A Study on the Relationship between Employees’ External CSR Perception and Facades of Conformity: The Roles of Perceived Insider Status and Ambivalent Identification

As corporate social responsibility (CSR) gains importance, research on how employees perceive CSR has grown. Previous studies have mainly examined how employees' perceptions of external CSR activities influence their positive attitudes and behaviours towards the organization, under the assumption that their attitudes are uniform. However, some studies have shown that this relationship varies depending on how employees are treated by the organization. Recognizing that employees may hold ambivalent attitudes, this study draws on cue consistency theory and social identity theory to explore how perceived insider status and external CSR perception interact to influence facades of conformity through ambivalent identification. Using survey data from 297 employees, we tested our hypotheses. The results show that when employees perceive a low insider status within the organization, external CSR perceptions are positively related to ambivalent identification. Conversely, when employees perceive a high insider status, external CSR perceptions are negatively related to ambivalent identification. Furthermore, when employees have a high perception of their insider status, ambivalent identification mediates the relationship between external CSR perceptions and facades of conformity. However, when employees have a low perception of their insider status, ambivalent identification does not significantly mediate such relationship. This study broadens the scope of outcome variables in the field of CSR studies by approaching the impact of external CSR perceptions on employees' attitudes and behaviours from a new perspective. Implications and directions for future research are presented in the conclusion section.