Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility and Career Satisfaction: a Case of Saudi Arabia

The interest in the employees perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices is increasing day by day. CSR is widely described as corporate policies and activities that aim to create positive effect on all stakeholders and are beyond the economic interest of the organization. According to Saudi Vision 2030, companies should develop responsible practices towards the society and the environment so that men and women are able to build their professional careers. It is important for policy makers to understand the factors that contribute to career satisfaction of employees. Career satisfaction refers to the level of satisfaction that one has over the duration of ones career. This project will examine the mechanism as how employees perceptions of CSR activities affect their career satisfaction. There have been very limited studies on the antecedents of career satisfaction as researchers have mostly examined the outcomes of career satisfaction. This project will examine a perception-emotion-attitude-behavior sequence by investigating the socio-emotional micro-foundations of CSR. Drawing from appraisal theory of emotion, the project proposes that perceived CSR has a significant effect on emotions (i.e., organizational pride), which relates to job attitudes (i.e., organizational embeddedness) that in turn relate to job behaviors (i.e., increased career satisfaction). The micro-level assessment of CSR has also been lacking in current literature. So, this study is the first of its kind that will link CSR perceptions with career satisfaction. To test this model, data will be gathered from 500 employees working in different organizations and industries based in Saudi Arabia. Structural equation modelling will be used to test hypotheses. Results of this study will have important managerial implications.