Page 93 - 35-2

NTU Management Review
Vol. 35 No. 2 Oct. 2025, 85-128
https://doi.org/10.6226/NTUMR.202510_35(2).0003

Internal-External CSR Balance or Favoritism? Exploring the
Impacts of Perceived Internal and External Corporate Social
Responsibility on Employee Organizational Identification from

the Attribution Perspective

內外兼顧抑或厚此薄彼？從動機歸因角度探討知覺內、外

部企業社會責任對員工組織認同的效應

Shu-Chen Chen, Department of Business Administration, Ming Chuan University
陳淑貞 / 銘傳大學企業管理學系
Chih-Jen Hu, Department of Business Administration, Ming Chuan University
胡致仁 / 銘傳大學企業管理學系
Na-Ting Liu, Department of Business Administration, Ming Chuan University
劉娜婷 / 銘傳大學企業管理學系
Received 2024/5, Final revision received 2025/6

Abstract
In this study, we use attribution theory and social identity theory to develop a parallel
mediated moderation model. Our goal is to explore whether the interaction between
external and internal corporate social responsibility (ESCR and ICSR) influences the
substantive and symbolic motivational attributions of employees, and to determine how
these attributions, in turn, affect organizational identification. Although prior studies have
examined the inconsistencies between ECSR and ICSR perceptions and their potential
influence on employees’ motivational attributions, limited attention has been paid to how
these interactions shape organizational identification. According to attribution-based
models, individuals may develop multiple attributional cognitions for specific events at the
same time. Thus, employees may perceive organizational CSR efforts as simultaneously
driven by both substantive and symbolic motives. However, whether and how the interplay
between perceived ECSR and ICSR contributes to such dual attributions and ultimately
leads to divergent effects on organizational identification remain an underexplored area.
In this study, to minimize common method variance (CMV), we collect data at two time
points from 209 respondents employed across diverse organizations in Taiwan. We then
analyze these data using Mplus 8.3 software. The results indicate that the interaction
between ICSR and ECSR is positively associated with substantive attributions, but
negatively associated with symbolic attributions. Specifically, when perceived ICSR
increases, the positive relationship between perceived ECSR and substantive attribution
becomes stronger, whereas the negative relationship between perceived ECSR and
symbolic attribution becomes weaker. Furthermore, substantive attribution is positively
associated with employee organizational identification, whereas symbolic attribution
is negatively associated with employee organizational identification. Nonetheless, both

領域主編：黃家齊教授

85