Promoting environmental performance through corporate social responsibility in controversial industry sectors

Area of Science:

• Business Administration
• Environmental Management
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• Employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are increasingly recognized as drivers of organizational outcomes.
• Understanding the mechanisms linking CSR perceptions to environmental performance is crucial, especially in controversial industries.
• Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Organizational Citizenship Behavior towards the Environment (OCBE) provide relevant theoretical frameworks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the impact of employee CSR perceptions on environmental performance.
• To investigate the serial mediating roles of employee pro-environmental behavior and OCBE in this relationship.
• To test these relationships within controversial industry sectors (hotel, tobacco, oil, and gas).

Main Methods:

• A multi-time survey was conducted with 282 employees from controversial industries.
• A serial mediation model was tested using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
• Smart PLS 3.3.2 software was utilized for data analysis.

Main Results:

• Employee CSR perceptions were found to significantly influence environmental performance.
• Both employee pro-environmental behavior and OCBE demonstrated statistically significant mediating effects.
• The serial mediation model was empirically supported.

Conclusions:

• Employee CSR perceptions are a significant antecedent of environmental performance.
• Pro-environmental behavior and OCBE act as crucial mediators, explaining the CSR-performance link.
• This study contributes to understanding CSR dynamics in challenging industrial contexts using SIT and OCBE frameworks.