People are more charitable if their employer is environmentally-conscious

At least that’s what our new research suggests. Specifically, that employees are more likely to make donations and willingly volunteer outside of work if their employers engage in environmentally-conscious activities.     

Previous research has demonstrated that corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects the attitudes and behaviors of employees within organisations. Empirical findings have indicated that CSR activities influence the social behaviour of employees at work, such as their pro-environmental behaviour or ethical decision-making in the workplace.

CSR refers to a company’s actions and policies that aim to enhance the welfare of stakeholders by accounting for the triple bottom line of economic, social, and environmental performance. Conversely, corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) includes activities that can disadvantage or harm stakeholders.

Although previous literature focuses on the relationships between employers and employees and the impact within organisations, knowledge regarding whether and how CSR relates to employee behaviour outside of work is limited. Therefore, we conducted three experiments to investigate how an employees’ private prosocial behaviour is impacted by their organisation’s environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) and environmental corporate social irresponsibility (ECSIR).

While CSR and CSIR highlight the welfare of or harm to stakeholders, our research specifically focuses on environmental subdimensions in which the natural environment is viewed as the beneficiary or victim. Actions associated with ECSR include reducing pollution and saving resources as well planting trees. Examples of ECSIR range from employing inexpensive but harmful production methods or producing massive amounts of waste to a power plant exploding.

In study one, workers from a crowdsourcing platform were assigned to one of three conditions. In the ECSR condition, participants received information about their employer’s real environmental sustainability projects. For example, reading about the organisation’s climate pledge, sustainable operations, or packaging. In the ECSIR condition, we presented an environmental scandal about the organisation (the destruction of massive amounts of as-new and returned goods). In a control condition, participants received neutral information about a new product.

To measure willingness to volunteer, participants were asked if they’d be willing to volunteer for an unpaid study related to a non-profit organisation supporting communities in need and protecting the environment.

Results showed that participants who received ECSR information about their employee were the most willing to volunteer, with those in the ECSIR study being the least willing.

Study two investigated whether students were more or less likely to donate to a charity when they believed they worked for a start-up that engaged in ECSR vs. ECSIR activities. Participants worked on marketing tasks, participated in product testing, and made recommendations related to the launch of a start-up company that made wood furniture.

During this, they read a newspaper article which either highlighted the sustainable and environmentally-friendly concept of the start-up (ECSR condition), or reported that the start-up had been criticised for an environmentally-irresponsible wood sourcing policy (ECSIR condition). Participants were then paid 10€ before being asked if they would like to donate to a charity, how much of the 10€ they wished to donate, and whether they wished to donate to an environmental or social cause.

Results showed that those in the ECSR condition were more likely to donate, and likely to donate more money, than those in the ECSIR condition. However, the difference in amount donated only differed for the environmental charity – there was no difference for the social charity.
The final study measured ECSR and ECSIR perceptions of employees from a variety of organisations as well as their environmental self-identity (ESI).

ESI refers to the perception individuals have of themselves in relation to the environment. Those with a strong ESI may actively engage in environmentally-friendly behaviours such as recycling and reducing waste. Participants were later asked to recall an ECSR, ECSIR, or business-as-usual activity of their company, before having their ESI, guilt, and willingness to volunteer measured.

We found that recalling ECSR activities of one’s employer enhanced employees’ ESI, while recalling ECSIR activities of an employer increased feelings of guilt. Perceived ECSR was also associated with increased willingness to volunteer.

It is evident that companies not only contribute to environmental protection and harm through their own activities but also contribute to environmental issues by influencing employee behaviour. Not only does an employers’ ECSR activities increase employees’ donations and willingness to volunteer outside work; employers engaging in ECSIR activities reduces employees’ tendency to engage in this environmentally-conscious behaviour.

These findings highlight the importance of business ethics and have important ethical implications for practitioners and policy-makers. Organisations have an ethical responsibility toward the environment and their employees, and should implement environmentally-conscious practices that influence the private behaviour of employees positively. Companies that have not already done so should implement ECSR practices to influence ESI and the private behaviour of their employees positively.

Companies should also disclose ECSR information internally because it is beneficial for employees to be aware of this and, through those employees, for broader society. Our work should encourage policy-makers to establish the appropriate conditions and to consider the provision of incentives that can motivate organisations to act in an environmentally-friendly manner.

Politicians and legislators must also set boundaries and regulations that ensure organisations do not negatively impact the environment, to ensure the influence on employee behaviour is positive. In this way, such rules can reach decision-makers both within and outside organisations