Corporate Social Responsibility and Job Satisfaction: A Configurational Approach

Corporate Social Responsibility and Job Satisfaction: A Configurational Approach

Human assets are regarded by scholars as one of the sources of sustainable advantage and organizational success. Academicians and practitioners consider corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a strategy to better employee outcomes, which eventually has a positive impact on business performance. However, studies focusing on the joint effect of CSR types, internal and external, on employees’ job satisfaction receive little attention. Moreover, studies on the drawbacks of CSR remain limited; hence, scholars have called for more studies on the potential consequences of CSR. Therefore, this research aims to provide more evidence on the interaction effect of perceived internal and external CSR and inconsistent CSR on employees’ job satisfaction. A total of 489 valid responses from employees, supervisors, and managers of four department stores in Taiwan were analyzed to test the study’s hypotheses. The fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA) technique was utilized in analyzing the data gathered. Results show that a high internal CSR perception is a necessary condition in predicting high employees’ job satisfaction. The combination of a high level of internal CSR and external CSR is a sufficient condition to predict high employees’ job satisfaction. The presence of inconsistent CSR perception coupled with the absence or low level of both internal and external CSR perception is a sufficient condition influencing employees’ low job satisfaction. This study suggests that business owners and/or human resource managers should apply a balanced CSR model to satisfy employees on their job and eventually better company performance.