Effects of corporate social responsibility on employee commitment and corporate reputation: Evidence from a transitional economy

Abstract Some may argue that corporate social responsibility (CSR) leads companies to shift from a profit‐maximising objective to a more social one, while others argue that CSR enhances value and profitability by attracting, motivating and retaining personnel which, in return, improve customer relations and boost company reputation. The benefits from CSR may be interlinked, if not mutually reinforcing. This paper intends to empirically explore the impact of CSR practices on corporate reputation by analysing the mediation effect of employee commitment in that relationship. A total of 406 questionnaires were collected from 169 corporations in Malaysia. The proposed research model and its associated hypotheses were tested by using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM). Results revealed that CSR has a positive effect on organisational reputation and that employee commitment mediates the relationship between CSR activities and corporate reputation. The main conclusions of this study can be valuable to organisations that intend to explore or exploit opportunities regarding the implementation of CSR.