Good Deeds and Misdeeds: A Mediated Model of the Effect of Corporate Social Performance on Organizational Attractiveness

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that corporate social performance is positively related to firms’ attractiveness as employers. The authors propose and test an alternative model whereby job applicants’ familiarity with employers mediates the relationship between corporate social performance and organizational attractiveness. Applicants’familiarity with firms may serve as a signal of firms’suitability as employers, with more familiar firms considered more attractive. Furthermore, a firm’s overall level of corporate social activity (whether “good deeds” or “ misdeeds”) may contribute directly to firm familiarity and indirectly to attractiveness through familiarity. The authors’ results support this model; firm familiarity completely mediates the relationship between corporate social performance and organizational attractiveness.