Proactive or Reactive CSR? How Timing and CSR-Crisis Fit Shape Employees’ Moral Emotions and Forgiveness

This study investigates when corporate CSR engagement functions as a reputational buffer versus a liability during crises by examining the joint effects of CSR-crisis fit (high vs. low) and CSR timing (proactive vs. reactive) on employees’ moral emotions and forgiveness intentions. Focusing on employees, whose proximity to organizational values and practices makes them sensitive to the moral implications of CSR engagement, this study conceptualizes CSR engagement during crises as a moral appraisal process. A 2 × 2 between-subjects online experiment with 332 full-time employees revealed that under reactive CSR, high CSR-crisis fit significantly reduced negative moral emotions compared to low fit, indicating that domain-aligned post-crisis CSR is more likely to be interpreted as responsibility taking. Under proactive CSR, however, CSR-crisis fit did not differentiate emotional responses, suggesting that proactive CSR may establish a broader baseline of moral expectation that makes specific CSR-crisis fit less diagnostic once a crisis occurs. Negative moral emotions in turn reduced forgiveness intentions, and moderated mediation analyses showed that CSR timing conditioned the indirect effect of CSR-crisis fit on forgiveness through moral emotions. By highlighting the employee perspective and identifying negative moral emotions as a key mechanism, this study advances strategic communication theory and practice: CSR timing and CSR-crisis fit operate as interpretive cues shaping employees’ moral appraisal and post-crisis forgiveness.