How and When Does Corporate Giving Lead to Getting? An Investigation of the Relationship Between Corporate Philanthropy and Relative Competitive Performance from a Micro-process Perspective

The corporate ethics literature has considerably focused on whether giving (corporate philanthropy) results in getting (firm performance). However, the relationship between corporate philanthropy and performance and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Drawing on signaling and cue consistency theories, we develop and test a model that specifies whether, how, and when corporate philanthropy benefits relative competitive performance from a micro-process perspective. Using a Chinese sample of 1623 employees, 145 CEOs, and 145 human resources managers, we found that corporate philanthropy could positively influence relative competitive performance through the internal processes—organization-level citizenship behaviors of employees. Moreover, work–life balance practices strengthen the aforementioned mediation. In particular, when a firm performs high levels of work–life balance practices, corporate philanthropy tends to promote more citizenship behaviors in the entire organization, thereby enhancing the relative competitive performance of the firm. By contrast, when organizations perform low levels of work–life balance practices, the aforementioned mediation becomes nonsignificant. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.