Linking CSR Communication to Corporate Reputation: Understanding Hypocrisy, Employees’ Social Media Engagement and CSR-Related Work Engagement

Based on the social exchange theory and the signaling theory, we proposed a conceptual model of effective CSR communication and corporate reputation integrating employees’ hypocrisy toward their employers’ corporate behavior, employees’ CSR-related social media engagement and work engagement. We tested our proposed model based on an employee survey (n = 811). Structural equational modeling (SEM) analyses were conducted while controlling variables that could exert confounding effects on our proposed model. All the hypotheses were supported by our collected data. Effective CSR communication factors turned out to be significant predictors for hypocrisy, employees’ social media engagement and CSR-related work engagement, and corporate reputation. Hypocrisy and engagement were also significant mediators in our proposed model. The key findings of the study made theoretical contributions to CSR and employee communication scholarship. Practical implications of the findings of this study were also discussed.