
such as “[…] high level of commitment, greater morale and a dedication to excellence in
work tasks” (pp. 12-13).

CSR continuity
In this study, CSR continuity is understood as the extent of the implemented internal
CSR-measures’ consistency and steadiness. For other researchers in the field like
Bhattacharya et al. (2007) for instance, continuity in communication to organizations’
employees active in the field of CSR is very important for fostering co-creation and a
desired exchange of knowledge and ideas in the field. More generally, even though
continuity in internal CSR so far has not been empirically investigated through
quantitative methods, the factor can be ascribed to be of special significance.
For example, The Austrian Institute for Family Studies in this regard emphasizes
the respective relevance of the factor continuity in CSR in their qualitative research
 JSMA interviewing 15 Austrian companies. In their study’s understanding continuity in CSR
9,2 is seen as an important criterion since it not only contributes to a positive experience of
an organization’s CSR by people outside the organization but also internally, by the
employees within the organization (Geserick and Kapella, 2007).
In the study of Geserick and Kapella (2007) continuity is stressed as being
important for organizations to grow in the field of CSR as regards content and time,
180 the former referring to the pursuit and care of a specific consistent topic while the
latter means dealing with such topics in the form of perennial projects. Sticking
particularly to the temporal dimension again, additionally the authors find that if a
CSR-project is implemented continuously over time, practitioners consider these
efforts to show a certain level of the organization’s commitment toward the project
(Geserick and Kapella, 2007).
Therefore, given this consideration of earlier empirical investigation, in the present
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study it is assumed that if a continuous internal CSR-implementation on the part of the

organization represents its commitment toward CSR, employees will perceive this
circumstance accordingly as part of their Organizational CSR-Perception, in turn
increasingly identify with the organization and thereby eventually increase their own
organizational commitment.
These thoughts again result from adopting social identity theory to an organizational
context and the idea that an overall positive image of the organization increases
employees’ tendency to identify with it (Gond et al., 2010).

CSR motivation
The factor CSR motivation in the context of internal CSR represents employees’
perceived intentions, reasons and motives of an organization to implement socially
responsible measures toward staff.
In a broader CSR context, Kemper et al. (2013) suggest that especially for
organizations in highly competitive industries good CSR-practice can be used to boost
the overall impact of marketing on organizational performance. Given this consideration
about what they call “Competition-motivated corporate social responsibility” (p. 1954)
and the controversial motive of only applying CSR to outperform competition, it comes to
mind how employees evaluate the respective motivation of their organization when
engaging in internal socially responsible behavior.
Hereby, again, one can transfer social identity theory to employees in organizations
and the assumption that not only a so far existing attractive organizational image but
also a congruence between organizations’ and individual employees’ ideals foster the
latter’s identification with organizations (Gond et al., 2010).
In this case, for the factor CSR motivation, the subject of interest is the possible
congruence between organizations’ and their employees’ understanding of what is an
appropriate motivation for conducting CSR in general, and in this study’s specific
context internal CSR.
In this line of thought, it is further referred to the awareness that consumer behavior
does not depend on the actual but the perceived motivation which the organization is
ascribed with (Friestad and Wright, 1994). When now transferring this thought to the
above illustrated context, it is likewise assumed that the factor CSR motivation by
partly shaping employees’ Organizational CSR-Perception and eventually their overall
Internally Perceived CSR in favorable ways also positively impacts their behavior as
employees, and thus also their organizational commitment.
 CSR experience Corporate
The factor CSR experience in this study is regarded as organizations’ previous social
handling of social responsibility toward employees, that is the accumulated related
topics and the respective implementation organizations have been confronted with
responsibility
until a particular point in time. These considerations are initially based on the idea that strategies
an organization’s current options for action are strongly determined by earlier
organizational developments (Sambamurthy et al., 2003). In this past-oriented context, 181
especially related to structural equation modeling and the concept of path dependency,
one can also formulate it like this: “The notion of path dependencies recognizes that
history matters” (Teece et al., 1997, p. 522).
Adapted to the present study, it is now suggested that employees’ perceptions of an
organization’s comprehensive body of internal CSR experience, collected in corporate
past or history, influences employees and their organizational commitment. This
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proposition again is supported by social identity theory’s adaptation to the relation

between employee and organization within which a higher identification of the
employee is assumed when the organization already owns a favorable reputation (Gond
et al., 2010). Yet, the latter’s formation in relation to internal CSR can only have been
achieved by the organization through past efforts, thereby collecting relevant
experience. Consequently, if an organization has gained a positive CSR-related
reputation, this implies that it is most likely well experienced in applying CSR. If then
also an organization’s employees accordingly attest it a high CSR experience, the latter
may in turn positively contribute to employees’ self-perceived status (Gond et al., 2010)
and thus their identification with the organization. In this line of thought, assuming the
CSR experience of an organization to be situated within its employees’ Organizational
CSR-Perception and their more broadly understood Internally Perceived CSR, it is
proposed that an organization’s CSR experience impacts employees’ organizational
commitment through the mentioned perception and identification processes.
This connection can again be confirmed through CSR-related literature applying
social identity theory: “When a company is perceived as socially desirable, employees
are likely to believe that the company has an admirable trait that reflects their
self-concept” (Kim et al., 2010, p. 560). When further referring to this quote, the
admirable trait in this case is the organization’s CSR experience, making it appear
socially desirable, not least in the eye of the employees. Following then social identity
theory’s reasoning that people may achieve social identity by assigning themselves to
particular social groups (Turner and Oakes, 1986), employees will want to be a valuable
part of the organization enjoying a good reputation regarding CSR experience, and thus
be increasingly motivated and committed to work in the best interest of the
organization. Taken together, this leads us to the assumption that employees will
increase their organizational commitment based on the identification processes
triggered through the organization’s CSR experience.

Affective and Normative Organizational Commitment

The two endogenous variables of this study are Affective Organizational Commitment
and Normative Organizational Commitment (see for the following also Mory, 2014;
Mory et al., 2015a, b). Thereby, Affective Organizational Commitment is commonly
defined as the extent of employees’ emotional connection with their employers. Normative
Organizational Commitment represents employees’ bond with the organization based on
norms and obligations (Allen and Meyer, 1990). Both of the factors are part of Allen and
Meyer’s (1990) well-known scale about organizational commitment differentiating
 JSMA between affective, normative and continuance commitment. As already mentioned in the
9,2 section about the study’s stimulus and purpose, so far extant research has failed to find a
significant impact of internal CSR on continuance commitment (e.g. Al-bdour et al., 2010)
which is also why this facet of organizational commitment is disregarded in this study.
Yet, the relationships of the both components Affective Organizational Commitment
and Normative Organizational Commitment with internal CSR-related activities have
182 already been approved in the literature (Al-bdour et al., 2010; Brammer et al., 2007;
Lee and Bruvold, 2003; Meyer et al., 2002). In addition, also based on social identity
theory, it stands to reason to assume that aspects of Internally Perceived CSR influence
both dimensions of affective and normative commitment, since related identification
with the organization and resulting commitment generally may occur due to rather
emotional but also rational reasons. This also echoes the notion of Meyer and Smith
(2000) who have reasoned in their study about organizational commitment “[…] that
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employees who want to remain in the organization because of their positive experiences
might also feel some sense of obligation to do so” (p. 324).
In this study, it is therefore now asserted that Internally Perceived CSR, consisting of
employees’ Individual CSR-Perception, Organizational CSR-Perception and the related
formerly introduced factors, is significantly positive related to employees’ Affective and
Normative Organizational Commitment (cf. Al-bdour et al., 2010). Furthermore, Affective
Organizational Commitment is expected to fulfill a mediation role.
The former thoughts consequently lead to the following hypotheses:
H4. Internally Perceived CSR has a significant positive effect on employees’
Affective Organizational Commitment.
H5. Internally Perceived CSR has a significant positive effect on employees’
Normative Organizational Commitment.
H6. Affective Organizational Commitment has an effect on Normative
Organizational Commitment and therefore constitutes as mediation.
In Figure 1 the developed conceptual framework with the proposed hypotheses is
eventually presented.

Method
When regarding the research model’s complexity, applying structural equation
modeling as a method able to cope with such intricate relations between variables has
been deemed necessary to come to adequate results. Especially when it comes to model
structures with latent variables structural equation modeling is consulted as an
appropriate method in economic and social research (Bollen, 1989; Hair et al., 2006;
Kline, 2005; Steenkamp and Baumgartner 2000). Examining thoroughly the advantages
and disadvantages of variance and covariance-based structural analysis (Chin and
Newsted, 1999), the latter’s capability to illuminate empirical data structures is most
suitable in this study and its confirmatory, hypothesis-testing character.
In the same way, the variance-based approach with the objective of reproducing the
data structure after forecasting (Fornell, 1987) – even though highly effective in other
cases – is less appropriate in this study’s context.
Opting for the covariance-based approach again requires high standards as regards
sample size and distribution of variables. Yet, as illustrated in the following, these
requirements are met in this study. Both the measurement models and the structural
model are estimated in AMOS 20.0 with the help of maximum likelihood estimation.
 CSR fostered Corporate
Empowerment social
H2
responsibility
CSR fostered Individual
Participation
H2
CSR-Perception strategies
H2
CSR fostered
Development
183
H1
Affective
Org. Comm.
H4
Internally H6
Perceived CSR

CSR H5
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Credibility Normative
H1 Org. Comm.
H3
CSR
Continuity
H3
Organizational
CSR-Perception
H3
CSR
Motivation
H3
Figure 1.
CSR
Conceptual
Experience framework

Sampling and data collection

For considering validity and reliability criteria regarding the results, designing the
respective survey for this study is carried out according to (DeVellis, 2003) approach
(see for the following also Mory, 2014; Mory et al., 2015a, b). The related process includes
two main parts, namely, a qualitative and a quantitative one.
As regards the qualitative part, 28 expert interviews are conducted with academics
and practitioners in a continuous process. As a result, after additionally discussing the
interviews’ outcomes within a research workshop, relevant factors and questions for
the survey can be advanced as well as a preliminary research model constructed.
The further quantitative survey advancement includes two Anderson/Gerbing tests,
the first one covering nine respondents. Given the evaluation of the first test, nine
indicators are reformulated while one is deleted. The second test conducted
immediately afterwards includes 27 participants confirming the chosen indicators as
reliable and valid. Moreover, a pre-test is conducted resulting in 40 completed
questionnaires evaluated through exploratory factor analysis and further validating
the partly self-developed scales.
After embedding the test results in the online questionnaire, the actual survey is
conducted in a German company operating in the renewable energy sector in which 386
out of 1,373 employees partake in the online survey, resulting in a response rate of 28.1
percent. Overall, the results show that the preliminary research model is not to be rejected.
Finally, representativeness of the sample is given since all components of the
researched object are surveyed without systemic failure that is all of the polled
company’s staff has been made sure to possess a computer with internet access and
a vocational e-mail address in advance.
 JSMA Testing for biases
9,2 Also, particular biases tests are conducted within this research to avoid systematic
failure. Given usual survey-concerns regarding retrospectively collecting data, the need
exists to control in advance if the data accumulated is sufficiently valid. Thus, the latter
need to be checked for systematic biases (Groves, 2004.).
In this regard, first the squared Mahalanobis distances calculated through SPSS are
184 used to sort out systematic outliers and useless completed questionnaires (Hair et al.,
2006; Kline 2005). Second, to avoid the data set to be distorted because of
non-responding employees, it is tested for non-response bias (Ruxton, 2006) while also
incorporating late responding employees. To do so, whether strong variation between
respondents and non-respondents exists is assessed through a parametric (t-test) and a
non-parametric method (Mann-Whitney-U-test), resulting in only slight significant
group difference and no present non-response bias.
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To further obviate consistency bias, the questionnaire includes several items for
each construct as well as control questions at various points. Besides, to eliminate
response style-biases, like “yes saying,” the survey’s constructs also contain
heterogeneous indicators. Additionally, the exogenous and endogenous variables
are placed at differing points in the survey which prevents respondents to answer
to one set of questions based on their answers to the previous one (Capron and
Mitchell, 2009).
Further, it is checked for common methods’ influence on the study’s results that is
for common method biases. In this regard, Podsakoff et al.’s (2003) unmeasured latent
variable approach is used inasmuch as two unmeasured latent factors with the
observed measures as indicators are assigned to the measurement models comprising
all measured items and their corresponding latent constructs (Capron and Mitchell,
2009). Through this approach, trait effects can be separated from method effects and
random effects. For this study, it can be said that deploying the survey instrument for
examining the variables did not severely bias the study’s results since there exists no
systematic variance between the items.
Moreover, to further check for common method bias, a Guttman-Split-Half-test is
carried out via SPSS within which the so-called Guttman-Split-Half-reliability of the entire
sample is calculated. For the investigation at hand the value amounts to 0.939, thereby
lying high above the usually requested minimum value (Crocker and Algina, 1986).

Measurement models
To come to a reliable and valid measurement, the constructs are operationalized based
on established scales from the relevant CSR-research and context (see Table AI).
The main construct of the study, Internally Perceived CSR, is conceptualized as a third
order construct with the dimensions Individual CSR-Perception and Organizational
CSR-Perception. The latter two again are conceptualized as second order constructs
with the factors CSR fostered empowerment, CSR fostered participation and CSR
fostered development as well as CSR credibility, CSR continuity, CSR motivation and
CSR experience, respectively.
As shown in Table I, the analysis of the measurement model reveals that all
exogenous variables fulfill the criteria of the first generation.
Also for the endogenous variables’ measurement model, as illustrated in more detail
in Table II, sufficient values regarding the first generation’s criteria can be stated.
Moreover, further analyses are undertaken to back up Internally Perceived CSR’s
proposed structure and multidimensionality. While exploratory factor analysis – using
 ITK- Factor Cronb. Expl. Factors
Corporate
Factor Indicators Corr. Load. α Var. (%) Extr. social
CSR fostered The company empowers the employees to
responsibility
empowerment determine their own ways of working strategies
independently within the agreed
boundaries 0.865 0.886
In the company, the employees are 185
empowered to independently correct
the tasks and goals placed upon them 0.781 0.797
The company encourages employees to
engage in autonomous and independent
thinking and action 0.832 0.852
The company provides employees with
a very high degree of autonomy with
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regard to the independent performance

of tasks 0.907 0.930 0.958 77.549 1
The employees of the company can
decide independently how they perform
their tasks 0.824 0.846
The company provides the employees
with numerous opportunities for
independent work 0.903 0.928
Overall, the employees of the company
have high personal and independent
responsibility in their tasks 0.892 0.916
CSR fostered The employees of the company always
participation have the opportunity to participate in
scheduling their tasks and goals 0.709 0.734
In the company employees have a say
in many decisions of their superiors 0.804 0.837
The employees of the company have a
reasonable influence and/or participation
rights concerning decisions of the
organization 0.810 0.847 0.929 73.174 1
The employees of the company have
sufficient control and participation
rights concerning decisions within their
department or work group 0.844 0.885
Overall, the company gives employees
numerous opportunities to be active
and participative 0.909 0.959
CSR fostered The company trains and supports
development employees on skills that prepare them
for future jobs and career development to
an above-average degree 0.841 0.866
Through career counseling and assistance
with career planning
the company supports employees in
a targeted way 0.776 0.793
The company supports employees by
always providing them with enough
Table I.
time to learn new skills 0.760 0.777
Scale reliability
of the exogenous
(continued ) variables
 JSMA ITK- Factor Cronb. Expl. Factors
9,2 Factor Indicators Corr. Load. α Var. (%) Extr.
The company supports and promotes
lifelong learning and further development
of the employees intensely 0.887 0.917 0.951 74.526 1
The company uses a blend of many
186 different learning tools and methods for
the further development of the employees
(with regard to internal and/or external
further development) 0.816 0.842
There are more than enough opportunities
for employees to improve and develop
their skills in their current job or to let
their skills be developed by
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the company 0.886 0.914

Overall, the company encourages all
employees at every stage of their
professional experience by providing
access to vocational training and
education 0.891 0.921
CSR The socially responsible activities of the
credibility company are characterized by a high
degree of credibility 0.928 0.939
The socially responsible activities of
the company are very real/authentic 0.961 0.976 0.980 92.406 1
To me the socially responsible activities
seem to be honest 0.936 0.947
Overall, the company acts in a very
believable manner with its socially
responsible activities 0.968 0.983
CSR The socially responsible activities of the
continuity company are not one-off events 0.897 0.914
The socially responsible activities
of the company are constantly
carried out 0.944 0.979 0.963 89.716 1
Overall, all socially responsible activities
of the company are marked by a high
degree of continuity 0.920 0.947
CSR With its socially responsible activities
motivation the company acts very unselfishly 0.902 0.943
With its socially responsible activities the
company acts in a very kind manner 0.920 0.970 0.947 85.930 1
Overall, with its socially responsible
activities the company has only
charitable intentions 0.845 0.865
CSR In the past, the company has conducted
experience numerous socially responsible activities
successfully 0.904 0.921
The company has traditionally always
been familiar with the support of socially
responsible activities 0.921 0.944 0.965 90.379 1
Overall, the company has extensive
experience regarding socially
Table I. responsible activities 0.952 0.986
 ITK- Factor Cronb. Expl. Factors
Corporate
Factor Indicators Corr. Load. α Var. Extr. social
responsibility
Affective I think that I could not easily become as
Organization attached to another organization as I am to strategies
Commitment the company 0.837 0.852
I feel like “part of the family”
of the company 0.887 0.906 187
The company has a great deal
of personal meaning for me 0.910 0.930
I feel a strong sense of belonging
to the company 0.935 0.958 0.966 82.926 1
I am very happy being a member
of this organization 0.844 0.859
Overall, I feel “emotionally attached”
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to the company 0.932 0.953

Normative I believe that I have to thank the
Organization company for many things and therefore
Commitment I am obliged to the organization 0.845 0.899
I think that I owe the company quite a bit
because of what it has done for me 0.838 0.892 0.916 73.525 1
The company deserves my loyalty
and faithfulness because of its good
treatment toward me 0.719 0.750 Table II.
After all that the company has done for Scale reliability of
me, I feel very obliged to remain in this the endogenous
organization 0.831 0.880 variables

principal axis factoring analysis with oblimin rotation and Kaiser normalization –
demonstrates that nine factors with an eigenvalue greater than one are extracted and
the remaining 42 indicators can, respectively be attributed to the extracted factors, first
and second order confirmatory analyses are executed for further verification.
In sum, both confirmatory factor analyses result in an overall good fit. The values
for the factors’ CFI are ⩾ 0.90 where calculable, as requested in the relevant literature
(Homburg and Baumgartner, 1995). The TLI values likewise conform to the required
minimum value of 0.90 (Homburg and Baumgartner, 1995). Concerning the RMSEA,
the respective values also fall below the maximum limit of 0.1 (Browne and Cudeck,
1984; Hair et al., 2006; Steiger, 1989). Further, the remaining global quality criteria are in
line with all critical values demanded in the relevant literature.
Besides, to assure each factor’s discriminant validity the Fornell/Larcker criterion is
tested for by comparing the square roots of the average variances with the factors’
correlations. As a result, since none of the correlations exceeds the square roots of the
average variances, adequate discriminant validity is approved. Table III demonstrates
the findings regarding the Fornell/Larcker criterion.
When finally regarding the results of the chi-square difference test, they also back
up the operationalization of the model. The analysis’ findings of the multidimensional
construct Internally Perceived CSR and its constituents are presented in Table IV.

Structural model
Arriving now at the final part of analysis, the results regarding the study’s structural
model are illustrated that is the relations within the overall research model. First of all,
 JSMA when taking into account the model’s complexity, the latter demonstrates a sufficient
9,2 fit concerning the global fit indices of its pattern quality.
CFI, TLI, AGFIcor, GFIcor, RMSEA and SRMR all fulfill the respective threshold
values. Given values of 0.961 for the CFI and 0.959 for the TLI, both conform to being
⩾ 0.90 as established in the literature. Regarding the GFIcor with a value of 0.958 and
the AGFIcor with a value of 0.953, both also reach the required criteria of ⩾ 0.90.
188 Further, RMSEA and SRMR are very meaningful in this model’s context given the
latter’s complexity and the fact that the value is to be seen as an important evidence for
the fit of complex models with high samples (n W250). In this case, the RMSEA has a
value of 0.051 and the SRMR a value of 0.0515. Thus, both values are below the still
strong critical values of ⩽ 0.08 (Browne and Cudeck, 1984; Hu and Bentler, 1999).
When regarding the path coefficients, all relationships are highly significant at a
level of p ⩽ 0.01. Yet, the factors’ differing meaningfulness for Internally Perceived
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CSR comes out when looking more closely at the individual path relationships.
Initially, when reflecting on the data it can be said that Organizational
CSR-Perception outperforms Individual CSR-Perception in importance for the

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Empowerment (1) 0.875

Participation (2) 0.697 0.856
Development (3) 0.590 0.665 0.858
Credibility (4) 0.574 0.659 0.658 0.962
Continuity (5) 0.578 0.598 0.595 0.781 0.853
Motivation (6) 0.461 0.576 0.550 0.705 0.593 0.926
Table III. Experience (7) 0.560 0.594 0.574 0.766 0.742 0.673 0.951
Fornell-Larcker Affective Organization Commitment (8) 0.517 0.568 0.597 0.658 0.598 0.589 0.571 0.908
criterion Normative Organization Commitment (9) 0.506 0.586 0.619 0.699 0.596 0.645 0.606 0.787 0.860

χ2 df p

Individual CSR-Perception
Three-factor solution 386.983 149 0.0001
One-factor solution 391.231 152 0.0001
Nested model comparison 4.248 3 0.0001
Organizational CSR-Perception
Four-factor solution 121.571 59 0.0001
One-factor solution 159.105 65 0.0001
Nested model comparison 37.534 6 0.0001
Internally Perceived CSR
Seven-factor solution 830.022 443 0.0001
One-factor solution 999.23 464 0.0001
Nested model comparison 169.208 21 0.0001
Affective and Normative Organizational Commitment
Two-factor solution 203.652 34 0.0001
Table IV. One-factor solution 252.24 35 0.0001
χ2 difference test Nested model comparison 48.588 1 0.0001
 construct Internally Perceived CSR, given the value of 0.994 compared to 0.903. Corporate
Further, the most important factor for Individual CSR-Perception is CSR fostered social
participation with 0.851 while CSR credibility ranks highest for Organizational CSR-
Perception with 0.918. Conversely the respective least important factors are CSR
responsibility
fostered empowerment (0.770) and CSR motivation (0.769) while still showing high strategies
path coefficients.
Finally, the model variables contribute to explaining the variance in the endogenous 189
variables. In this regard, a R2 of 0.576 for Affective Organizational Commitment and a
R2 of 0.707 for Normative Organizational Commitment is calculated. Overall, as
reported in Figure 2, the statistics and corresponding path coefficients demonstrate
that the structural model represents the collected data very well.

Discussion
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The present study offers clarification about employees’ Internally Perceived CSR and
its impact on their Affective and Normative Organizational Commitment. This research
orientation is due to the fact that the increasing necessity for organizations to engage in
socially responsible practice has also led to thinking about the latter’s impact on
internal stakeholders’ behavior (Brammer et al., 2007). In order to help management to
approach issues related to internal CSR, a more comprehensive understanding of
the concept is necessary. Therefore, extracting such an understanding constituted the
stimulus of this research.

CSR fostered
Empowerment
0.770***

CSR fostered Individual

0.851***
Participation CSR-Perception

0.801***
CSR fostered
Development 0.903***
Affective
Org. Comm.

0.759***
Internally
Perceived CSR 0.441***

0.456***
CSR
Credibility Normative
0.944*** Org. Comm.
0.918***
CSR
Continuity
0.844*** Organizational
CSR-Perception
0.769***
CSR
Motivation
0.846***

CSR
Experience

Figure 2.
Notes: n = 386. 2 = 1,615.596; CFI = 0.961; GFIcor = 0.958; RMSEA = 0.051; df = 807; Structural model
TLI = 0.959; AGFIcor = 0.953; SRMR = 0.0515. ***p0.01
 JSMA First of all, given the results of the proposed model’s assessment, its derivation fits very
9,2 well with what has been found out in practice. All the respective aspects’ contributions
to the related exogenous constructs are approved by the standardized coefficients and
particularly show that while CSR fostered participation has the most notable meaning
for employees’ Individual CSR-Perception, CSR credibility is the most significant factor
for employees’ Organizational CSR-Perception.
190 Starting with employees’ CSR fostered participation, our result echoes earlier
findings in the literature showing that the option to participate in the organization’s
decision making leads employees to show increased commitment (Malhotra et al., 2007;
Pfeffer, 1999). Also, researchers share our view of the provision of this option as an
aspect of internal CSR or an element of employees’ Individual CSR-Perception,
respectively (Kipkebut, 2010). Yet, also the remaining factors CSR fostered
development and CSR fostered empowerment which still show highly
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significant path coefficients for Individual CSR-Perception further validate earlier

related empirical findings (Al-bdour et al., 2010; Butts et al., 2009; Brammer et al., 2007;
Ugboro, 2006).
Concerning an organization’s CSR credibility within employees’ Organizational
CSR-Perception, in the previous relevant literature the factor’s significance has likewise
been confirmed by Bhattacharya et al. (2007). In their study the authors stress
especially the importance of corporate communication’s credibility regarding the
organization’s CSR practices and an elaborate choice of internal communication
sources to avoid employees’ displeasure. Regarding the further factors constituting
employees’ Organizational CSR-Perception – CSR experience, CSR continuity and CSR
motivation – so far there have been no comparable complex empirical investigations,
implying the novel surplus the present study contributes in the internal CSR context.
Besides, this study’s results show that employees’ Organizational CSR-Perception is
a more significant dimension of their comprehensive Internally Perceived CSR than
employees’ Individual CSR-Perception. In this regard, Brammer et al. (2007) have also
earlier confirmed the importance of “employee perceptions of corporate social
responsibility in the community” (p. 1701), i.e. a construct about their CSR-perceptions
on an organizational level. Yet, while Brammer et al. (2007) in this case focus on
employee perceptions of external CSR, we follow an internal perspective regarding
the Organizational CSR-Perception. In more detail, since the factor in our study
encompasses employees’ perception of how organizations implement internal
CSR-measures toward staff as a collective, i.e. on an organizational level, it complements
Brammer et al.’s (2007) result, leading to the finding of both sides’ importance within
employees’ Organizational CSR-Perceptions, the external and internal one.
The Individual CSR-Perception, again, still playing a major role when referring to
the high path coefficient in our study, further confirms the contents of the European
Commission’s (2001) Green Paper in which it is stated that a notable part of CSR’s
internal dimension should be accounted for by measures enabling employees’
participation in business decisions as well as their development and empowerment.
Lastly, the link between internal CSR and organizational commitment which could
be confirmed in this study also has been proved earlier by Al-bdour et al. (2010),
Al-bdour and Altarawneh (2012), ALshbiel and AL-Awawdeh (2011), Brammer et al.
(2007) as well as Keraita et al. (2013). However, none of these authors have
multi-dimensionally conceptualized Internally Perceived CSR as comprehensive as in
the present study. Also, only Al-bdour et al. (2010) include the two specific dimensions
affective and normative commitment in their investigation which in the present study
 could also both be confirmed to show positive relationships with Internally Perceived Corporate
CSR. Finally, the mediation role affective commitment takes in the relationship between social
Internally Perceived CSR and normative commitment has not been confirmed in the
explicit internal CSR context so far, thus representing a novel finding of our study.
responsibility
Yet, it still verifies earlier empirical accounts of this mediation effect in scientific studies strategies
in the field of human resource management (Meyer and Smith, 2000).
191
Conclusion
Within the present research, the link between employee perceptions of internal CSR and
Affective and Normative Organizational Commitment is investigated within a model
that consults social exchange theory, social identity theory, the relevant scientific
literature, the European Commission’s related official documents and international
standards. Drawing on this extensive foundation, our study yields both theoretical and
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managerial implications.
With regard to theoretical implications, the results of this study initially add to the
existing scientific literature on CSR’s internal dimension by offering deeper insight into
professionals’ view of Internally Perceived CSR’s factors as well as their empirical
testing within a structural equation model. Along the same lines, the model’s theoretical
derivation turns out to be appropriate for explaining the connection between Internally
Perceived CSR and organizational commitment, and thus as a further major point of
this study contributes in more detail to the notion of employees’ Affective and
Normative Organizational Commitment. In addition, based on the employee level data
from the polled company, the developed scales prove to fulfill the criteria of reliability
and validity. Thus, they may serve as a foundation for upcoming research in the field of
CSR and organizational science. In this regard, future research could address other
relevant dimensions and factors of CSR’s internal side or Internally Perceived CSR,
respectively, especially on an organizational level. Such research could include factors
like organizational transparency, organizational justice, corporate engagement as well
as corporate ethical culture applied and communicated by the organization toward the
employees (e.g. Al-bdour et al., 2010; Brammer et al., 2007); for example under the
umbrella term Moral Compass. Further research could deal with moderating variables
of internal CSR, such as employees’ job satisfaction or CSR’s importance as evaluated
by the employees that is the latter’s attitude toward organizations’ obligation to
generally engage in CSR.
Furthermore, when it comes to managerial implications, we consider this study’s
results to be useful for managing the challenge of planning and implementing internal
CSR strategies so that it benefits both organizations and employees in a variety of
ways. Particularly, the study’s findings offer surplus for managers in the field who are
actively involved in the strategic development of socially responsible measures for
employees and thus need to gain the relevant know-how and expertise to approach and
finish this task in an adequate manner. This is crucial for organizations to
comprehensively understand CSR’s internal dimension as a management concept when
planning to integrate it in the organizations’ strategy implementation as a valuable tool.
Hence, the novelty of this study, particularly for management, can be seen in the
empirical validation of Internally Perceived CSR’s full conceptualization.
In more detail, the results give a deeper insight into what organizations should actually
offer employees in terms of internal CSR and how it specifically should be implemented.
Further, the findings show how relevant the particular factors are within the concept
for employees and provide advice about what to focus on for strategic internal
 JSMA CSR-development. In this regard, based on the results – while not neglecting all the other
9,2 significant factors – organizations should place special emphasis on enabling employees’
CSR fostered participation and increase the organization’s own CSR credibility when it
comes to implementing internal CSR. In doing so and further communicating these efforts
in an adequate manner, employees’ Individual CSR-Perception and Organizational
CSR-Perception can, respectively be shaped favorable for the organization, culminating in
192 an overall more positive Internally Perceived CSR.
Furthermore, the finding that Internally Perceived CSR is a relevant concept for
increasing employees’ organizational commitment illustrates how corporate
investments in CSR – and in our context especially in internal CSR – can pay off for
organizations, as already suggested to be an important subject of investigation in the
paper’s introduction. Consequently, it can be stated that the study’s results offer
meaningful implications for applying worthwhile internal CSR strategies in
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organizations. Also, the mentioned positive connection can motivate management to

foster its competencies in other related fields affecting staff performance, like labor
retention and labor health (e.g. Meyer et al., 2002; Mory et al., 2015b).
In closing, regardless of the research model’s sound empirical results and the
obviation of biases in the study, there are still a few limitations to be recorded and
considered for future research. In this regard, the generalizability of the results is limited
in as much as the paper refers first to an empirical observation in one special sort of
business organization and industry as well as second regards only one specific point in
time. Therefore, it would make sense to conduct perennial research about the dimensions
and factors of Internally Perceived CSR as well as the latter’s effect on organizational
commitment in differing industries in order to approve the positive relationship
discovered in the present study. This cannot be stressed enough when considering the
increasing demand for organizations’ comprehensive CSR-initiatives by various
stakeholder groups as well as the campaigns launched by rivals in the market. Thus,
the need to completely grasp and exhaust the potential of the internal CSR-concept to
stay competitive as organizations will only accrue in meaningfulness in the near future.
In this regard, the finding that employees’ Internally Perceived CSR, composed of
the respective dimensions and factors, is affirmed to sustainably influence employees’
organizational commitment – both on an affective and normative level – supports
organizations’ management in coping with the above mentioned challenge and should
thus not be neglected.

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(The Appendix follows overleaf.)

 JSMA Appendix
9,2

Indicators Source

198 Panel A: exogenous

CSR fostered empowerment
1.1 The company offers its employees great freedom within which On the basis of Haase (1997)
they are empowered to solve their problems independently
1.2 The company empowers the employees to determine their own On the basis of Haase (1997)
ways of working independently within the agreed boundaries
1.3 In the company, the employees are empowered to independently On the basis of Haase (1997)
correct the tasks and goals placed upon them
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1.4 The company encourages employees to engage in autonomous On the basis of Hartline
and independent thinking and action and Ferrell (1996)
1.5 The company provides employees with a very high degree of On the basis of
autonomy with regard to the independent performance of tasks Spreitzer (1995)
1.6 The employees of the company can decide independently how On the basis of
they perform their tasks Spreitzer (1995)
1.7 The company provides the employees with numerous On the basis of
opportunities for independent work Spreitzer (1995)
1.8 Overall, the employees of the company have high personal and Self-developed
independent responsibility in their tasks
CSR fostered participation
2.1 The employees of the company always have the opportunity to On the basis of Haase (1997)
participate in scheduling their tasks and goals
2.2 The company often supports supervisors discussing issues/ On the basis of Wilpert and
practices with their employees and let them participate in Rayley (1983)
decision making
2.3 In the company employees have a say in many decisions of their On the basis of Wilpert and
superiors Rayley (1983)
2.4 In the company the employees are always encouraged to On the basis of House and
make suggestions for the performance of their tasks and Dessler (1974)
thereby participate
2.5 The company provides the employees with many opportunities Self-developed
for general indirect participation and involvement in the daily
affairs of the organization
2.6 The employees of the company have a reasonable influence and/ On the basis of Huang
or participation rights concerning decisions of the organization et al. (2006)
2.7 The employees of the company have sufficient control and On the basis of Huang
participation rights concerning decisions within their et al. (2006)
department or work group
2.8 Overall, the employees of this company have sufficient Self-developed
opportunities to be active and participative within their
department or work groups
CSR fostered development
3.1 The company trains and supports employees on skills that On the basis of Lee and
prepare them for future jobs and career development to an Bruvold (2003)
above-average degree
3.2 Through career counseling and assistance with career planning On the basis of Lee and
the company supports employees in a targeted way Bruvold (2003)
Table AI.
Indicators of the
variables (continued )
 Indicators Source
Corporate
social
3.3 The company supports employees by always providing them On the basis of Lee and
with enough time to learn new skills Bruvold (2003)
responsibility
3.4 The company supports and promotes lifelong learning and On the basis of Al-bdour strategies
further development of the employees intensely et al. (2010)
3.5 The company uses a blend of many different learning tools and On the basis of Al-bdour
methods for the further development of the employees (with et al. (2010)
199
regard to internal and/or external further development)
3.6 There are more than enough opportunities for employees to On the basis of Brammer
improve and develop their skills in their current job or to let their et al. (2007)
skills be developed by the company
3.7 Overall, the company encourages all employees at every stage of Self-developed on the basis
their professional experience by providing access to vocational of DIN-ISO26000 (2011)
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training and education

CSR credibility
4.1 The socially responsible activities of the company are On the basis of
characterized by a high degree of credibility Matthes (2009)
4.2 The socially responsible activities of the company are very real/ On the basis of Salzer (2004)
authentic
4.3 To me the socially responsible activities seem to be honest On the basis of
Matthes (2009)
4.4 Overall, the company acts in a very believable manner with its Self-developed
socially responsible activities
CSR continuity
5.1 The socially responsible activities of the company have hardly On the basis of Piehler (2011)
changed in recent years
5.2 The socially responsible activities of the company are not one-off Self-developed
events
5.3 The socially responsible activities of the company are constantly Self-developed
carried out
5.4 Overall, all socially responsible activities of the company are Self-developed
marked by a high degree of continuity
CSR motivation
6.1 With its socially responsible activities the company acts very On the basis of
unselfishly Matthes (2009)
6.2 With its socially responsible activities the company acts in a On the basis of Dean (2002)
very kind manner
6.3 With its socially responsible activities the company never acts in On the basis of Dean (2002)
its own self-interest
6.4 Overall, with its socially responsible activities the company has On the basis of Dean (2002)
only charitable intentions
CSR experience
7.1 In the past, the company has gained considerable experience Self-developed
regarding socially responsible activities
7.2 In the past, the company has conducted numerous socially Self-developed
responsible activities successfully
7.3 The company has traditionally always been familiar with the Self-developed
support of socially responsible activities
7.4 Overall, the company has extensive experience regarding Self-developed
socially responsible activities

(continued ) Table AI.

 JSMA Indicators Source
9,2
Panel B: endogenous
Affective Organizational Commitment
8.1 I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own On the basis of Allen and
Meyer (1990)
200 8.2 I think that I could not easily become as attached to another On the basis of Allen and
organization as I am to the company Meyer (1990)
8.3 I feel like “part of the family” at the company On the basis of Allen and
Meyer (1990)
8.4 The company has a great deal of personal meaning for me On the basis of Allen and
Meyer (1990)
8.5 I feel a strong sense of belonging to the company On the basis of Allen and
Meyer (1990)
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8.6 I am very happy being a member of this organization On the basis of Jaros (2007)
8.7 I am proud to say I work for the company On the basis of Brammer
et al. (2007)
8.8 Overall, I feel “emotionally attached” to the company On the basis of Allen and
Meyer (1990)
Normative Organizational Commitment
9.1 I believe that I have to thank the company for many things and On the basis of Jaros (2007)
therefore I am obliged to the organization
9.2 I think that I owe the company quite a bit because of what it has On the basis of Jaros (2007)
done for me
9.3 The company deserves my loyalty and faithfulness because of On the basis of Jaros (2007)
its good treatment toward me
9.4 I feel I would be letting my co-workers down if I wasn’t a On the basis of Jaros (2007)
member of this organization
9.5 One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization On the basis of Allen and
is that I believe that loyalty is important and therefore I feel a Meyer (1990)
sense of moral obligation to remain with the company
9.6 The company has a mission in which I believe and to which I am On the basis of Jaros (2007)
committed to
9.7 I feel it is “morally correct” to dedicate myself to the company On the basis of Jaros (2007)
and in a sense also to commit myself
9.8 After all that the company has done for me, I feel very obliged to Self-developed
Table AI. remain in this organization

About the authors

Dr Linda Mory studied Media Communication (BA) in Chemnitz and European Public Relations
(MA) at the Dublin Institute of Technology and Leeds Metropolitan University. She worked as a
Research Assistant at the German University of Administrative Sciences, Speyer, Chair for
Information and Communication Management.
Professor Bernd W. Wirtz studied Business Administration in Cologne, London and
Dortmund, culminating in an MBA (Master of Business Administration). He later served as a
Lecturer for Media Management at the Universities of Duesseldorf (Germany) and Zurich
(Switzerland). In 1994, he was awarded a doctorate in the field of new media and competition
strategies (Doctorate in Business Administration). After finishing his studies, Professor Wirtz
worked as a Consultant with Roland Berger & Partners and Andersen Consulting/Accenture
(Manager in the field of new media/electronic commerce) and as an Assistant Professor at the
University of Zurich. From 1999 to 2004 he was a Full Professor (Deutsche Bank Chair for
Strategic Management) at the University of Witten/Herdecke (Germany). Since 2004, he has been
 a Full Professor (Chair for Information and Communications Management) at the German Corporate
University of Administrative Sciences, Speyer (Germany). Professor Wirtz is an Editorial Board
Member of the journal Long Range Planning, the International Journal on Media Management, the
social
Journal of Media Business Studies and the International Journal of Business Environment. He has responsibility
several years of experience in consulting on strategy projects for leading media and strategies
telecommunication enterprises and the European Commission. His publications focus on media
management, business model management, marketing and electronic business (approximately
230 publications). In total, Professor Wirtz has published 20 books (e.g. 8th edition of Media and 201
Internet Management in German, 4th edition of Electronic Business in German, 3rd edition of
Direct Marketing in German). Professor Bernd W. Wirtz is the corresponding author and can be
contacted at: [email protected]
Vincent Göttel studied Business Administration and Economics at the University of
Cooperative Education, St. Ingbert, the University of Southern Denmark and the University
of Florida. He is a PhD Candidate at the German University of Administrative Sciences, Speyer,
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Chair for Information and Communication Management.

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