Reconceptualising the Link Between Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility and Organisational Commitment: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Abstract

This is a review of literature on the importance of employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in organisational commitment that has been progressively becoming very crucial to the micro-CSR literature. The review is anchored on 26 published empirical studies (2000-2025) to generalise the evidence of different organisational and cultural contexts and establish the mechanisms, boundary conditions, and dimensions of CSR that align towards employee commitment. The results indicate that perceived CSR is observed to always enhance organisational commitment and the affective constituent of organisational commitment by the establishment of emotional attachment, pride, and identification with organisational values. The fair treatment, the wellbeing programs, the developmental and the socially responsible HRM are more influential to commitment compared to externally oriented CSR activities, that is why the employee-oriented initiatives are in the center of the discussion. The review further suggests that the relationship is also functional according to the key psychological mediators as organisational identification, job satisfaction, perceived organisational support, trust and meaningfulness at work which transforms the CSR perceptions into commitment. The level of such effects is limited by situational moderators such as the style of leadership, cultural orientation, the period of tenure, and authenticity of CSR. Interestingly, the review has discovered the negative effect of CSR perception gaps whereby the difference between the perceived and real CSR activities mistrust and diminishes commitment. The theoretical combination of the Social Identity Theory and the Social Exchange Theory conceptualized advantages of this review as they offer a unified understanding of causal interconnection between CSR and commitment and offers evidence-based suggestions to organisations that aspire to enhance the level of employee commitment through application of authentic and appropriately communicated CSR policies. The conclusion also establishes gaps in the methodology and future research direction towards the development of the micro-CSR theory and practice.