An Empirical Research of Environment Management

2019- 0949 IJOI http://www.ijoi- online.org/ AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH OF ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PERCEIVED CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, ORGANIZATIONAL TRUST, PERCEIVED EXTERNAL PRESTIGE AND ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTIFICATION Chin- Lai Su Doctoral student, Doctoral Program of business operations and management College of management, Chang Jung Christian University, Taiwan Ethel M. Lee MBA, Master Program of business operations and management College of management, Chang Jung Christian University, Taiwan Yuan- Duen Lee* Professor, Department of International Business College of management, Chang Jung Christian University, Taiwan *Corresponding Author [email protected] Abstract This study was designed to survey 200 employees of two big and important companies in Taiwan using an online questionnaire. The first company is Uni- President Corporation (UPC) and the second one is Taiwan Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC). From the 200 questionnaires that were delivered, 135 questionnaires were returned, 126 of them were valid, and 9 ones were discarded. The purposes of the survey were to discover why, how and under what circumstances employees of the above mention corporations respond to their organizations’ Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility (PCSR) initiatives and also, to what extent their perceptions of the organizational trust (OT), perceived external prestige (PEP) and organizational identification (OI) are affected by these initiatives. The results were analyzed by descriptive statistics, ANOVA, hierarchy regression analysis for mediating testing and simple regression analysis for the impact relationship hypotheses testing. The results for the survey are as followings: The perceived CSR initiatives have a significant and positive impact on the perceived external prestige, organizational trust and 245 The International Journal of Organizational Innovation Volume 12 Number 1, July 2019 2019- 0949 IJOI http://www.ijoi- online.org/ organizational identification of employees. Perceived External prestige shows a moderate positive influence on organizational identification. Organizational trust reveals a substan- tial positive impact on organizational identification. Furthermore, PEP has a partial mediating effect on the relationship between PCSR and OI. But OT has a full mediating effect on the relationship between PCSR and OI. Several suggestions and further research direc- tions are provided to the practitioners and academia for the food and petroleum industry in Taiwan. Keywords: Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility (PCSR), Organizational identification (OI), Organizational trust (OT), Perceived external prestige (PEP), Environ- mental management strategy (EMS) Introduction are compromised with corporate social responsibility and how they apply the Research Background, Rationale and terms of sustainable development and Purpose social responsibility in a daily basis. In addition, to examine to what degree the Corporate Social Responsibility perception of CSR impacts the organiza- (CSR) is a term that describes the ac- tional identification (OI), organizational tions of organizations towards social and trust (OT) and perceived external pres- environmental concerns and also, how tige (PEP) of each employee in an or- these actions are related to the stake- ganization. The term social responsibil- holders of each organization. To have a ity was also defined by Carroll (1999), clear understanding of the meaning of which stated “the social responsibility of corporate social responsibility, in this business encompasses the economic, study the following definition was used legal, ethical and discretionary expecta- that corporate social responsibility actions that society has of organizations at cording to the World Business Council a given point of time.” for Sustainable Development was defined as “the commitment of business to The use of the term perceived CSR contribute to sustainable development, in this study would focus primarily in working with employees, their families the perception that employees of an or- and local communities”. While the goals ganization have of the CSR initiatives of some organizations are set on generat- that their organization undertakes. It is ing profits they should also manage their well known that when an organization operations in a way that they might con- totally entirely engaged in CSR initia- tribute to social and environmental per- tives, their employees will have a posi- spectives in the context of sustainable tive perception about their organization. development. The engagements of employees in CSR activities will not only enhance their The purpose of the study is to in- self- esteem but also will allow them to vestigate to what extent organizations obtain a degree of identification with the 246 The International Journal of Organizational Innovation Volume 12 Number 1, July 2019 2019- 0949 IJOI http://www.ijoi- online.org/ organization. The absolute engagement Related Literature Review of an employee to their organization will benefit the organization in a long- term The Evolution of Corporate Social because employees will not feel the ne- Responsibility cessity to leave the organization and will by all means demonstrate fidelity. The The first signs of Corporate Social perception of an employee will also have Responsibility (CSR) where emerged effect in their level of trust. Employees during the 1950’s. It was during the will only trust an organization that they emerging factory system in Great Britain, perceive as being ethical. An organiza- where child labor was considered normal. tion that is responsible of their actions This issue was also present in America. and seeks to cooperate in the well being A management historian called Daniel A. of its community and the environment is Wren suggested that the industrial bet- an organization that can be trusted. terment/welfare movement that was happening during that time was a com- Therefore, due to these positive plete mixture of humanitarianism, busi- behaviors employees’ will not only trust ness insight and philanthropy. The objec- the organization but also, feel identified tive of this movement was to prevent with it. Furthermore, another factor that labor problems and to improve perform- will strongly influence the identification ance. In order for this to happen business of an employee with its organization is and social actions had to be taken. Some the perceived external prestige. Per- of the actions were the settlement of ceived external prestige is the term used medical centers, cafeterias, profit sharing, to describe the opinions, views or per- changing rooms, and accommodation ceptions that outsiders have of an or- (Wren, 2005). ganization and, that will be perceived in a certain way by employees. The percep- During 1918 to 1929, a term tions that employees acquire from exter- known as ‘community movement’ nal sources will shape their attitudes and helped to construct business views of behaviors towards the organization and philanthropy, one of the earliest forms of depending on how positive or negative CSR. New perspectives of corporate these perceptions might be, will dictate social responsibility began to develop the level of trust and identification. when business executives began to have Nowadays, business organizations are close interaction with social workers. It entirely concentrated in generating prof- was because of these business leaders its or services; they are also being pres- that other entrepreneurs became familiar sured by severe competition. However, with social problems in society and be- firms have the obligation to apply and came conscious of the mission of social implement sustainable development in workers. Corporate contributions were their daily operations. fundamental in the development of Cor- porate Social Responsibility. 247 The International Journal of Organizational Innovation Volume 12 Number 1, July 2019 2019- 0949 IJOI http://www.ijoi- online.org/ The important definition of the so- Theoretical Foundation And Hypotheses cial responsibilities of businessmen Development stated by Bowen was "Social responsibility refers to the obligations of busi- Perceived Corporate Social Responsibil- nessmen to pursue those policies, or to ity (PCSR) and Perceived External Pres- follow those lines of action which are tige (PEP). desirable in terms of the objectives and Perceived External Prestige (PEP) values of our society." tend to be the form in which employees assume outsiders view their organization Corporate Social Responsibility Towards (Herrbach & Mignonac, 2004). In other Environmental Management words, employees construct the image of Strategy their organization based on their perceptions of how outsiders perceive their The Corporate Environmental organization. Perceived External Pres- Management Strategy (CEMS) has be- tige is the employees’ interpretation of come a topic of discussion since long the social status of their organization. time ago. The greening of corporate strategies and the urge of growing It is well known that the establish- awareness for environmental conserva- ment of a solid reputation and image is tion is what environmental activists are an critical determinant for the prosperity asking corporations to take into consid- or deficiency of an organization through eration. Welford (1995) stated that envi- out time (Worcester, 2009). In the past ronmental management is one stage in time, it has been recognized CSR as an

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