Effect of CSR participation on employee sense of purpose and experienced meaningfulness: A self-determination theory perspective

The last two decades have seen a rapid increase in corporate social responsibility (CSR) research studies in the hospitality sector. However, majority of such studies have focused either on institutional outcomes like financial performance or stakeholders like customers. Correspondingly, building on the Self-determination Theory, this study developed a model to empirically test whether and how CSR participation drives employee's sense of purpose and facilitates their experienced meaningfulness to consequently enhance employee engagement and their job performance. For empirical validity, we conducted a questionnaire survey among 387 full-time employees working in selected luxury hotels of India. The results reveal that employees' CSR participation positively affects their sense of purpose and their experienced meaningfulness, which consequently affect employee engagement. The results further reveal that sense of purpose positively affects employees' job performance whereas the effect of employees' experienced meaningfulness on their job performance was found to be non significant. The findings also delineate that employee engagement positively affects employee job performance. By empirically demonstrating how employees' CSR participation can instill sense of purpose and meaningfulness to employees at their workplaces vis-à-vis enhance their engagement and job performance, we address the strategic concern of hospitality management and also exemplify a valuable academic contribution.