Modeling corporate social responsibility and organizational attractiveness: the underlying mechanism of organizational trust

PurposeDrawing on signaling and social identity theories, the main objective of this paper is to suggest and validate a research framework to investigate the association of corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions with organizational attractiveness by uncovering the underlying mechanism of organizational trust.Design/methodology/approachBy conducting regression analysis, the study hypotheses were tested with the data collected from a snowball convenient sample of 318 potential job seekers.FindingsThe study results revealed that prospective applicants' perceptions about a company's CSR undertakings are significantly associated with their trust in and attraction to the company. Noticeably, organizational trust partially mediated the direct relationship between CSR perceptions and organizational attractiveness.Research limitations/implicationsBased on the study results, some specific theoretical advancements and helpful insights have been highlighted for human resources (HR) practitioners in today's competing organizations. The paper ends by outlining key research drawbacks and directions for possible work in the future.Originality/valueDespite the plausible underlying role of organizational trust in the link between CSR and organizational attraction, empirical studies of this theoretical phenomenon are still lacking in the context of pre-hire recruitment literature. This may be the first study that identifies organizational trust as a salient psychological factor through which job seekers' CSR perceptions become more instrumental in influencing their attraction to a firm.