¹Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University, Singapore

Abstract

Employees' deep identification with an organization's identity has been shown to enhance commitment to the organization, job-related motivation and satisfaction, and organization-relevant citizenship behavior. Nonetheless, few studies have looked at how corporate identity influences – or is influenced by – employee participation in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. This qualitative, exploratory study examines this relationship by looking at DHL Asia-Pacific employees' participation in the company's disaster response to the 2004 Asian tsunami. It shows that employee's participation in the disaster-response program – one of the pillars of DHL's CSR strategy – simultaneously feeds off and reinforces their experience of corporate identity. Over time, the interactions between participation in CSR and corporate identity form a self-reinforcing loop. The paper notes that close alignment between CSR strategy and corporate identity and internal communication are critical to the success of CSR programs. It concludes by noting the study's limitations and offering suggestions for future research.