Internal corporate social responsibility in times of uncertainty: does working from home harm the creativity link?

What is it about?

The COVID-19 pandemic hit companies worldwide unexpectedly, giving tremendous change momentum when governmental restrictions regarding social distancing led to an increasing number of employees working from home. To address this sudden change and answer the research question pertaining to human resource management in the title, we provide companies with an orientation allowing them to face their current identification crisis, their diminishing creativity, and their employees’ overall reduced well-being. We undertake research focused on linking internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions and creativity, theorizing that internal CSR actions not only influence creativity, but also lead to harmful stress if not appropriately established. Our empirical analysis results show that companies should focus on internal CSR for the following two reasons: it increases employees’ creativity and it reduces one harmful aspect of stress, namely threat followed by a liberation of mental capacity that allows more creativity. Emphasizing internal CSR actions could also prevent damage in employee/employer relationship and therefore sustain employees’ identification with the company in times of uncertainty, as it is grounded in social identity theory. Further, the negative effect of working from home on the relationship between internal CSR and creativity may be balanced out through emphasized internal CSR actions.

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