Fit the actions to the words: The psychological contract perspective on organizations’ CSR adoption and employees’ job involvement

Abstract

This study uses psychological contract theory to investigate how firms’ external and internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives influence employees’ job involvement through the mediating role of psychological contract fulfillment. We compare the impacts of external and internal CSR on psychological contract fulfillment and examine the moderating effect of CSR target clarity in the relationship between external CSR adoption, internal CSR adoption, and psychological contract fulfillment. Data were collected from different sources (i.e., archival and survey data) during two periods, with 791 employees from 40 firms completing the survey. Results reveal that firms’ internal CSR adoption positively enhances employees’ psychological contract fulfillment, subsequently predicting job involvement. However, psychological contract fulfillment does not mediate the effect of external CSR adoption on job involvement. Furthermore, CSR target clarity significantly amplifies the positive effects of both external and internal CSR adoption on psychological contract fulfillment. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided.