Abstract
Organisations are increasingly engaging in a category of socially responsible activities known as corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is important for organisations to understand the impact of these activities on their most important stakeholder, the employee. Using social identity theory and identity theory, this research explores how employee corporate social responsibility perceptions mediate the relationship between psychological meaningfulness and work engagement and in-role/extra-role performance. The research was conducted using convenience sampling. The final sample had a total of 104 participants. There was no specific geographical designation of study. A self-report questionnaire was distributed to the participants. The questionnaire included the following scales: Employee Perceptions of CSR Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (the shortened nine-item scale), Psychological Meaningfulness Scale and the In-Role/Extra-Role Performance Scale. Analysis was conducted using SPSS (Version 28). The findings indicate that employee corporate social responsibility perceptions mediate the relationship between psychological meaningfulness and in-role/extra-role performance. However, corporate social responsibility perceptions do not mediate the relationship between psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. The research contributes to the empirical findings relating employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility to work outcomes. The mediation study sheds light on the complexity of corporate social responsibility and the way in which it is perceived by employees. This indicates that, in practice, the engagement of organisations in socially responsible activities may not necessarily result in a significantly positive impact on work outcomes despite, the inherent good of corporate social responsibility activities. In future research, an exploration of the in-role behaviour and extra-role behaviours separately would be insightful.
Keywords: Corporate social responsibility perceptions, psychological meaningfulness, in-role/extra-role performance, work engagement, work outcomes, social identity theory.