The impact of corporate social responsibility practices on employees’ engagement: The mediating role of organizational identification

Abstract

Employees’ engagement is an important aspect of human resources management, which is instrumental in the organization's success. Many studies have shown that corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices have a positive impact on organizational outcomes; however, few have examined the perspectives of employees, and even fewer have concentrated on the CSR practices toward stakeholders, namely employees, customers, community, government, and environment. Here, the present study examines the direct and indirect effects of perceived CSR on employees’ engagement through organizational identification as the mediating variable. A survey of 420 employees in the hospitality industry, using the SEM method, constitutes the basis for the conceptual model analysis. The findings reveal that CSR practices and identification are essential drivers of employees’ engagement. Furthermore, the findings show that perceived CSR practices toward stakeholders, except for customers, significantly influences both organizational identification and employees’ engagement. The findings also show that organizational identification plays a key mediating role in the relationship between perceived CSR and employees’ engagement. The findings emphasize the need for five-star hotels to consider CSR practices as a strategic instrument to build the engagement of their employees. This study discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, and provides suggestions for future research.