TY - JOUR T1 - Scrutinizing Social Identity Theory in Corporate Social Responsibility: An Experimental Investigation. AU - Paruzel,Agnieszka, AU - Danel,Martin, AU - Maier,Günter W, Y1 - 2020/12/14/ PY - 2020/07/06/received PY - 2020/11/16/accepted PY - 2020/12/31/entrez PY - 2021/1/1/pubmed PY - 2021/1/1/medline KW - corporate social responsibility KW - job satisfaction KW - organizational citizenship behavior KW - organizational commitment KW - organizational identification KW - social identity theory SP - 580620 EP - 580620 JF - Frontiers in psychology JO - Front Psychol VL - 11 N2 - Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is widely established by companies that aim to contribute to society and minimize their negative impact on the environment. In CSR research, employees' reactions to CSR have extensively been researched. Social identity theory is often used as a theoretical background to explain the relationship between CSR and employee-related outcomes, but until now, a sound empirical examination is lacking, and causality remains unclear. CSR can unfold its effect mainly because of three theoretically important aspects of CSR initiatives, which increase identification, i.e., distinctiveness, prestige, and salience of the out-group. This study examines how far identification can explain the effect of CSR on employees. In an experimental vignette study (N = 136 employees), CSR was manipulated in three degrees (positive, neutral, and negative) to examine its effects on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). In the vignettes, information on distinctiveness, prestige, and salience of the out-group were presented. Regression analyses showed that CSR significantly predicted commitment and job satisfaction, but not OCB. We found mediation effects of CSR on commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB through identification, but the effect of CSR on identification explained only little variance which indicates additional underlying mechanisms. The applicability of social identity theory for explaining CSR is discussed. Moreover, we discuss further explaining mechanisms. SN - 1664-1078 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/33381065/Scrutinizing_Social_Identity_Theory_in_Corporate_Social_Responsibility:_An_Experimental_Investigation_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -