Abstract
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has developed from a purely philanthropic act, to a strategic organizational tool, impacting both external stakeholders, and the internal workforce. Of all internal benefits of CSR initiatives, the influence of employee engagement is by far the most significant. In this paper, we examine the connection between CSR and employee engagement focusing on how socially responsible initiatives develop a sense of purpose, belonging, and organizational pride. When the employee perceives alignment in values at both the organizational and interpersonal level, CSR activities tend to motivate employees positively thus, general employee engagement is likely to enhance as well. In practice, engaged employees are likely to demonstrate increased levels of commitment, discretionary effort and advocacy for the organization. Furthermore, CSR initiatives afforded employees the opportunity to develop certain skills and interact and work with other employees or community stakeholders in a meaningful way outside of traditional work roles enhancing the psychological contract between employer and employee. This abstract reminds practitioners that corporate social responsibility (CSR) should not be considered solely as an organization’s method of building reputation among external stakeholders but is imperative to the corporation’s internal employee engagement strategy. Linking CSR and employee engagement yields a virtuous cycle where an organization, on one hand, establishes itself as a socially responsible organization that engages, inspires and retains talent, and on the other hand, thus leads to employees that advocate for both the organizations and CSR value proposition.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Employee Engagement, Organizational Pride, Commitment, Psychological Contract
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