This summary is provided by the IPR Organizational Communication Research Center.
Dr. Chuqing Dong and colleagues studied how employees perceive corporate social responsibility (CSR), how much employees trust their employer, and how this affects their decision to remain at their jobs.
An online survey of 740 full-time employees working at medium or large organizations in the United States was conducted in March 2020.
Key findings include:
1.) When employees believed employer CSR efforts were for external gain, they were more likely to distrust their organization.
2.) When CSR efforts were seen as intrinsically motivated (originating from genuine organizational values within the organization), employees were more likely to trust their employer.
3.) Observing self-serving CSR actions eroded employees’ trust in their employer and reduced employees’ confidence in their employer’s ability to handle crises and difficult situations.
4.) Employees had greater intentions to leave their organization when they had diminished trust in their employers.
Implications for Practice
This study highlights the role of perceptions of character and morality that employees place on their organization. It also highlights the complexities between an employee and their decision to seek work elsewhere. Organizations and leaders should demonstrate consistency in their CSR efforts with their internal mission, ethics, and purpose, and make sure that external efforts act as a mirror of the internal culture as opposed to appearing performative in nature. Secondly, during turbulent times, organizations should use communication to demonstrate their specific and concrete efforts to manage the turbulence, therefore allowing employees to trust that the situation is under control and not feel compelled to seek alternative employment.
