Received: 1 December 2017 Revised: 15 January 2018 Accepted: 1 February 2018

DOI: 10.1002/csr.1511

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Boosting employee retention through CSR: A configurational

analysis
Leemen Lee | Li‐Fei Chen

Department of Business Administration, Fu

Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City,
Taiwan
Correspondence
Li‐Fei Chen, Professor, Department of
Business Administration, Fu Jen Catholic
University, No 510, Zhongzheng Rd, Xinzhung
Dist., New Taipei City 24205, Taiwan
Email: 075033@mail.fju.edu.tw
Funding information
Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Abstract
Internal stakeholders' perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays a cru-
cial role for organizations in pursuing innovative, sustainability‐based business
models. The majority of research on CSR has examined its effects on organizations'
financial performance or external stakeholders' behavior toward CSR. However, little
attention has been devoted to employees' behavior toward CSR. The current study
investigated how organizations' CSR initiatives and the fulfillment of employee job
needs (existence, relatedness and growth, or ERG) affect employees' job satisfaction
and retention intention. Methodologically, the study applied the fuzzy‐set qualitative
comparative analysis method to capture the integrative effects of explanatory factors
on the outcomes by examining the case of a leading chain department store in Asia.
The results revealed that an organization's efforts on CSR could enhance the fulfill-
ment of employees' ERG needs. Moreover, the perceived CSR initiatives could gener-
ate positive effects on employees' satisfaction and retention intention by fulfilling
employees' ERG needs.

KEY W ORDS

corporate social responsibility (CSR), fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), job needs,
job satisfaction, retention intention, sustainability business model

1 | I N T RO D U CT I O N
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received substantial attention
from scholars and practitioners. CSR is considered a powerful means
of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly
when it is employed to address pressing global issues such as climate
change and peak oil theory. Scholars have suggested that CSR contrib-
utes to sustainable development (Brammer, Millington, & Rayton,
2007; Kim, Lee, Lee, & Kim, 2010). CSR presents a win–win scenario,
enabling companies to simultaneously increase their profitability and
produce social benefits. From the perspective of organizational cul-
ture, Vilkė (2014) suggested that CSR‐driven practices nurture trust
relationships among stakeholders. In addition, sustainability‐based
business models help companies create a trusting environment for
innovation, which leads to the development of long‐term competitive-
ness. Aguinis and Glavas (2012) found that most CSR studies have
focused on issues related to external stakeholders of organizations,
and that the relationship between CSR and internal stakeholders has
received relatively little scholarly attention. Bonini, Koller, and Mirvis
(2009) reported that CSR can enhance employee morale and reduce
employee turnover. Peloza (2009) posited that employees play a medi-
ating role in the relationship between CSR and organizational perfor-
mance. Peloza (2009) argued that CSR activities can not only
increase employees' job satisfaction, which contributes to higher pro-
ductivity and lower retention costs, but also make the organization
more attractive to prospective employees, thus reducing hiring costs.
Studies such as those by Bauman and Skitka (2012), Onkila (2015)
and Zhu, Hang, Liu, and Lai (2014) have considered CSR to be a source
of employee satisfaction because some CSR actions represent a rare
and unique opportunity to positively alter employees' perception of
companies and engender positive changes in employees' identification
in, and commitment to, the organizations. In particular, Zhu et al.
(2014) found that employee satisfaction plays both mediating and
moderating roles in the relationship between CSR perception and

948 Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/csr Corp Soc Resp Env Ma. 2018;25:948–960.
LEE AND CHEN
employee loyalty. Similarly, Bauman and Skitka (2012) proposed that
employees' psychological needs serve as underlying mechanisms
connecting CSR and employees' relationships with their companies.
To understand how internal stakeholders react to CSR, Gond, El
Akremi, Swaen, and Babu (2017) emphasized the micro approach to
CSR research. The micro view was adopted for two main reasons.
The first reason is that organizations are formed and operated by indi-
viduals. The individuals' needs, traits and roles are not homogeneous;
therefore, individual reactions to CSR policies may vary (Rupp &
Mallory, 2015). The other reason lies in needs theory and the internal
marketing perspective. On the basis of needs theory, individuals sup-
port CSR initiatives with the main motive of satisfying their personal
needs (Gond et al., 2017). Similarly, Du, Bhattacharya, and Sen
(2015) argued that employees' expectations, motives, views or atti-
tudes are not homogeneous, and heterogeneity is essential for a
deeper understanding of employee reactions to CSR. For instance,
an employee's orientation toward work plays a crucial role in
employee needs fulfillment. Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin, and
Schwartz (1997) proposed three types of work orientation: work as
a job, work as a career and work as a calling. They suggested that
the view of work as a job is more associated with economic needs
and rewards. By contrast, the view of work as a career emphasizes
developmental needs and professional growth. Finally, the view of
work as a calling tends to prioritize individual ideological and ethical
needs.
Research also revealed that organizations' CSR initiatives and
employees' perceptions of these initiatives vary, and that the
employees' perceptions are as important as the CSR initiatives them-
selves (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012). An individual's subjective perception
of reality has a considerably stronger effect than do objective factual
circumstances on the individual's behavior and the aggregated organi-
zational outcomes. From an internal marketing perspective, the goals
are to attract, motivate, develop and retain qualified employees
through good job‐product designs that satisfy employees' needs
(Berry & Parasuraman, 1992). Fulfilling employees' needs may enhance
job satisfaction and employee retention; by contrast, violating
employees' expectations may result in unwanted outcomes such as
job dissatisfaction or quitting the job (Du et al., 2015).
Despite the existence of an increasing number of CSR studies
using micro‐level approaches (Du et al., 2015; Gond et al., 2017;
Lee, Park, & Lee, 2013; Mueller, Hattrup, Spiess, & Lin‐Hi, 2012), Crilly
(2013) noted that CSR research requires a multilevel, integrative
approach for analyzing the interaction of individual needs and organi-
zational context and capturing the complex nature and multiple paths
of how individuals with heterogeneous needs react to CSR policies
and the implementation of these policies. Crilly (2013) argued that tra-
ditional statistical approaches such as multilevel regression methods –
wherein researchers partition objectives into groups and analyze
within‐group slopes and intercepts as indicators of moderation and
mediation – can estimate variance between levels of analysis and
identify the effects of each level. Nevertheless, the multilevel regres-
sion methods are inadequate for capturing the complex, interactive
effects of the perceptions of CSR practices and the satisfaction of
individual needs on organizational outcomes. Therefore, Crilly (2013)
proposed configurational methods such as qualitative comparative
949
analysis (QCA), which does not involve controlling contextual variables
to isolate the net effect of other variables; instead, QCA entails the
use of Boolean algebra rather than linear regression to analyze the
interplay between contextual and individual factors, leaving room for
the co‐occurrence of competing relational paths between explanatory
variables and outcomes. Cuadrado‐Ballesteros, Martínez‐Ferrero, and
García‐Sánchez (2017) adopted the fuzzy‐set QCA (fsQCA) method
to explore the relationships between board structure and CSR perfor-
mance of 471 companies in USA. The results vividly demonstrated a
non‐linear, complex reality.
The majority of studies on CSR have examined its effects on
organizations' financial performance or external stakeholders' behavior
toward CSR. Less attention has been devoted to the micro‐level per-
spective on internal stakeholders (Du et al., 2015; Gond et al., 2017;
Lee et al., 2013). In addition, studies using micro‐level approaches
have primarily explored the net effects of the specific causal paths in
or between the individual and organizational levels. The aim of the
current study was to explore the interactive effect of CSR perceptions
and needs on employees' outcomes, specifically employees' job satis-
faction and retention intention. In particular, the study applied the
fsQCA method to capture the integrative effects of explanatory fac-
tors on the outcomes by examining the case of a leading chain depart-
ment store in Asia.
2 | L I T E R A T U R E RE V I E W
2.1 | Employee CSR perceptions as they relate to
employee outcomes
CSR is defined as ‘the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on
society and outlines what an enterprise should do to meet that
responsibility’ (European Commission, 2011). Sethi (1975) developed
a three‐tier model to describe the three states of social performance
of corporations: (i) CSR as an obligation to respond to legal and market
constraints; (ii) CSR as a responsibility to cope with the norms and
expectations of society; and (iii) CSR as a state of responsiveness to
proactively engage in addressing social needs. Carroll (1979), Carroll
(1991) has proposed a CSR pyramid model that divides CSR into four
dimensions or categories: economic, legal, ethical and discretionary.
The economic dimension requires that companies be profitable and
generate economic benefits for their stakeholders, the legal dimension
demands that companies obey the law, the ethical dimension calls on
companies to engage in appropriate practices and not cause harm to
society, and the discretionary dimension invites companies to be
good and philanthropic organizations. Bhattacharya, Sen, and
Korschun (2008) further emphasized the internal marketing perspec-
tive, proposing that CSR can be used to attract, motivate and retain
employees. Drumwright (1996) revealed that organizations must
consider CSR as a long‐term process for sustainable value so that
their employees may support the CSR policy and believe in the
organizations' commitment to social responsibility, rather than a
‘green‐wash’ corporate policy.
Social identity theory posits that employees tend to identify with
organizations that have a positive reputation in their community and
950
society (Dutton, Dukerich, & Harquail, 1994; Maignan & Ferrell, 2001;
Riordan, Gatewood, & Bill, 1997; Sims & Keon, 1997; Viswesvaran &
Ones, 2002). As employees perceive that their organizations are gen-
uinely engaged in CSR, from the social identity perspective, they will
be proud of their organizations; this, in turn, increases the degree to
which they identify with their organizations (Ashforth & Mael, 1989;
Brammer et al., 2007; Turker, 2009). Social identity theory also
suggests that a good CSR reputation contributes to organizational
outcomes such as job satisfaction and lower employee turnover; these
positive outcomes are a result of favorable evaluations from external
groups such as local communities, friends and family members
(Lee et al., 2013; Riordan et al., 1997; Turban & Greening, 1997).
Aguilera, Rupp, Williams, and Ganapathi (2007) suggested that
CSR can increase employees' tendency to stay in the organization.
The rationale is that CSR, which is aimed at fostering meaningful and
beneficial connections between the organization and society, can
become a mechanism to enhance the employees' sense of belonging
to the organization. Aguilera et al. (2007) argued that CSR practices
require employees to work together, not only for the organizations
but also for the betterment of society; thus, employees experience a
more meaningful and collaborative work environment, which leads to
higher job satisfaction. For employees, a meaningful connection with
their work and a strong sense of belonging correspond to career or
calling orientations toward work. Another rationale lies in employees'
moral standards. Cropanzano, Goldman, and Folger (2003) emphasized
that employees seek to work for organizations whose practices are
consistent with their moral standards.
Rupp, Ganapathi, Aguilera, and Williams (2006) proposed the
organizational justice perspective, arguing that employees' CSR per-
ceptions could affect employees' job satisfaction, organizational com-
mitment and job outcome. According to Rupp, Shao, Thornton, and
Skarlicki (2013), the person‐centric approach emphasizes employees'
perception of organizational justice. Organizational justice refers to
how an employee judges the behavior of an organization, especially
if the employee or other constituencies are perceived as being
mistreated (Greenberg, 1987). If the organization mistreats external
stakeholders, such as consumers, local communities or the environ-
ment, the perception of injustice will be an impediment to the
employee's identification with the organization (Rupp et al., 2013).
Similarly, if the organization fails to treat internal stakeholders such
as employees fairly and justly, the perception of injustice ensues. Fur-
thermore, Rupp et al. (2013) indicated that perceived justice is associ-
ated with psychological motives such as the need for control,
relatedness and meaningful existence. Rupp and Cropanzano (2002)
suggested that a good perception of CSR enhances employees' assess-
ment that they have been treated fairly by their organizations and
results in higher job satisfaction.
Informed by social identity theory and the organizational justice
perspective that employees value meaningful work, sense of belong-
ing, morality and fairness, CSR researchers posit a positive connection
between employees' perception of CSR practices and individual‐
related outcomes. Zhou, Luo, and Tang (2017) even found an
exponentially positive effect of employee‐perceived CSR on job
satisfaction and affective commitment. Positive employee perception
of CSR strategies is crucial. If an organization develops CSR strategies
LEE AND CHEN
that are perceived negatively by employees, this inevitably leads to
dissatisfaction, thereby impeding the implementation of such
strategies.
2.2 | Employees' psychological needs
Although CSR studies have indicated employees' needs for work
meaningfulness, a sense of belonging, moral standards and organiza-
tional justice, Bauman and Skitka (2012) emphasized the importance
of employees' psychological needs in the relationship between
employees' CSR perceptions and the corresponding organizational
outcomes. Bauman and Skitka (2012) identified four basic psycholog-
ical needs: the need for security and safety, need for distinctiveness,
need for belongingness and need for a meaningful existence. Du
et al. (2015) further highlighted the heterogeneity of employees' psy-
chological needs, which help explain why individuals react to CSR dif-
ferently. On the basis of needs theory, developed by Maslow (1943),
McClelland (1965) and Alderfer (1972), Du et al. (2015) identified
three dimensions of job needs: instrumental, relational and ideological.
Discussing CSR activities that effectively address employees' psycho-
logical needs, Grant (2012) highlighted the importance of employee
participation in CSR, such as corporate volunteering programs. Grant
(2012) and Wood (2007) have called for employee‐centered
understanding and practices of CSR. They suggested that personal
experiences are essential for employees to connect with CSR activi-
ties; in addition, they recommended that well‐designed corporate
volunteering programs can provide sustained opportunities for
employees to contribute their skills and time for the betterment of
their society and community, thus enabling them to cultivate a posi-
tive identification with their companies.
Needs theory can be traced back to Maslow (1943), who pre-
sented human needs in a hierarchy consisting of five broad categories:
physiological, safety, affiliation, esteem and self‐actualization. Alderfer
(1972) extended Maslow's hierarchy of needs by reformulating the
hierarchy into ERG theory (existence, relatedness and growth). The
existence needs include physiological and material safety needs, the
relatedness needs cover the needs of interpersonal safety, social
belongingness and esteem and the growth needs involve self‐esteem
and self‐actualization. To connect ERG theory with CSR, Tuzzolino
and Armandi (1981) emphasized that organizations must create orga-
nizational settings that foster the satisfaction of individual needs,
which will result in higher individual‐related outcomes. In summary,
studies have indicated that the satisfaction of employees' psychologi-
cal needs exerts positive effects on individual‐related outcomes, and a
positive perception of CSR may increase the satisfaction of
employees' psychological needs.
The aim of the current study was to analyze the connection
between CSR perceptions and employees' outcomes, with a focus on
employees' psychological needs. Scholars have indicated the mediat-
ing role of employees' psychological needs in the relationship between
the employees' CSR perceptions and individual‐related outcomes.
Nevertheless, the relationships between CSR perceptions, psycholog-
ical needs and individual‐related outcomes may contain multiple, coex-
istent paths. Thus the regression method may limit the findings to the
net effects of specific paths, failing to analyze the multiple paths that
LEE AND CHEN 951

may coexist. QCA involves the assumption that different combinations TABLE 1 Respondent characteristics (N = 389)
of conditions of explanatory variables may lead to the same outcomes Attribute Option Frequency Percentage
(Fiss, 2007; Schneider & Eggert, 2014); therefore, the present study
Gender Male 117 30.1
applied the QCA method to explore the integrative effect of Female 272 69.9
employees' CSR perceptions and ERG needs on individual‐related out- Age Under 30 years old 123 31.6
comes such as job satisfaction and job retention intention. The con- 31–40 years old 103 26.5
41–50 years old 103 26.5
ceptual model applied in this study is presented in Figure 1. 51–60 years old 54 13.9
Above 60 years old 6 1.5
Education level High school (or below) 134 34.4
3 | METHODOLOGY Diploma/junior college 54 13.9
Bachelor degree 190 48.8
Graduate degree 11 2.8
3.1 | Sample and data collection Marital status Unmarried or other 242 62.2
Married without children 36 9.3
Launched in 1987 and currently employing 1800 people, the Case Married with children 111 28.5
Company is the largest department store chain in Taiwan. Seniority years Less than 6 months 20 5.1
Headquartered in Taipei, the company owns eight stores in Taiwan 6 months–less than 1 year 41 10.5
1–3 years 57 14.7
and nine stores in mainland China, generating US$14 billion in revenue 4–5 years 28 7.2
in 2016. The company prioritized CSR and won the Asian CSR Awards 6–10 years 42 10.8
11–15 years 53 13.6
2017, the most prestigious award for CSR in Asia, in both health pro- 16–20 years 89 22.9
motion and social empowerment categories. With the intention to Above 20 years 59 15.2
align its CSR activities with human resource policy and to fulfill Seniority position 1 317 81.5
2 30 7.7
employees' job needs, one branch store located in Taipei, Taiwan,
3 13 3.3
cooperated with the researchers to conduct a survey from December 4 28 7.2
2016 to January 2017. This branch store was chosen because it is the 5 1 0.3

largest and it contributed the most revenue. A total of 480 question-
naires were distributed to the internal employees of the branch store,
453 were collected, and 64 responses were excluded because their
answers were ‘too good to be true’ – answering ‘strongly agree’
throughout the questions. This yielded a total of 389 effective
responses. Table 1 presents a summary of the respondents' profiles.
3.2 | Measurement
The measures used in this study were developed by referencing the
measures of CSR perceptions used by Glavas and Kelley (2014) and
Lee et al. (2013), the items of job satisfaction and retention intention
used by Du et al. (2015) and the measures of ERG needs used by
Arnolds and Boshoff (2002) and Du et al. (2015). A team of 11 people
comprising a human resource director, two facilitators, a CSR team of
four managers from cross functions assigned by the company and four
researchers finalized the questionnaire. A five‐point Likert‐type scale,
Seniority position: (1) Level 1–Level 3 coordinator; (2) Level 4–Level 5
senior coordinator, Level 6 assistant project manager; (3) Level 3–Level 4
deputy division chief; (4) deputy manager/manager, section manager; (5)
assistant vice president, (senior) vice president.
with anchors ranging from 1 (‘strongly disagree’) to 5 (‘strongly agree’),
was adopted. A pilot test was conducted to ensure the clarity of the
wording. Additionally, to reduce potential risk of common‐method
variance, respondents' anonymity and confidentiality were maintained
throughout the study; the purpose of the study was also clearly stated
in the cover page of the questionnaire (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, &
Podsakoff, 2003). The reliability of the constructs was tested using
Cronbach's alpha coefficients, which ranged from 0.802 to 0.922,
demonstrating that the measures for each construct exceed Nunnally's
(1978) threshold value of 0.70. Confirmatory factor analysis was con-
ducted using AMOS 22.0 to verify the convergent and discriminant
validity of the scales. To indicate the degree of the actual correlations

Employee'
Percetion of Fulfillment of Job Employees'
CSR needs Outcomes
- Economics - Existence need - Job satisfaction
- Labor - Relatedness need - Retention intention
- Consumer - Growth need
- Environment

FIGURE 1 Conceptual model

952 LEE AND CHEN

predicted by a model, Hair, Black, Babin, and Anderson (2010) sug-
gested fit indices such as the chi‐square ratio statistic (χ2/df), the root
mean square residual (RMSR), the goodness‐of‐fit index (GFI), the
comparative fit index (CFI) and the root mean square error of approx-
imation (RMSEA). The thresholds were suggested as χ /df < 3.00, 2
RMSR <0.05, GFI > 0.90, CFI > 0.90 and RMSEA <0.08 (Hair et al.,
2010). The fit indices for the measurement model in this study were
χ2/df = 1.969, RMSR = 0.030, GFI = 0.902, CFI = 0.969 and
RMSEA = 0.050, all indicating a satisfactory model fit.
Table 2 presents the composite reliability (CR), ranging from 0.806
to 0.922, and the average variance extracted (AVE), ranging from
0.582 to 0.798. This result suggests an adequate convergent validity
(Fornell & Larcker, 1981). According to Torkzadeh, Koufteros, and
Pflughoeft (2003), the discriminant validity can be verified if none of
the confidence intervals of the paired correlations among the devel-
oped latent variables includes the value of 1. Table 3 shows a sum-
mary of the descriptive statistics, pairwise correlations and validity
test of the scales. None of the confidence intervals developed include
the value of 1, providing evidence of discriminant validity.
3.3 | fsQCA
QCA was originally developed by Ragin (1987) to deal with high levels
of causal complexity problems with dichotomous (binary) variables
(Rihoux & Ragin, 2009). The main advantage of QCA is that it allows
researchers to work with a small or medium‐sized sample, which

TABLE 2 Scale items and construct evaluation (reliability and validity test)

Standardized Cronbach's
Constructs Items factor loadings alpha CR AVE

CSR perception
Economic My company continues to integrate CSR into its daily business operations. 0.786** 0.851 0.833 0.624
My company establishes appropriate risk control mechanisms. 0.774**
My company requires its suppliers to fulfill CSR. 0.810**
Labor My company aspires to provide the best salary level in this industry 0.754** 0.836 0.841 0.638
My company follows the Labor Standards Act and respects human rights. 0.817**
My company has consultation and communication systems for both 0.823**
employers and employees (such as meetings, staff feedback email,
CSR website, etc.)
Consumer My company exhibits a high regard for customers and maintains industry 0.859** 0.910 0.910 0.770
leading customer service standards.
My company is committed to selling products that follow the laws, rules 0.898**
and regulations to customers.
My company provides correct information about product and marketing 0.876**
activities to customers.
Environment My company continues to conduct environmental friendly activities. 0.863** 0.898 0.900 0.750
My company adopts digital technologies to reduce environmental impact. 0.849**
My company propagates and promotes the concept of environmental 0.885**
protection.
Employees' job needs
Existence The higher my company's operating performance, the better pay I can get. 0.773** 0.869 0.866 0.684
The company gives employees a reasonable and fair salary (including fixed 0.858**
salary, allowances and bonuses, etc.)
The better my job performance, the better salary I can get. 0.847**
Relatedness My immediate supervisor will give me timely supervision and feedback 0.727** 0.869 0.874 0.701
based on my job performance.
The company has strong interdepartmental teamwork in the workplace. 0.894**
My company encourages cross‐team resource sharing and 0.880**
knowledge exchange.
Growth I feel very happy to work at this company every day. 0.882** 0.922 0.922 0.798
I feel a sense of accomplishment from my job. 0.905**
I can make full use of my abilities and skills in my job. 0.892**
Employees' outcomes
Satisfaction Overall, I am pleased with my work. 0.917** 0.918 0.919 0.791
My company is a good place to work. 0.884**
I would recommend this company as a good place to work. 0.866**
Retention intention I can handle my job very well. 0.708** 0.802 0.806 0.582
I plan a long‐term career development in this company. 0.804**
Even if other companies provide similar positions (salary, title, and 0.773**
job content), I will choose to stay in this company.

**p < 0.001; CR, composite reliability; AVE, average variance extracted.
LEE AND CHEN 953

usually suffers from the problem of being too small to draw conclu-

3.943 0.883 0.646** (0.54, 0.74) 0.699** (0.60, 0.78) 0.602** (0.50, 0.70) 0.621** (0.53, 0.71) 0.752** (0.67, 0.83) 0.714** (0.63, 0.79) 0.832** (0.77, 0.89) 0.853** (0.79, 0.90)
sions using traditional quantitative methods (Ragin & Rihoux, 2004).
Ragin (2008) adopted the concept of fuzzy set theory to develop the
Satisfaction fsQCA method, which allows continuous and interval variables in the
models. A fuzzy set is viewed as a continuous variable intentionally
calibrated to indicate degree of membership in a specified set (Ragin,

3.980 0.816 0.689** (0.58, 0.78) 0.797** (0.72, 0.86) 0.664** (0.57, 0.75) 0.707** (0.62, 0.77) 0.820** (0.75, 0.88) 0.785** (0.72, 0.84) 0.810** (0.75, 0.86)
2008). The causal configurations and the outcomes in question need
to be in the form of fuzzy sets with membership values, so as to
Growth need

explain the outcomes by describing the degree to which causal config-

urations are present (Ragin, 2008).
The fsQCA method involves five steps: (i) modeling causal config-
urations and potential outcomes; (ii) calibrating causal configurations
3.816 0.862 0.611** (0.53, 0.69) 0.718** (0.63, 0.79) 0.610** (0.53, 0.69) 0.625** (0.53, 0.71) 0.782** (0.70, 0.84) 0.818** (0.75, 0.88)
Relatedness need

and the outcomes in question; (iii) constructing the truth table; (iv)
analyzing the truth table; and (v) evaluating and interpreting the
results (Leischnig, Henneberg, & Thornton, 2014). Calibration consists
of transforming variables into fuzzy variables. The variables are
assigned values ranging from 0 to 1, according to the degree of mem-
3.799 0.934 0.689** (0.61, 0.76) 0.772** (0.70, 0.84) 0.654** (0.57, 0.73) 0.679** (0.60, 0.75) 0.785** (0.71, 0.85)

bership. After the data have been calibrated, the next step is to con-
Existence need

struct a truth table consisting of all possible combinations of causal

set. For k causal sets, the truth table will contain 2k rows (Hsiao, Chen,
Chang, & Chiu, 2016). Two metrics, consistency and coverage, are
used to measure the parameters of fit. Consistency is the ratio of
the number of cases in which the configuration produces the outcome
3.973 0.957 0.580** (0.47, 0.69) 0.809** (0.73, 0.88) 0.564** (0.46, 0.66) 0.559** (0.45, 0.67)

to the number of cases with the configuration. In general, the higher

the consistency, the stronger the set relationship (Elliott, 2013). Cov-
Environment

erage is the ratio of the number of cases that contain the configura-
tion to the number of cases in which the outcome is present.
Coverage is similar to R‐square in the regression model, representing
4.098 0.839 0.839** (0.78, 0.89) 0.796** (0.72, 0.87) 0.829** (0.77, 0.88)

how much of the outcome can be explained by each solution configu-

**P < 0.001; Confidence intervals of the paired correlations among the latent variables in parentheses.

ration and by the solution as a whole (Woodside, 2013). This study

applied the fsQCA method to capture the integrative effects of
Consumer

explanatory factors on the outcomes by examining the case of a lead-

ing chain department store in Asia.
4.204 0.759 0.870** (0.81, 0.92) 0.790** (0.71, 0.86)

4 | A N A L Y S I S A N D RE S U L T S
Descriptive statistics, correlations, and discriminant validity

Labor

4.1 | Implementation of fsQCA

Before applying the fsQCA method, the raw data need to be trans-
3.818 1.016 0.819** (0.75, 0.88)

formed into set membership scores ranging between 0 (full non‐mem-

bership) and 1 (full membership). The direct calibration method (Ragin,
Economic

2007), which entails using estimates of the log odds of full member-
ship, was used to calibrate the data. Therefore, the three anchors are
the threshold for full membership, the threshold for full non‐member-
4.020 0.831

ship and the crossover point, which must be determined. Generally, a

Mean SD

membership of 0.95 or greater suggests an item that is ‘fully or nearly

fully in’ the set, whereas a membership of 0.05 or lower represents an
item that is ‘fully out or nearly fully out’ of the set. The crossover point
Employees' outcomes

Retention intention

indicates cases that are neither in nor out of the set. In addition, a
Relatedness need
Employees' needs
Existence need

crossover point with a membership score of 0.5 denotes cases with

CSR perception

Growth need
Environment

Satisfaction
Consumer

maximum vagueness (Hsiao et al., 2016). The full membership thresh-

Economic

old and the full non‐membership threshold were set at the 95th per-
TABLE 3

Labor

centile and 5th percentile of the corresponding construct,

respectively. The crossover point was set as the average value of the
954
TABLE 4 Three anchors to structure calibration for conditions and outcomes
Anchors
Variables
Perception Economics
of CSR Labor
Consumer
Environment
Fulfillment Existence need
of needs Relatedness need
Growth need
Employees' outcomes Satisfaction
Retention intention
construct. Table 4 reports the three anchors for each variable in
the study.
Once the calibration is complete, the fsQCA algorithm can be
used to generate the truth tables. The truth tables can be refined
according to the values of consistency and frequency. In this study,
fs/QCA 2.5 software (Ragin & Davey, 2014) was applied to implement
the analysis of fsQCA. The consistency cutoff for the reduction of
solutions was set at 0.74 (Woodside, 2013), and the minimum
acceptable observation (frequency) threshold was set at 3 (Pappas,
Kourouthanassis, Giannakos, & Chrissikopoulos, 2016). In contrast to
parsimonious and intermediate solutions, complex solutions make no
simplifying assumptions (Hsiao et al., 2016). Therefore, complex
solutions were selected to present the configurations in this study.
4.2 | Configurations predicting employees'
satisfaction
Table 5 presents a summary of the 12 configurations (S1–S12) identi-
fied to be associated with high employee satisfaction outcomes. The
consistency levels of these configurations were between 0.820 and
0.967, higher than the threshold of 0.74, and the coverage of each
pathway was between 0.259 and 0.665. Among the 12 configurations,
eight (S2–S5 and S9–S12) contained all three of the ERG factors,
combined with the presence or absence of factors of CSR. In particu-
lar, the presence of all ERG factors, together with CSR perception of
consumer or environment (S10–S12), leads to high employee satisfac-
tion. The presence of CSR factors of labor and consumer (S4), or that
of economy and environment (S5), coupled with the presence of ERG
needs, also leads to job satisfaction. Notably, the presence of ERG
needs with an absence of CSR perception can result in job satisfaction,
as shown by S2 (absence of CSR perception of labor and consumer),
S3 (absence of CSR perception of economy and environment) and
S9 (absence of CSR perception of economy and labor). In short, the
results indicate, to some extent, considerable positive effects
regarding the fulfillment of ERG needs on job satisfaction.
Configuration S6 included existence needs and all four factors in
CSR perception. By contrast, Configuration S1 lacked all CSR per-
ception factors, with the presence of existence needs. This implies
that fulfillment of employees' existence needs can lead to job
satisfaction for two very different groups of people, one with high
perception of CSR practices and the other with low perception of
such practices.
LEE AND CHEN
Threshold for Crossover Threshold for full
full membership point non‐membership
5 4.02 2.75
5 4.02 2.75
5 4.02 2.75
5 4.02 2.75
5 3.86 2.44
5 3.86 2.44
5 3.86 2.44
5 3.98 2.67
5 3.94 2.67
Configurations S7 and S8 showed the presence of only the
CSR factor of environment (S7) or consumer (S8), with the absence
of other CSR factors and the absence of two or three ERG factors.
This implies that, even if employees do not have positive per-
ceptions of an organization's CSR practices and if the fulfillment
of their relatedness and growth needs is relatively low, the
employees' job satisfaction may be high as long as they perceive
the organization positively in the environment or the consumer
aspects of CSR.
The raw coverage results provide important information. Raw
coverage indicates the percentage of the outcome that is explained
by a specific configuration. A higher raw coverage indicates greater
importance of the specific configuration in relation to other configura-
tions. The raw coverage values of configurations S4–S6 and S12 were
determined to be higher than 0.6 (0.624, 0.625, 0.638 and 0.665,
respectively), whereas the coverage values of all other configurations
were lower than 0.4. In fact, the four configurations demonstrated the
presence of at least five factors of CSR and ERG combined. Hence,
CSR and ERG factors are shown to play an essential role in achieving
high job satisfaction.
Configurations T1–T7, listed in Table 5, were determined to be the
pathways leading to low job satisfaction. The consistency levels of
these configurations were between 0.824 and 0.984, higher than the
threshold of 0.74, and the coverage of each configuration was
between 0.275 and 0.584. Among Configurations T1–T7 leading to
low job satisfaction, conditions T1–T3 and T7 suggested that a low
level of fulfillment of growth needs is likely to result in low job satis-
faction. Specifically, Configurations T1–T3 lacked growth needs and
at least three of the four CSR factors, whereas T7 contained all CSR
factors with a low level of growth needs. Notably, high raw coverage
values were observed in Configurations T1 and T3 (0.584 and 0.554,
respectively), which revealed the absence of five or six factors of
CSR and ERG needs. This finding supports the notion that negative
CSR perception and low fulfillment levels of ERG needs negatively
affect employees' outcome.
Configurations T4 and T5 contained all ERG factors and two CSR
factors, coupled with the absence of environment (T4) or consumer
(T5). These two configurations indicate the importance of the environ-
ment and consumer factors, and that the lack of these leads to low job
satisfaction, despite the presence of ERG factors. T6 showed that a
low level of fulfillment of relatedness needs, even if all four CSR fac-
tors and level of fulfillment of the need of existence are high, results
in low job satisfaction.
LEE AND CHEN 955

4.3 | Configurations predicting employees' retention

Economics Labor Consumer Environment Existence need Relatedness need Growth need Consistency coverage coverage coverage consistency
intention
Solution Solution

0.823

0.790
The complex solutions listed in Table 6 indicate six configurations
0.866 (U1–U6) associated with employees' high retention intention. The

0.833
consistency levels of these configurations were between 0.806 and
0.930, higher than the threshold of 0.74, and the raw coverage value
of each configuration was between 0.276 and 0.655. Among these
Unique

0.013
0.002
0.000
0.007
0.005
0.045
0.006
0.005
0.000
0.001
0.000
0.008
0.023
0.006
0.020
0.003
0.000
0.006
0.008
configurations, five (U1, U2 and U4–U6) contained all ERG factors.
This finding suggests that fulfilling employees' ERG needs can enhance
their retention intention. In addition, the importance of environment
0.318
0.304
0.299
0.624
0.625
0.638
0.265
0.259
0.327
0.371
0.363
0.665
0.584
0.330
0.554
0.286
0.275
0.327
0.329
Raw

as a CSR factor cannot be underestimated, as shown by the three con-

figurations U2, U5 and U6. Notably, Configuration U3 indicated that
high retention intention can be achieved when three CSR factors
0.853
0.952
0.952
0.958
0.956
0.935
0.833
0.820
0.953
0.966
0.967
0.953
0.962
0.917
0.984
0.862
0.863
0.844
0.824
(economy, labor and consumer) and relatedness and growth needs
are low, but the level of fulfillment of existence needs is high. This
result suggests that some employees value the needs of existence
(economic rewards) and downplay the influence of other factors on
their retention intention. U3 had the lowest raw coverage value
●
●
●
●

●
●
●
●

●
●
○
○

○
○
○

(0.276) among the six configurations (U1–U6); hence, it is less impor-

tant than the other configurations. High raw coverage values were
observed in configurations U1, U2 and U6 (0.614, 0.617 and 0.655,
respectively), which contained five factors of CSR perception and
Employees' job needs

ERG needs. This finding suggests a positive role of CSR and ERG
●
●
●
●

●
●
●
●

●
●

●
○
○

needs in retention intention.

Table 6 also presents configurations V1–V7 associated with low
employee retention intention. The consistency levels of these config-
urations were between 0.788 and 0.954, higher than the threshold
●
●
●
●
●
●

●
●
●
●

●
●
●

of 0.74, and the raw coverage of each configuration was between

○

0.264 and 0.558. In general, the findings are consistent with the
reports of previous research that low CSR perception and low
fulfillment of employees' ERG needs lead to low retention intention.
●
●
●

●
●
●
○

○
○
○

Configurations V1, V2 and V4 indicated that the lack of CSR and

Employees' perception of CSR

ERG factors lead to low retention intention. The raw coverage values
derived for configurations V1 and V4, which lacked five or six factors
● indicates the presence of a condition; ○ indicates the absence of a condition.
●

●
●

●
●
○
○

○
○

of CSR and ERG needs, were high (0.558 and 0.529, respectively).
Configuration V2 was determined to be the same as S1 in that it
●

●
●
○
○

○
○
○
○

○
○
○

included existence needs but lacked all CSR factors. Although Config-
uration S1 may lead to high job satisfaction, Configuration V2 predicts
that the retention intention will be low.
●
●

●
●
●
○

○
○
○

○
○
○

Configuration V3 was determined to be the same as S10, in which

Configurations for employees' satisfaction

Configuration

the CSR perception in the labor aspect is low, whereas the fulfillment
of ERG needs and the environmental perception of CSR are high. This
finding indicates that, despite a high level of job satisfaction, the
S10
S11
S12
no.

Low level of employees' satisfaction T1

T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
High level of employees' satisfaction S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9

retention intention could remain low if the perception of CSR in the

labor aspect is low. Configuration V6 is the same as T4 in terms of
the presence or absence of factors. Configuration V6 resulted in low
retention intention, revealing the presence of ERG needs and CSR fac-
tors of labor and consumer, coupled with a low level of the environ-
Employees' satisfaction

mental factor of CSR. This suggests that, if employees feel that the
organization fails to pay attention to the environment, their retention
intention will be low, regardless of their positive evaluation of the
organization's efforts in CSR in other dimensions and in fulfilling
TABLE 5

their ERG needs. Configuration V7, the same as T5 with regard to

the presence or absence of factors, contained the economy and
956 LEE AND CHEN

environmental factors of CSR, as well as all ERG factors except for the

Economics Labor Consumer Environment Existence need Relatedness need Growth need Consistency coverage coverage coverage consistency
consumer factor. This indicates that employees' retention intention

Solution Solution

0.825

0.764
and job satisfaction are to some extent affected by their assessment
of whether the organization values its CSR responsibilities regarding
the customers.

0.844

0.793
Unique

4.4 | Effect of CSR perception on the fulfillment of

0.007
0.005
0.005
0.000
0.002
0.009
0.018
0.003
0.007
0.017
0.003
0.002
0.001
employees' ERG needs
The complex solutions listed in Table 7 reveal 10 configurations
0.614
0.617
0.276
0.318
0.362
0.655
0.558
0.356
0.330
0.529
0.318
0.276
0.264
Raw

(A1–A4, C1–C3 and E1–E3) associated with high fulfillment of

employees' ERG needs. Configurations A1–A4 led to a high fulfillment
of existence needs, whereas C1–C3 and E1–E3 led to a high fulfill-
ment of relatedness and growth needs, respectively. The consistency
0.928
0.930
0.806
0.912
0.929
0.925
0.935
0.875
0.788
0.954
0.834
0.846
0.843
levels of these configurations were between 0.766 and 0.906, higher
than the threshold of 0.74, and the raw coverage value of each config-
uration was between 0.758 and 0.861. The study found that the pres-
ence of the economy factor of CSR perception predicts a high level of
fulfillment of all ERG needs (A1, C1 and E1). Similarly, a high level of
●
●

●
●
●

●
●
○

CSR perception in the labor aspect results in a high level of fulfillment

of all ERG needs (A2, C2 and E2), and the presence of the environ-
mental factor engenders positive effects on all ERG needs (A4, C3
and E3). As revealed by Configuration A3, the presence of the
Employees' job needs

consumer factor of CSR perception is associated with a high level of

●
●

●
●
●

●
●
○

○
○

fulfillment of existence needs.

Ten configurations (B1–B4, D1–D3 and F1–F3) associated with
low fulfillment of employees' ERG needs are listed in Table 7. Config-
urations B1–B4 led to a low fulfillment of existence needs, whereas
●
●
●
●
●
●

●
●

●
●
●
○

D1–D3 and F1–F3 led to a low fulfillment of relatedness and growth

needs, respectively. The consistency levels of these configurations
were between 0.766 and 0.852, higher than the threshold of 0.74,
and the raw coverage value of each configuration was between
●

●
●

●
○

0.703 and 0.834. In general, the 10 configurations revealed the

Employees' perception of CSR

absence of CSR factors. Configurations B3, B4 and D1 indicated the

● indicates the presence of a condition; ○ indicates the absence of a condition.

absence of the economy factor of CSR, and configurations B2, B4,

●

●
●
○

○
○

D2 and F1 revealed the absence of the labor factor. The consumer

factor of CSR perception was low in configurations B1 and F2,
●
●
○
○

○
○
○
○

whereas the environmental factor was absent from B2, B3, D3 and
Configurations for employees' retention intention

F3. These findings reveal a negative impact of low CSR perception

on the fulfillment of employees' ERG needs.
●
●

●
○
○
○

○
○

○
Configuration

5 | DISCUSSION
no.

High level of retention intention U1

U2
U3
U4
U5
U6
V1
V2
V3
V4
V5
V6
V7

This study advances the understanding of the interactive effect of

employees' psychological needs and perceptions of organizational
Low level of retention intention
Employees' retention intention

CSR practices on their job satisfaction and retention intention. The

findings contribute to the CSR literature in several ways. First, this
study illustrates the application of a configurational approach to ana-
lyze the effect of CSR. Specifically, this study demonstrates the use
of fsQCA as an alternative method in CSR research, which has been
dominated by multiple regression analysis and structural equation
TABLE 6

modeling. This study demonstrates that fsQCA is suitable for

uncovering the multilevel, complex realities associated with CSR,
LEE AND CHEN 957

TABLE 7 Configurations for employees' job needs

Employees' perception of CSR

Configuration Raw Unique Solution Solution
Employees' job needs no. Economics Labor Consumer Environment Consistency coverage coverage coverage consistency
High fulfillment of A1 ● 0.839 0.757 0.014 0.914 0.778
existence need A2 ● 0.906 0.723 0.006
A3 ● 0.812 0.837 0.023
A4 ● 0.831 0.81 0.022
Low fulfillment of B1 ○ 0.758 0.725 0.021 0.857 0.704
existence need B2 ○ ○ 0.765 0.763 0.04
B3 ○ ○ 0.792 0.703 0.011
B4 ○ ○ 0.785 0.737 0.029
High fulfillment of C1 ● 0.789 0.815 0.029 0.930 0.729
relatedness need C2 ● 0.832 0.76 0.014
C3 ● 0.771 0.861 0.054
Low fulfillment of D1 ○ 0.780 0.771 0.057 0.851 0.756
relatedness need D2 ○ 0.852 0.690 0.013
D3 ○ 0.834 0.732 0.035
High fulfillment of growth E1 ● 0.769 0.799 0.026 0.924 0.720
need E2 ● 0.826 0.758 0.015
E3 ● 0.766 0.860 0.059
Low fulfillment of growth F1 ○ 0.769 0.834 0.096 0.883 0.742
need F2 ○ 0.840 0.776 0.008
F3 ○ 0.834 0.728 0.026

● indicates the presence of a condition; ○ indicates the absence of a condition.

employees' psychological needs and the resultant outcomes of job
satisfaction and retention intention.
Second, the findings of this study echo the reports of previous
studies that positive employee perceptions of an organization's CSR
practices and high fulfillment of employees' psychological needs are
positively associated with individual‐related outcomes (Aguilera
et al., 2007; Bauman & Skitka, 2012; Bonini et al., 2009; Gond
et al., 2017). Configurations S4–S6 and S12, as well as U1–U2
and U6, had the highest raw coverage values among the S or U
configuration groups. These results clearly demonstrate that positive
perceptions of CSR practices, coupled with a high level of fulfill-
ment of ERG needs, lead to high job satisfaction and retention
intention. Based on the findings of the study, to improve
employees' outcomes, top managers of an organization may adopt
measures that enhance CSR and the fulfillment of employees'
psychological needs.
Third, configurations of T4 (the same as V6) and T5 (the same as
V7) implied that, for some employees, if their perception of the con-
sumer or environmental factors of CSR is low, their job satisfaction
and retention intention will also be low, regardless of the presence
of other factors. The environmental factor of CSR was low in Con-
figurations T4 and V6, leading to low job satisfaction and low reten-
tion intention, whereas the ERG factors as well as the labor and
consumer factors were high. Similarly, Configurations T5 and V7,
which led to low job satisfaction or low retention intention, revealed
the absence of the consumer factor of CSR, coupled with the pres-
ence of the ERG factors and economy and environmental factors.
This finding suggests that organizations must pay particular attention
to the consumer and environmental factors of CSR, because the two
factors are necessary for achieving desirable employees' outcomes.
Our finding is consistent with the results of the study by Wang
and Juslin of the perception of Chinese youth on CSR that, facing
the mounting environmental crisis in China, Chinese young people
want corporations to be more environmentally responsible (Wang
& Juslin, 2011).
Fourth, the study findings demonstrate equifinality. Multiple
configurations to individual‐related outcomes were identified. For
instance, six configurations (U1–U6) were determined for high
retention intention. This demonstrates that individuals perceive
CSR factors differently and respond differently to them (Du et al.,
2015; Rupp & Mallory, 2015). Grant (2012) emphasized the need
for employees to develop personal connections with organizational
CSR activities. Onkila's (2015) qualitative research on 27 employees
in a Finnish financial service company also found that employees'
perception of CSR is influenced by their personal values, needs
and interpretation of the CSR goals and practices of the organization
(Onkila, 2015). In other words, a bottom‐up, self‐screening mecha-
nism for individuals to participate in, or respond to, CSR activities
can be beneficial. The existence of equifinal configurations seemingly
supports a bottom‐up, individual‐based view of employees' diverse
reactions to organizational CSR practices and fulfillment of
employees' ERG needs. Therefore, this study suggests that managers
must find a balance between the top‐down and bottom‐up
approaches to CSR.
Fifth, the findings (the 20 configurations denoted A–F) indicate a
strong connection between CSR perception and the fulfillment of ERG
needs. This echoes the justice perspective of CSR, which states that
CSR efforts improve fairness among internal and external stakeholders
and contribute to the fulfillment of employees' psychological needs.
Finally, this study contributes psychological ERG factors to CSR
research. Because adding one factor to the QCA method increases
the solution complexity in a geometric progression, this study lim-
ited the number of independent variables to four CSR factors
and three ERG factors. The co‐occurrence of configurations conclu-
sively demonstrates that CSR, and not ERG alone, cannot predict
outcomes.
958
6 | L I M I T A T I O NS A N D F U T U R E R E S E A R C H
DIRECTIONS
This study has several limitations that must be noted. First, the study
was based on employees' self‐reporting data, which are commonly
accepted as a primary and reliable source of data in acquiring the level
of satisfaction and fulfillment of psychological needs that may affect
individual behavior; nevertheless, the self‐reporting method is not free
from subjective bias (Wang, Jome, Haase, & Bruch, 2006). Second,
although the study focused on the interactive effects of the
combinations of CSR perception and employees' ERG needs on
outcomes, the study failed to fully incorporate demographic factors
such as gender, education level, age, seniority, managerial role and
type of work into the analysis. In particular, gender differences in
CSR perceptions regarding business sustainability have been reported
(Hur, Kim, & Jang, 2016). Third, the study collected cross‐sectional
data, thus lacking a longitudinal understanding of the connections
between conditions and outcomes. Future research may explore the
longitudinal aspect. Fourth, the findings of the study are limited to
the context of one specific chain department store; thus, the general-
izability of the findings may be questionable.
7 | C O N CL U S I O N
In conclusion, this study applied fsQCA to explore the integrative
effect of CSR perception and employees' needs (existence, related-
ness and growth) on individual‐related outcomes (job satisfaction
and retention intention). The identified configurations largely fit
with the findings from prior research, but they also represent
various pathways leading to the same outcomes. While multiple
regression analysis or structural equation modeling can identify par-
simonious linkages between independent and dependent variables,
the present study elucidates the application of fsQCA to CSR
research. Ashby (1956) proposed the famous ‘law of requisite vari-
ety’, arguing that the number of states of the control mechanism of
a stable system must not be less than the number of states in the
system being controlled; Beer (1981) rephrased this axiom, stating
‘only variety absorbs variety’. Hence, due to the existence of
heterogeneity in the workplace, researchers are unable to apply a
formula, or employ a research method, that addresses every state
expressed by an experimental group. As long as employees are het-
erogeneous in their perceptions and expectations, the linkage
between CSR and individual‐related outcomes, despite a parsimoni-
ous selection of explanatory factors, will involve complex, multiple
configurations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMEN T
This work was partially supported by grants from the Ministry of
Science and Technology, Taiwan.
ORCID
Leemen Lee http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8422-9838
Li‐Fei Chen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1360-2110
LEE AND CHEN
RE FE RE NC ES
Aguilera, R. V., Rupp, D. E., Williams, C. A., & Ganapathi, J. (2007). Putting
the S back in corporate social responsibility: A multilevel theory of
social change in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 32(3),
836–863.
Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2012). What we know and don't know about cor-
porate social responsibility: A review and research agenda. Journal of
Management, 38, 932–968.
Alderfer, C. P. (1972). Existence, relatedness, and growth. New York, NY:
Free Press.
Arnolds, C. A., & Boshoff, C. (2002). Compensation, esteem valence and
job performance: An empirical assessment of Alderfer's ERG theory.
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 13(4), 697–719.
Ashby, W. R. (1956). An introduction to cybernetics. London, UK: Chapman
and Hall.
Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organiza-
tion. Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 20–39.
Bauman, C. W., & Skitka, L. J. (2012). Corporate social responsibility as a
source of employee satisfaction. Research in Organizational Behavior,
32, 63–86.
Beer, S. (1981). Brain of the firm (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.
Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1992). Services marketing starts from
within. Marketing Management, 1(1), 24–34.
Bhattacharya, C. B., Sen, S., & Korschun, D. (2008). Using corporate respon-
sibility to win the war for talent. Sloan Management Review, 49(2), 37–44.
Bonini, S., Koller, T. M., & Mirvis, P. H. (2009). Valuing social responsibility
programs. McKinsey Quarterly, 32, 11–18.
Brammer, S., Millington, A., & Rayton, B. (2007). The contribution of corpo-
rate social responsibility to organizational commitment. International
Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(10), 1701–1719.
Carroll, A. B. (1979). A three‐dimensional conceptual model of corporate
performance. Academy of Management Review, 4(4), 497–505.
Carroll, A. B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward
the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Hori-
zons, 34(4), 39–48.
Crilly, D. (2013). Corporate social responsibility: A multilevel explanation of
why managers do good. In P. C. Fiss, B. Cambré, & A. Marx (Eds.), Con-
figurational theory and methods in organizational research (Research in
the sociology of organizations, Volume 38) (pp. 181–204). City of Brad-
ford, UK: Emerald.
Cropanzano, R., Goldman, B., & Folger, R. (2003). Deontic justice: The role
of moral principles in workplace fairness. Journal of Organizational
Behavior, 24(8), 1019–1024.
Cuadrado‐Ballesteros, B., Martínez‐Ferrero, J., & García‐Sánchez, I. M.
(2017). Board structure to enhance social responsibility development:
A qualitative comparative analysis of US companies. Corporate Social
Responsibility and Environmental Management, 24(6), 524–542.
Drumwright, M. E. (1996). Company advertising with a social dimension:
The role of noneconomic criteria. Journal of Marketing, 60(4), 71–87.
Du, S., Bhattacharya, C. B., & Sen, S. (2015). Corporate social responsibility,
multi‐faceted job‐products, and employee outcomes. Journal of Busi-
ness Ethics, 131(2), 319–335.
Dutton, J. E., Dukerich, J. M., & Harquail, C. V. (1994). Organizational
images and member identification. Administrative Science Quarterly,
39(2), 239–263.
Elliott, T. (2013). Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis: An introduction.
Statistics Group, UCI: Research notes.
European Commission (2011). Corporate social responsibility: A new defi-
nition, a new agenda for action. In MEMO/11/730.
Fiss, P. C. (2007). A set‐theoretic approach to organizational configura-
tions. Academy of Management Review, 32(4), 1180–1198.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models
with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Market-
ing Research, 18(1), 39–50.
LEE AND CHEN
Glavas, A., & Kelley, K. (2014). The effects of perceived corporate social
responsibility on employee attitudes. Business Ethics Quarterly, 24(2),
165–202.
Gond, J. P., El Akremi, A., Swaen, V., & Babu, N. (2017). The psychological
microfoundations of corporate social responsibility: A person‐centric
systematic review. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(2), 225–246.
Grant, A. M. (2012). Giving time, time after time: Work design and
sustained employee participation in corporate volunteering. Academy
of Management Review, 37(4), 589–615.
Greenberg, J. (1987). A taxonomy of organizational justice theories. Acad-
emy of Management Review, 12(1), 9–22.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate
data analysis (7th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Hsiao, Y. H., Chen, L. F., Chang, C. C., & Chiu, F. H. (2016). Configurational
path to customer satisfaction and stickiness for a restaurant chain
using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. Journal of Business
Review, 69, 2939–2948.
Hur, W. M., Kim, H., & Jang, J. H. (2016). The role of gender differences in
the impact of CSR perceptions on corporate marketing outcomes.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 23(6),
345–357.
Kim, H. R., Lee, M., Lee, H. T., & Kim, N. M. (2010). Corporate social
responsibility and employee–company identification. Journal of Busi-
ness Ethics, 95(4), 557–569.
Lee, E. M., Park, S. Y., & Lee, H. J. (2013). Employee perception of CSR
activities: Its antecedents and consequences. Journal of Business
Research, 66(10), 1716–1724.
Leischnig, A., Henneberg, S. C., & Thornton, S. C. (2014). Performing con-
figurational analyses in management research: A fuzzy set approach.
In Competitive paper submitted to the 30th IMP Conference 2014,
Bordeaux. Retrieved from http://impgroup.org/uploads/papers/8235.
pdf
Maignan, I., & Ferrell, O. C. (2001). Antecedents and benefits of corporate
citizenship: An investigation of French businesses. Journal of Business
Research, 51(1), 37–51.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review,
50(4), 370–396.
McClelland, D. C. (1965). Toward a theory of motive acquisition. American
Psychologist, 20(5), 321–333.
Mueller, K., Hattrup, K., Spiess, S. O., & Lin‐Hi, N. (2012). The effects of
corporate social responsibility on employees' affective commitment:
A cross‐cultural investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(6),
1186–1200.
Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw‐Hill.
Onkila, T. (2015). Pride or embarrassment? Employees' emotions and cor-
porate social responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility and
Environmental Management, 22(4), 222–236.
Pappas, I. O., Kourouthanassis, P. E., Giannakos, M. N., & Chrissikopoulos,
V. (2016). Explaining online shopping behavior with fsQCA: The role
of cognitive and affective perceptions. Journal of Business Research,
69, 794–803.
Peloza, J. (2009). The challenge of measuring financial impacts from invest-
ments in corporate social performance. Journal of Management, 35(6),
1518–1541.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003).
Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of
the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychol-
ogy, 88(5), 879–903.
Ragin, C. C. (1987). The comparative method: Moving beyond qualitative and
quantitative strategies. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Ragin, C. C. (2007). Fuzzy sets: Calibration versus measurement. Methodol-
ogy volume of Oxford handbooks of Political Science Retrieved from
http://www.compasss.org/wpseries/Ragin2007.pdf
959
Ragin, C. C. (2008). Redesigning social inquiry: Fuzzy sets and beyond. Chi-
cago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Ragin, C. C., & Davey, S. (2014). fs/QCA [computer program], Version 2.5.
Irvine, CA: University of California, Irvine.
Ragin, C. C., & Rihoux, B. (2004). Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA):
State of the art and prospects. Qualitative Methods, 2(2), 3–13.
Rihoux, B., & Ragin, C. C. (2009). Configurational comparative methods:
Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and related techniques. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Riordan, C. M., Gatewood, R. D., & Bill, J. B. (1997). Corporate image:
Employee reactions and implications for managing corporate social
performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(4), 401–412.
Rupp, D. E., & Cropanzano, R. (2002). The mediating effects of social
exchange relationships in predicting workplace outcomes from
multifoci organizational justice. Organizational Behavior and Human
Decision Processes, 89(1), 925–946.
Rupp, D. E., Ganapathi, J., Aguilera, R. V., & Williams, C. A. (2006).
Employee reactions to corporate social responsibility: An organiza-
tional justice framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(4),
537–543.
Rupp, D. E., & Mallory, D. B. (2015). Corporate social responsibility: Psy-
chological, person‐centric, and progressing. Annual Review of
Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2(1), 211–236.
Rupp, D. E., Shao, R., Thornton, M. A., & Skarlicki, D. P. (2013). Applicants'
and employees' reactions to corporate social responsibility: The moder-
ating effects of first‐party justice perceptions and moral identity.
Personnel Psychology, 66(4), 895–933.
Schneider, M. R., & Eggert, A. (2014). Embracing complex causality with
the QCA method: An invitation. Journal of Business Marketing Manage-
ment, 7(1), 312–328.
Sethi, S. P. (1975). Dimensions of corporate social performance: An analyt-
ical framework. California Management Review, 17(3), 58–64.
Sims, R. L., & Keon, T. L. (1997). Ethical work climate as a factor in the
development of person–organization fit. Journal of Business Ethics,
16(11), 1095–1105.
Torkzadeh, G., Koufteros, X., & Pflughoeft, K. (2003). Confirmatory analysis
of computer self‐efficacy. Structural Equation Modeling, 10(2), 263–275.
Turban, D. B., & Greening, D. W. (1997). Corporate social performance and
organizational attractiveness to prospective employees. Academy of
Management Journal, 40(3), 658–672.
Turker, D. (2009). How corporate social responsibility influences organiza-
tional commitment. Journal of Business Ethics, 89(2), 189–204.
Tuzzolino, F., & Armandi, B. R. (1981). A need‐hierarchy framework for
assessing corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management
Review, 6(1), 21–28.
Vilkė, R. (2014). Corporate social responsibility as innovation: Recent
developments in Lithuania. Economics and Business, 26, 119–125.
Viswesvaran, C., & Ones, D. S. (2002). Examining the construct of organi-
zational justice: A meta‐analytic evaluation of relations with work
attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Business Ethics, 38(3), 193–203.
Wang, L., & Juslin, H. (2011). The effects of value on the perception of cor-
porate social responsibility implementation: A study of Chinese youth.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 18(4),
246–262.
Wang, N., Jome, L. M., Haase, R. F., & Bruch, M. A. (2006). The role of per-
sonality and career decision‐making self‐efficacy in the career choice
commitment of college students. Journal of Career Assessment, 14(3),
312–332.
Wood, E. (2007). What about me? The importance of understanding the
perspective of non‐managerial employees in research on corporate cit-
izenship. In F. den Hond, F. G. A. de Bakker, & P. Neergaard (Eds.),
Managing corporate social responsibility in action: Talking, doing and mea-
suring (pp. 111–126). Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
960
Woodside, A. G. (2013). Moving beyond multiple regression analysis to
algorithms: Calling for adoption of a paradigm shift from symmetric
to asymmetric thinking in data analysis and crafting theory. Journal of
Business Research, 66(4), 465–472.
Wrzesniewski, A., McCauley, C., Rozin, P., & Schwartz, B. (1997). Jobs,
careers, and callings: People's relations to their work. Journal of
Research in Personality, 31(1), 21–33.
Zhou, Z., Luo, B. N., & Tang, T. L. P. (2017). Corporate social responsibility
excites ‘exponential’ positive employee engagement: The Matthew
effect in CSR and sustainable policy. Corporate Social Responsibility
and Environmental Management.. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1464
LEE AND CHEN
Zhu, Q. H., Hang, Y., Liu, J. J., & Lai, K. H. (2014). How is employee percep-
tion of organizational efforts in corporate social responsibility related
to their satisfaction and loyalty towards developing harmonious society
in Chinese enterprises? Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmen-
tal Management, 21(1), 28–40.
How to cite this article: Lee L, Chen L‐F. Boosting employee
retention through CSR: A configurational analysis. Corp Soc
Resp Env Ma. 2018;25:948–960. https://doi.org/10.1002/
csr.1511
Copyright of Corporate Social Responsibility & Environmental Management is the property
of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or
posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users
may print, download, or email articles for individual use.