Irresponsible to others but responsible to me: Testing employees' responses to external corporate social irresponsibility and internal corporate social responsibility

Abstract

Drawing upon deonance theory and expectancy violation theory, we investigate how employees react when their companies engage in corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) that harms external stakeholders who are not employees themselves. Furthermore, we introduce the concept of perceived internal corporate social responsibility (CSR), which refers to employees' perceptions of how organizational actions and policies benefit them personally. We developed a conceptual model that illustrates the joint influence of external CSiR and internal CSR on employees' perceptual, relational, and behavioral outcomes. An online survey with 417 full-time US employees revealed that employees tend to evaluate unethical corporate practices holistically, in the context of other factors, such as the company's moral character and internal CSR, rather than based on external immorality. Our study contributes to a deeper understanding of employee reactions to both CSR and CSiR, emphasizing the importance of organizations evaluating the broader ramifications of their unethical actions.