RESEARCH BRIEF | The Impact of Employee Involvement in Corporate Philanthropy on Attitude and Behavior, and Commitment

Suggested audience: CSR professionals, HR professionals, professionals in public relations

Takeaway: Involving employees in corporate philanthropy fosters positive attitudes toward thecompany and management enhancing both employees’ psychological attachment to theorganization—and—their proactive engagement with organizational goals.

To examine the impact of employee involvement in philanthropy activities on attitude, commitment, and organizational citizenship—how committed employees are to helping an organization achieve its goals.

Employees who are more actively involved in corporate philanthropy report higher levels of commitment and are rated by supervisors as demonstrating through their behavior a commitment to promoting goodwill on behalf of the company. Philanthropic involvement was also associated with employees being more likely to give management decisions the benefit of the doubt, which in turn predicted more positive attitudes toward the company and greater organizational commitment.

Researchers also found that simply reading a brief description of a company’s efforts to engage employees in philanthropic activities can be sufficient to elicit more positive attitudes toward the company and greater organizational commitment.

Taken together, these findings suggest that companies may benefit from involving employees in philanthropy and communicating about their programs.