Congruence of Corporate Social Responsibility Moral Framing and Employee Moral Identity: A Value Co-Creation Behavior Perspective

Author First name, Last name, Institution

• Wajeeha Raoof, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille
• Emmanuelle Reynaud, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille
• Omer Farooq, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi Campus
• Muhammad Arshad, KEDGE Business School

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Journal of Business Ethics

Publication Date

7-28-2026

Abstract

Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication is widespread, limited research has examined how moral CSR framing shapes employee perceptions, value co-creation, and related ethical implications. Drawing on signaling theory, this research develops and tests a moderated mediation model in which CSR moral framing interacts with employees’ moral identity to shape value congruence and indirectly influence employees’ value co-creation through the firm’s moral image. The model is tested through two vignette-based experiments and one multilevel field survey. Study 1 (182 employees) manipulates CSR moral framing, whereas Study 2 (172 employees) manipulates firm moral image to establish the causal pathway linking CSR moral framing to employee value co-creation. Study 3, involving 99 managers and 482 employees, validates the model in the service sector. Across all studies, morally framed CSR communication strengthened employee perceptions of the firm’s moral image, which subsequently enhanced value co-creation, particularly among employees with high moral identity. This study advances CSR research by identifying employee value co-creation as a key outcome of morally framed communication and by establishing firm moral image and moral identity as the mechanism and boundary condition underlying this relationship. The study also contributes to business ethics by thickening the concept of CSR and deepening the ethical analysis within signaling theory, demonstrating how the moral framing of CSR shapes employees’ moral evaluations and ethically grounded behaviors, and why the resulting ethical stakes are normatively significant within organizations.

DOI Link

10.1007/s10551-026-06381-x

ISSN

0167-4544

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Disciplines

Business

Keywords

Communication strategy, Corporate social responsibility (CSR), Employees’ value co-creation behavior, Firm moral image, Moral framing of CSR, Moral identity, Signaling theory, Value congruence

Scopus ID

105046126190

Recommended Citation

Raoof, Wajeeha; Reynaud, Emmanuelle; Farooq, Omer; and Arshad, Muhammad, "Congruence of Corporate Social Responsibility Moral Framing and Employee Moral Identity: A Value Co-Creation Behavior Perspective" (2026). All Works. 8050.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/8050

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no