Employees’ attitudes toward corporate social responsibility programs: The influence of corporate frugality and polychronicity organizational capabilities

Frontline employees must believe in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs if they are to achieve their goals. In light of this, the current study explores which organizational capabilities and factors foster employees’ positive attitudes toward CSR. Past research shows that organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) positively influences CSR effectiveness. We hypothesize that the organizational capabilities of frugality and polychronicity and the organizational factors of servant leadership and job satisfaction facilitate OCB. To test the proposed model, we collected data from a sample of 246 frontline employees across different industries. We rely on structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Findings suggest that firms should develop organizational values and managerial processes oriented to cautiously administer resources, practice corporate frugality, and develop polychronicity as core factors to cultivate OCB. These practices support positive attitudes toward CSR programs among frontline employees. The proposed moderating effects of managers’ servant leadership and employees’ job satisfaction receive support from the analysis. When managers inspire employees to serve internal and external customers, the positive relationship between OCB and CSR becomes stronger. Furthermore, when frontline employees feel satisfied with their jobs, the relationship between OCB and CSR strengthens. Post-hoc analysis from the proposed model suggests that OCB mediates the relationship between polychronicity and CSR.