Can positive employee eWOM be encouraged by organizations through CSR initiatives? The blurring line between the effects of CSR on employees’ actions online.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives are being copiously implemented by organizations due to the multiple bivalent benefits for organizations internal and external stakeholders. Multiple organizations have noticed the advantages of having a socially or environmentally responsible corporate image. This is considered a valuable strategic asset. It has been established that CSR affects internal stakeholders. Employees have been found to have preferable performances, be more committed to their organization and their employee organizational identification is found to be intensified when the organization they work for is actively involved in CSR. Employee social media behaviours are considered important due to the potential they have to act favourably towards the creation of a corporate image online. Messages shared by an employee’s electronic word of mouth (eWOM) (employee-created content) is found to be more credible compared to general marketing content shared by an organization. CSR engagement results in employees being more willing to talk about their company online (through their eWOM). However, CSR cannot be studied as a uni-dimensional construct. In this research CSR was studied as two separate dimensions. The variables internal CSR (initiatives affecting employees) and external CSR (initiatives affecting external stakeholders) was further researched. Thus, this research aims to investigate the effects of internal and external CSR on the internal stakeholder group employees. In addition, how likely it is that CSR will affect their organizational-related eWOM intentions. Quantitative research was conducted to provide an answers and insights into the research question. An online survey was set up in which the effect of both internal and external CSR on employee positive eWOM intentions was investigated. The concepts of employee identification and external prestige were also included as potential mediators between the initial relationshipsstudied. The sampling method used was convenience sampling. A total of 294 respondents were collected. The findings suggest that external CSR has a positive effect on the willingness employees have to engage in positive eWOM. This relationship is partially mediated by both organizational identification and external prestige. The relationship between internal CSR and positive employee eWOM intentions was found not to be significant. Concluding that, focusing on external CSR triggers higher levels of employee willingness to be involved online through eWOM about organizational-orientated topics.