Employee creativity in socially responsible companies: Moderating effects of intrinsic and prosocial motivation

Abstract

Recent studies have found that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is positively associated with employee creativity. However, previous studies were limited because they ignored the mediating role of task motivation in the relationship between CSR and creativity. Furthermore, they lacked consideration of boundary conditions. We modified the theoretical framework in this study by adding work engagement as a mediator. We also investigated the moderating roles of intrinsic and prosocial motivations on the effects of CSR perceptions on work engagement and creativity. Multi-source longitudinal data collected from 435 frontline employees with an average age of 32 years working in 21 luxury hotels in South Korea largely supported the hypotheses in our model. Our findings show that work engagement is an important mediating mechanism between CSR perceptions and task-related behaviors, such as creativity. Furthermore, they reveal that intrinsic motivation amplifies the positive effects of CSR perceptions. However, our data suggest that employers need to be careful regarding the negative moderating effect of prosocial motivation when implementing CSR as a strategic means for employee productivity.