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NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ADVANCED EDUCATION PROGRAMS

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RESEARCH REPORT
THE INFLUENCE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) ON EMPLOYEE’S INTRINSIC
MOTIVATION

Students : Nguyễn Hồng Anh - 11190263

Đào Thị Thanh Bình - 11190724
Phạm Nam Hải - 11191646
Đỗ Ngọc Khánh - 11192558
Nguyễn Khánh Linh - 11192906
Trần Hoàng Thành - 11194734
Đỗ Anh Tuyến - 11195650
Major : Business Administration
Intake : 61
Class : Management of quality and innovation
Supervisor : Vũ Hoàng Nam, PhD

Ha Noi, 06/2021
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DECLARATION
This research is written by ourselves and all information collected from questionnaire is
permitted to use in the study by all respondents.

Ha Noi, June 2021

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Contents
DECLARATION......................................................................................................................................... 2
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................... 4
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 5
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................................ 8
LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT ...................................................... 8
CHAPTER 2 .............................................................................................................................................. 10
RESEARCH METHOD ........................................................................................................................... 10
2.1 Sample and data collection ............................................................................................................. 10
2.2. Measures ......................................................................................................................................... 10
2.3. Data analysis ................................................................................................................................... 10
CHAPTER 3 .............................................................................................................................................. 11
RESULTS .................................................................................................................................................. 11
3.1 Descriptive statistics of the study variables .................................................................................. 11
3.2 Results of hypothesis testing........................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER 4 .............................................................................................................................................. 13
DISCUSSIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 13
4.1 Summary of findings....................................................................................................................... 13
4.2 Suggestions and recommendations ................................................................................................ 13
4.3. Research limitations and implications for further research. ......................................................... 14
CHAPTER 5 .............................................................................................................................................. 15
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 15
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 16
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CSR Corporate social responsibility

SDT Self-determination theory)

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 3.1 Descriptive statistics of the study variables.

Table 3.2 Result from hypothesis testing.

Figure 1: The conceptual model.

Figure 3.2 The result model
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INTRODUCTION
According to a recent study on the issue of motivation, one of the incentives
utilized to inspire employees is corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Employee
turnover, recruitment, satisfaction, retention, loyalty, and dedication have all been found
to be positively impacted by CSR. (Aguilera, 2007; Heslin, 2008) and therefore,
businesses may be able to exploit their company's CSR profile to boost employee
enthusiasm. CSR is a relatively new management concept that has just recently gotten
more attention from scholars and practitioners. It is still unexplored both theoretically and
experimentally, especially in Viet Nam. According to a current study on the topic of
motivation, one of the incentives used to inspire workers is corporate social responsibility
(CSR) activities. Employee turnover, recruiting, satisfaction, retention, loyalty, and
dedication are all positively impacted by CSR (Skudiene, 2012) so employers will be
able to incorporate their company's CSR profile to boost employee motivation. Employee
motivation is influenced by two forms of incentives, according to the self-determination
theory: external and internal (Skudiene, 2012). The article below we focus only on
research “The influence of CSR on employee’s intrinsic motivation”.
The significance of intrinsic motivation can be explained by a number of factors.
To begin with, intrinsically driven people are said to have greater interest, enthusiasm,
and confidence (Ryan, 2000), which leads to improved performance, persistence, self-
esteem, and overall well-being (Deci, 2008). Second, intrinsic drive is what propels
businesses to long-term success (James, 2004). Despite the fact that intrinsic motivation
is regarded as more vital, motivating people organically is a challenging task for
management because it can only be done indirectly. Intrinsic motivation can be facilitated
in a number of ways, according to the literature, including designing exciting activities,
making the job more hard, or you can establish a positive social climate. Borger and
Kruglianskas (Borger, 2006) discovered a strong link between a company's adoption of a
CSR strategy and effective environmental performance. As a result, a company's
principles and CSR culture play a role in creating a favorable social atmosphere.Thus, the
creation of favorable social climate relates to a company’s values and CSR culture.
The paper is structured as follows. First, the review of the literature on key issues
related to CSR and intrinsic employee motivation. Subsequently follow the research
method description and discussion of the study conducted with sample to demonstrate
the impact of CSR dimensions on employee intrinsic motivation. Finally, the conclusion,
managerial implications, research limitations and implications for further studies are
provided.
For those reasons, we conducted this study to find an answer the question “Does
corporate social responsibility encourage employee work intrinsic motivation?”
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Research method
The research used primary data from online survey questionaires collected from
90 people. We used linear regression analysis to test the relationship between CSR and
employees' intrinsic motivation.

Structure of the report

Next chapters in the following would explain the details of research:
• Chapter 1 describes the literature review and hypothesis influence of CSR on
employee’s intrinsic motivationand research model;
• Chapter 2 introduces research method including sample and data collection, the
measures and data analysis used in this research;
• Chapter 3 provides results of the descriptive statistics and result of hypothesis testing;
• Chapter 4 provides a summary and the discussions about the results; and
• Chapter 5 concludes the report
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CHAPTER 1

LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT

CSR is “context-specific organizational actions and policies that take into account
stakeholders’ expectations and the triple bottom line of economic, social, and
environmental performance”(Aguinis, 2011) .At the same year, CSR is concerned with
treating the stakeholders of the firm ethically or in a socially responsible manner (Mozes,
2011). The literature review of the work motivation shows that a person is intrinsically
motivated in the work when she/he seeks self-expression, enjoyment, interest, personal
challenge, or satisfaction of curiosity (Amabile, 1993).Moreover, intrinsiclly motivated
employees are more emotionally engaged with the organization they work and tend to
relate their personal advancement to their work and organization’s advancements
(Skudiene, 2012). Thus, the influence of CSR on employee’s intrinsic motivation is a
possitive research.
SDT (Self-determination theory) is one of the most commonly used intrinsic
motivation theories (Hon, 2011). According to the SDT, knowing the what (i.e. content)
and why (i.e. process) of goal pursuit requires satisfying the needs for competence,
relatedness, and autonomy. Employees that are intrinsically motivated are more likely to
have the enthusiasm, learning-seeking attitudes, cognitively versatile thought, and
positive affection that are main determinants of workplace job innovation (Hur, 2018). As
a result, when workers are intrinsically inspired by a work atmosphere that constantly
pursues CSR for positive social progress and the promotion of social welfare, they are
more constructive in their approach and approach issues with innovative and creative
minds, resulting in highly valued behavioral results such as creativity, quality, and
innovation.
According to the empirical studies of (Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong, Nguyen Van
Song, Bach, & Sang, 2020), we found that the relationship between CSR and intrinsic
motivation by positive work attitudes. CSR is emphasized, and employees have a
favorable attitude regarding their jobs as a result. Employees that have a favorable
attitude toward their work are more likely to engage in creativity and produce new ideas.
Employees who are satisfied at work are more likely to be happy at home. As a mutual
exchange, support their organization. Futhermore, effective CSR of a company could also
attract employees. Both employer branding and organizational processes are pointing to
CSR involvement as a feasible approach to encourage young employees, as they point to
employer branding to recruit brilliant young staff and organizational processes to retain
it. This argument is supported in the empirical studies of (Kunz, 2020)
Therefore, it is hypothesized:
Hypothesis: CSR effects on employees’ intrinsic motivation.
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Alternative hypothesis: CSR has an effect on employees’ intrinsic motivation: The more
CSR, the more employees’ intrinsic motivation.

CSR + Employees’
(Employees intrinsic motivation
related)

Figure 1: The conceptual model

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CHAPTER 2

RESEARCH METHOD
2.1 Sample and data collection
We conducted a survey on employees in Hanoi, Vietnam to collect data for
analysis. The targeted employees were the youngsters, with the age under 30. We used
the convenient sampling technique to approach and distributed the surveys to the targeted
respondents.
We used online survey as the main method. We received 90 responses, of which
88 were fully answered. So we use those 88 full responses for data analysis.
2.2. Measures
We adapted scales available in the literature for the study variables. All items were
rated on Likert 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The scales
adapted for this present study are included in Appendix.
Employees’ intrinsic motivation was measured by three items adapted from
(Kunz, 2020) These items represent the level of personal opinion about the intrinsic
motivation of employees in the workplace. Sample item is “Because I enjoy this work
very much”.
We adopted the scale developed by (Aguilera, 2007) and measured corporate
social responsibility (employees related) by using four items. These items helps to
measure the level of personal opinion about corporate social responsibility. Sample item
is “My organization applies equitable wage system” or “My organization tries to improve
psychological climate at workplace”.
Control variables was measured by three items which include gender (male or
female), age and occupation.
2.3. Data analysis
We tested hypothesis by using linear regressions in SPSS and the following
one model:
• Model 1: Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
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CHAPTER 3

RESULTS
3.1 Descriptive statistics of the study variables
The correlations table( table 3.1) shows that CSRem was significant releated to
employeein ( r= . 450, p < .001)
Table 3.1 Descriptive statistics of the study variables
Variable M SD 1 2
1.CSR 3.9945 .54669 -
2.EI 3.7978 .63525 .450** -

3.2 Results of hypothesis testing

The model with hypothesis testing results was presented in Table 3.2. The purpose
of the hypothesis 2 was confirming effects of CSR on Employee intrinsic. The
regressions of CSR to EI were significant. In detail, the estimated coefficients CSR
was .523 (p<.001)
The model account for a small amount of CSR towards EI (Adjusted R square
= .203) and explained 19.3% of the variance in EI. In the Model , the value of the
variance inflation (VIF) is 1.000. Since it did not exceed the maximum level of 5, there
was no multicollinearity.
Table 3.2 Result from hypothesis testing
B SE
Constant 1.709*** .446
CSR .523*** .111
R² .203
Adjusted R² .193
R² change .203
F statistic 22.351***
N = 90; †p < .1, * p < .05; ** p < .01; ***p < .001.
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CSR .523*** Employees’ intrinsic

motivation
(Employees related)

Figure 3.2 The result model

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CHAPTER 4

DISCUSSIONS
In this chapter, the results and summarized findings of research are provided.
Furthermore, limitations, future research and recommendations related to entrepreneurial
intention of students would be also presented.
4.1 Summary of findings
The goal of this study was to see how corporate social responsibility (CSR) factors
affect employee intrinsic motivation.
After analyzing the data, we discovered that CSR had a direct impact on
employees' intrinsic motivation. It suggested that people with a favorable attitude toward
their jobs are more likely to be intrinsically motivated. We discovered some similarities
and differences between our findings and the findings of other studies when we compared
them.
In terms of similarity, the company's CSR programs have a positive relationship
with employee happiness, self-image, teamwork, loyalty, retention, trust, psychological
desire for belongingness, employee morale, and commitment (Aguilera, 2007; Heslin,
2008; Turban, 1997)
In terms of distinction, CSR behavior can imply different things to various
individuals at different times, thus we must be cautious in how we utilize and define the
phrase(Campbell, 2007). We suspect that this is due to variances in sample size and
cultural context in each nation, which are causing these disparities in results.
Furthermore, CSR has a direct impact on intrinsic motivation, implying that individuals
who are more motivated would work harder.
Finally, we discovered a link between CSR and intrinsic motivation in our
research. Furthermore, there are positive effects on the intrinsic motivation of employees.
4.2 Suggestions and recommendations

On the ground of research results, several recommendations for management

practices can be provided. The research results revealed that internal CSR
positively influences internal employee motivation. Thus, executives could use
this information in order to resolve practical dilemma by giving the priority to the
areas of CSR, namely ensure be equitable wage system, create favorable
psychological climate at work, engage employees in open, honest and flexible
communication, involve more often employees into decisions-making processes,
and foster personal and career development culture in the organization, which
facilitate more employee internal motivation enhancement
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Furthermore, employees should be more actively involved in the company's

CSR initiatives. This would not only improve information flow, but it would also
make employees feel like they were a part of the firm, allowing them to become
more emotionally invested in CSR projects and a deeper sense of identification
with the company. It is also necessary to analyze the current economic scenario.
One of the consequences of the global economic downturn, which has not
bypassed Lithuania,is related to human resource issues, specifically layoffs and cut
of wages.. Since, external motivation reduces due to the cut of employee wages, it
is even more important to apply internal motivators. The research findings indicate
that CSR is a very important tool that create benefits to organizations and go in
accord with (Hopkins, 2008) observations that CSR leads to positive long-term
affect and is a competitive strategic approach to managing a company.

4.3. Research limitations and implications for further research.

This study is limited to a small number, too general, so further research needs to be
expanded, specific. Furthermore, the survey was conducted during an economic
downturn and included specific statistics. To assess the generalizability of the
findings, we suggest repeating the study in the context of a stable economy.
Since the purpose of the study was to examine the impact of CSR on employees'
internal motivation, a quantitative data survey was the best option. However, it
would be interesting to interview a particular company by face-to-face and find out
their attitudes and experiences with CSR and its impact on employee motivation.
Such qualitative research can provide additional insights into the question under
investigation.
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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION
This paper has been motivated by the prevailing gap in understanding if CSR
activities influence intrinsic employee motivation. It's crucial to understand how different
aspects of CSR affect employee internal motivation, according to the author. Employees
also assess the company's CSR operations and respond in ways that are relevant to their
own behavior.
On the ground of research results, several recommendations for management
practices can be provided. First, the study found that both intrinsic and extrinsic CSR
have a favorable impact on intrinsic employee motivation. Although intrinsic company
CSR initiatives have a greater impact on internal employee motivation than external CSR
activities. into decision-making processes, and promote a culture of personal and
professional development in the organization, which facilitate more employee internal
motivation enhancement. Second, CSR initiatives to improve a company's image and
reputation, as well as a company's management's socially responsible behavior, can help
to improve the company's reputation, have beneficial impact on its stakeholders, and
acquire a competitive advantage. Furthermore, employees should be more actively
involved in the company's CSR initiatives. This would not only improve information
flow, but it would also make employees feel like they were a part of the firm, allowing
them to become more emotionally invested in CSR projects and a deeper sense of
identification with the company.
Because there is a chance that young entrepreneurs will succeed, the findings of
our study can be used to assist firms become more successful in the future.
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