Beyond the Social Mission: How Social Responsibility in Nonprofit Organizations May Stimulate Positive Employee Outcomes

Building on social exchange theory and self-determination theory, this paper studies how commitment to social responsibility in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) affects their employees. Social responsibility concerns NPOs' voluntary engagement into ethical behaviour extending beyond the narrow mandate of their social mission and legal responsibilities. Given the prosocial motivation of nonprofit employees, it is argued that contributing to the well-being of stakeholders beyond the social mission by engaging in social responsibility may result in favourable employee outcomes. The results of our study, using a sample of 1335 employees of healthcare NPOs in Flanders, confirm that social responsibility positively relates to employees' organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) as commitment to social responsibility enhances perceptions of organizational support and social impact potential among nonprofit employees. The results further indicate that the consistent display of integrity and moral values by leaders by demonstrating leadership integrity positively influences the relationship between social responsibility and OCB.