The Spillover of Socio-Moral Climate in Organizations Onto Employees' Socially Responsible Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Impact.
Front Psychol. 2021; 12:668399.FP

Abstract

Due to the pressing environmental and social issues facing the global economic system, the role of organizations in promoting socially responsible behavior among employees warrants attention in research and practice. It has been suggested that the concept of socio-moral climate (SMC) might be particularly useful for understanding how participative organizational structures and processes shape employees' prosocial behaviors. While SMC has been shown to be positively related to employees' prosocial behaviors within the work context, little is known about the potential spillover effects of SMC (i.e., associations between SMC and employees' prosocial behaviors outside the work context). The present study aims to address this gap by investigating how and why SMC is related to employees' socially responsible purchase intention. Drawing on the relational job design framework, we argue that employees' perceptions of their social impact may explain why SMC is positively related to responsible purchase intentions. We collected data from 492 employees working in various industries at two measurement points with a time lag of 12 months. Hypotheses were tested using path analysis, in which we controlled for the temporal stability of the study variables. The results showed that SMC was positively related to perceived social impact and socially responsible purchase intention and that perceived social impact was positively related to socially responsible purchase intention. In addition, we found a significant indirect relationship between SMC and socially responsible purchase intention through perceived social impact. The findings provide initial support for the spillover of employees' work-related experiences onto their responsible purchase intentions within the nonwork domain. This study contributes to the literature by extending the traditional focus of SMC research on the development of moral reasoning skills to suggest that perceived social impact is an important mechanism underlying the relationship between SMC and prosocial behaviors. In terms of practical implications, this study suggests that organizational interventions designed to increase SMC may enhance employees' perceptions of their social impact.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Schümann M

Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Stein M

Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Tanner G

Baur C

Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. Leadership Excellence Institute Zeppelin, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany.

Bamberg E

Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

34305726

Citation

Schümann, Marlies, et al. "The Spillover of Socio-Moral Climate in Organizations Onto Employees' Socially Responsible Purchase Intention: the Mediating Role of Perceived Social Impact." Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, 2021, p. 668399.

Schümann M, Stein M, Tanner G, et al. The Spillover of Socio-Moral Climate in Organizations Onto Employees' Socially Responsible Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Impact. Front Psychol. 2021;12:668399.

Schümann, M., Stein, M., Tanner, G., Baur, C., & Bamberg, E. (2021). The Spillover of Socio-Moral Climate in Organizations Onto Employees' Socially Responsible Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Impact. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 668399. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.668399

Schümann M, et al. The Spillover of Socio-Moral Climate in Organizations Onto Employees' Socially Responsible Purchase Intention: the Mediating Role of Perceived Social Impact. Front Psychol. 2021;12:668399. PubMed PMID: 34305726.

* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case

TY - JOUR T1 - The Spillover of Socio-Moral Climate in Organizations Onto Employees' Socially Responsible Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Impact. AU - Schümann,Marlies, AU - Stein,Maie, AU - Tanner,Grit, AU - Baur,Carolin, AU - Bamberg,Eva, Y1 - 2021/07/08/ PY - 2021/02/16/received PY - 2021/06/08/accepted PY - 2021/7/26/entrez PY - 2021/7/27/pubmed PY - 2021/7/27/medline KW - employee participation KW - perceived social impact KW - socially responsible purchase intention KW - socio-moral climate KW - work-consumption spillover KW - work-nonwork SP - 668399 EP - 668399 JF - Frontiers in psychology JO - Front Psychol VL - 12 N2 - Due to the pressing environmental and social issues facing the global economic system, the role of organizations in promoting socially responsible behavior among employees warrants attention in research and practice. It has been suggested that the concept of socio-moral climate (SMC) might be particularly useful for understanding how participative organizational structures and processes shape employees' prosocial behaviors. While SMC has been shown to be positively related to employees' prosocial behaviors within the work context, little is known about the potential spillover effects of SMC (i.e., associations between SMC and employees' prosocial behaviors outside the work context). The present study aims to address this gap by investigating how and why SMC is related to employees' socially responsible purchase intention. Drawing on the relational job design framework, we argue that employees' perceptions of their social impact may explain why SMC is positively related to responsible purchase intentions. We collected data from 492 employees working in various industries at two measurement points with a time lag of 12 months. Hypotheses were tested using path analysis, in which we controlled for the temporal stability of the study variables. The results showed that SMC was positively related to perceived social impact and socially responsible purchase intention and that perceived social impact was positively related to socially responsible purchase intention. In addition, we found a significant indirect relationship between SMC and socially responsible purchase intention through perceived social impact. The findings provide initial support for the spillover of employees' work-related experiences onto their responsible purchase intentions within the nonwork domain. This study contributes to the literature by extending the traditional focus of SMC research on the development of moral reasoning skills to suggest that perceived social impact is an important mechanism underlying the relationship between SMC and prosocial behaviors. In terms of practical implications, this study suggests that organizational interventions designed to increase SMC may enhance employees' perceptions of their social impact. SN - 1664-1078 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/34305726/The_Spillover_of_Socio_Moral_Climate_in_Organizations_Onto_Employees'_Socially_Responsible_Purchase_Intention:_The_Mediating_Role_of_Perceived_Social_Impact_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -

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The Spillover of Socio-Moral Climate in Organizations Onto Employees' Socially Responsible Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Impact.Front Psychol. 2021; 12:668399.FP