Corporate environmental and social responsibility: a perspective of human behavior and psychological orientation

Employment in responsible organizations is psychologically more valuable to a large segment of employees that desire to create a significant social impact and environmental protection through work. This paper investigates the potential social and environmental responsibility to reduce employee turnover, considering the growing importance employees place on creating this responsibility at the corporate level. Drawing upon the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study examines the development of attachment orientation as a psychological resource and its influence on turnover intention and organizational deviance. With 3 surveys, we collected time-lagged multisource data from middle managers and their colleagues working in the Pakistan-based oil and gas development company. A total of 243 responses were collected, resulting in an 81% response rate. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for data analysis. Data analysis helped us to find that by being deviant, employees cannot gain more social support resources at the workplace, and that can also deplete their identification. The results demonstrate that employees who prioritize environmental concerns exhibit reduced turnover intentions and deviant behavior when their organization engages in environmental actions as compared to social actions. These findings highlight the significant bifactor role of corporate environmental and social responsibility in nurturing organizational resource caravans of pride and identification as valuable psychological resources, contributing to the retention of talent and employees. Implications of this study for theory and practice are discussed, emphasizing the importance of integrating corporate social and environmental responsibility initiatives to reduce turnover and foster positive organizational outcomes.