When Companies Cross the Line - The Impact of Corporate Social Irresponsibility on Employees' Organizational Commitment

Sammanfattning

Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI), an evolving area of research, has historically been understood by its relation to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The existing body of research is predominantly concerned with the financial toll it has on the organization; however, the effect it has on internal employees' commitment remains underexplored. This paper focuses on establishing empirical evidence of the relationship between CSI and an employee's organizational commitment, guided by the research question: How does exposure to corporate social irresponsibility affect employees' organizational commitment? The research question was answered through a quantitative between-group vignette experimental design, where the treatment group was presented with a CSI stimulus and the control group grounded the work by documenting the employers' baseline. The data was gathered from 400 respondents using purposive sampling, with screening criteria including full-time employment and being based in Europe. The findings suggest that CSI has a negative influence on affective, normative, and continuance commitment, while job satisfaction has an amplifying moderating effect on affective, and normative commitment. This paper provides practitioners with insights on how CSI negatively affects the employee's commitment towards their own organization, and nudges decision makers to consider the involvement of all stakeholders, instead of pre-emptively deciding on an outcome that only increases shareholder value.