Too much of a good thing? On the relationship between CSR and employee work addiction
Journal
Journal of Business Ethics
ISSN-Digital
1573-0697
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2019-03
Author(s)
Abstract (De)
Recent research highlights the positive effects of organizational CSR engagement on employee outcomes, such as job and life satisfaction, performance, and trust. We argue that the current debate fails to recognize the potential risks associated with CSR. In this study, we focus on the risk of work addiction. We hypothesize that CSR has per se a positive effect on employees and can be classified as a resource. However, we also suggest the existence of an array of unintended negative effects of CSR. Since CSR positively influences an employee’s organizational identification, as well as his or her perception of engaging in meaningful work, which in turn motivates them to work harder while neglecting other spheres of their lives such as private relationships or health, CSR indirectly increases work addiction. Accordingly, organizational identification and work meaningfulness both act as buffering variables in the relationship, thus suppressing the negative effect of CSR on work addiction, which weakens the positive role of CSR in the workplace. Drawing on a sample of 565 Swiss employees taken from the 2017 Swiss Public Value Atlas dataset, our results provide support for our rationale. Our results also provide evidence that the positive indirect effects of organizational CSR engagement on work addiction, via organizational identification and work meaningfulness, become even stronger when employees care for the welfare of the wider public (i.e., the community, nation, or world). Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
None
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Springer
Publisher place
Netherlands
Start page
1
End page
19
Pages
20
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
258444
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
20190309_Too_Much_of_a_Good_Thing_On_the_Relationship_Betwe.pdf
Size
823.71 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
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