Exploring CSR’s influence on employees’ attitudes and behaviours in higher education
Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal
ISSN: 2040-8021
Article publication date: 1 May 2020
Issue publication date: 21 May 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the recognised importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in higher education institutions (HEIs), research concerning CSR’s influence on employees’ attitudes and behaviours is still understudied. Grounded in the theory of social identity, this study aims to explore CSR’s impact on employees’ work engagement, job satisfaction and organisational identification in an HEI context.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected in a northern Portugal public HEI through a self-administered questionnaire distributed to both teaching and supporting staff. A structural equation modelling (SEM) approach was applied to data collected from 171 employees, using the partial least squares-SEM approach.
Findings
Overall, the findings show that CSR is strongly associated with work engagement, job satisfaction, identification with the organisation and perceived organisational support, confirming the hypothesised influence of HEI’s CSR development efforts on study-related attitudes.
Practical implications
Findings reinforce the need for HEIs to integrate CSR and human resource strategies and to pay special attention to CSR communication strategies.
Social implications
Findings reinforce the need for HEI to develop adequate CSR strategies because these have a significant influence on employees’ satisfaction at work, and thus on employees’ well-being in general.
Originality/value
This study contributes to attenuate the lack of literature on CSR’s impacts on employee behaviours.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are pleased to acknowledge financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (grants UIDB/04007/2020 and UID/SOC/04011/2013) and FEDER/COMPETE (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006971).
Compliance with Ethical Standards.
Conflict of interest: All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.
Ethical Approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Citation
Mascarenhas, C., Mendes, L., Marques, C. and Galvão, A. (2020), "Exploring CSR’s influence on employees’ attitudes and behaviours in higher education", Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 653-678. https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-04-2018-0101
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited