On the Relationship of Hope and Gratitude

On the relationship of hope and gratitude

to corporate social responsibility

Lynne M. Andersson

Robert A. Giacalone

Carole L. Jurkiewicz

ABSTRACT. A longitudinal study of 308 white-collar

U.S. employees revealed that feelings of hope and gratitude

increase concern for corporate social responsibility

(CSR). In particular, employees with stronger hope and

gratitude were found to have a greater sense of responsibility

toward employee and societal issues; interestingly,

employee hope and gratitude did not affect sense of

responsibility toward economic and safety/quality issues.

These findings offer an extension of research by Giacalone,

Paul, and Jurkiewicz (2005, Journal of Business

Ethics, 58, 295-305).

KEY WORDS: corporate social responsibility, hope,

gratitude

Introduction

With the ongoing scandals in business and government,

organizational scholars continue to struggle to

understand the reasons for a recurrence of socially

irresponsible organizational behavior. Two divergent

approaches, one which posits that the primary

corporate responsibility is financial performance

(Friedman, 1970/1983; Marcoux, 2003), and another

which regards financial performance as but one

aspect of the corporation’s responsibility, have focused

on understanding the goals of socially

responsible organizational behavior. Within the latter

approach, sensitivity to other constituencies such

as employees, customers, the community, generally

referred to as ‘‘stakeholder management’’ (Freeman,

1984; Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics, 1999) or

‘‘multi-fiduciary management’’ (Freeman, 1994) has

directed the dialogue toward a more expansive

collective forum.

But when all is considered, the question of what

constitutes socially responsible behavior is seemingly

embedded within the individual level, where each

person’s perceptions of social responsibility will drive

his/her sensitivity to the myriad concerns that arise

in organizational life (Hemingway and Maclagan,

2004). What is considered a worthwhile individual

and collective outcome thus potentially emanates

both from one’s socialization (Inglehart, 1997) as

well as one’s dispositions (see Snyder and Lopez,

2004).

Within the dispositional tradition, the study of

positive psychology and positive