Research conducted by the Kenexa® Research Institute eevaluated U.S. workers’ opinions of their organizations ewith regard to corporate social responsibility.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), a strategic corporate initiative that has been receiving an increased amount of attention, provides more benefits to an organization than simply reducing costs by recycling and giving back. As stated in earlier research by the Kenexa Research Institute, actively participating in CSR efforts is related to higher employee engagement levels and more favorable views of senior management.

Results in the United States indicate that an organization’s CSR efforts also positively affect an employee’s personal outlook of the future, satisfaction with their job and confidence in the company’s future. Employees who rate their organization as having a strong CSR culture outscored those who view their company’s CSR activities as weak on each of these key indicators. Furthermore, employees who work in a strong CSR culture are more favorable toward their colleagues’ willingness to do the very best for the organization, and have more favorable views of their company’s ability to motivate people to work hard and put in extra effort. Favorability regarding an organization’s CSR initiatives varies notably across industries. Workers in education and the banking services are the most favorable, while workers in the light manufacturing, transportation services, hotel services and restaurant industries are the least favorable.

“It is not surprising that education and banking services are high in CSR favorability. Having a sense of community is often consistent with the purpose and mission of most educational institutions. And, by participating in corporate social responsibility efforts, banks not only raise local awareness, they position themselves to gain market share in the communities in which they operate,” said Jack W. Wiley, Ph.D., executive director, Kenexa Research Institute.

Executives, senior managers and those in professional positions have the most favorable views of their employer’s support for CSR, while operators and laborers have the least. Additionally, those workers who are the newest to the organization, and those who are the youngest in terms of age, have the most favorable views of the organization’s CSR activities.

“Actively participating in CSR initiatives has many advantages including setting the organization apart from the competition in terms of employment brand, creating an elevated sense of teamwork among employees, and helping to establish an emotional tie between the employee and the organization,” said Wiley.

Database Overview
The Kenexa WorkTrends™ database is a comprehensive normative database of employee survey results with comparisons on topics including leadership, employee engagement and customer orientation from workers in Brazil, China, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Study Details
The WorkTrends survey questions were designed specifically to evaluate how workers view their organizations with regard to corporate social responsibility initiatives. The questions asked were:

• My company does a good job of contributing to the communities in which we live and work.
• My company’s commitment to social responsibility (e.g. community support, protecting the environment, etc.) is genuine.
• My company’s corporate social responsibility efforts have increased my overall satisfaction with working here.

Opinion items were rated using a 5-point Likert-like scale. The percent favorable is the percentage of people who chose either of the two most positive answers (typically “strongly agree” or “agree”).

The CSR Index is calculated by averaging the percentage of favorable responses across these three items. This results in a single score that reflects the overall strength of an organization’s corporate social responsibility culture as perceived by its employees.