This paper examines how employees respond when they perceive corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives as opportunistic or self-serving rather than genuinely values-driven. Across two time-lagged studies in distinct organizational contexts, the authors show that perceived organizational opportunism can shape employee CSR behaviour in two contrasting ways: increasing moral disengagement and symbolic CSR behaviour, while reducing moral ownership and substantive CSR engagement. The study also highlights the role of psychological empowerment in shaping these moral responses.
Authors and affiliations:
• Jintao Lu (Taiyuan University of Science and Technology; Shanxi University of Electronic Science and Technology; Shanxi University)
• Yue Li (Taiyuan University of Science and Technology)
• Benjamin Laker (Henley Business School, University of Reading)
• Chunyan Wang (Guangxi University)
• Luu Duc Toan Huynh (Queen Mary University of London)
• Valerie Onyia Babatope (MacEwan University)
• Malin Song (Anhui University of Finance and Economics)
