While prior studies have shown that an internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) environment is positively associated with employees’ ethicality at work, recent studies have revealed that specific internal CSR practices can also be linked to certain unethical behaviors, particularly those perceived as beneficial to the organization. Expanding on these findings, we integrate signaling theory with the organizational sensemaking literature and explore two competing paths underlying the relationship between internal CSR and employee ethical decision-making, specifically unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB).
Using cross-sectional survey data from 423 employees across 57 service sector organizations, we employed structural equation modeling (SEM) and the PROCESS macro to examine the hypothesized serial mediation paths and the moderation mechanism.
We find that internal CSR relates to different employee perceptions: perceived organizational morality (POM) and perceived organizational support (POS). Further, POM is associated with higher levels of employee role ethicality, which, in a serial association, negatively relates to the relationship between internal CSR and UPB. Conversely, POS, along with feelings of reciprocity, positively relates to this relationship. The analysis further reveals a moderating role of the organization's code of ethics on the association between felt reciprocity and employee UPB.
These findings contribute to the dialog on the CSR–employee ethicality literature, highlighting the importance of understanding the nuanced sensemaking processes through which employees interpret internal CSR signals and revealing how and when such signals may paradoxically be associated with employees’ unethical behavior.
