Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities Of Coca-Cola Company: Examining The Relationship With Employee Satisfaction

Background and Significance

The purpose of this research proposal is to delve into the CSR activities of Coca-Cola Company and to identify the contribution of these activities to its employee satisfaction.

Coca-Cola is one of those few beverage MNCs that have built a reputation in the global market, which needs little introduction. At present, near about 500 brands have been running under the parent company and the business of Coca-Cola is spread in 200 countries and even more across the world (coca-cola.com.au 2017). Among numerous famous brands under Coca-Cola, some famous products like Sprite, Minute Maid, Fanta, Powerade are there to mention a few. Asa Griggs Candler founded the company back in 1886, around 130 years ago and from then it has been running with consistency and innovation throughout (coca-cola.com.au 2017). However, the corporate social activities of Coca-Cola deserve special mention as Coca-Cola has always protected its brand image through notable and praiseworthy CSR activities.

In the broader definition, corporate social responsibility can be described as the relationship of the company with global corporations, individual citizens and the governments of the nations. On the other hand, locally it refers to the relationship between the enterprise and the regional area in which the organization operates. Corporate social responsibility also refers to how the corporation deals with its stakeholders (Vlachos, Panagopoulos and Rapp 2013). Now, as for the Coca-Cola Company, the corporate social responsibilities of it concentrate on reacting to the altering expectations of the stakeholders while making awareness and innovation the intrinsic part of the way business is conducted. Responding to the needs of local area where Coca-Cola is operating becomes also an integral part of the CSR activities of the corporation. Providing leadership in the face of environmental and economic crisis has been one of the greatest instance Coca-Cola’s CSR (ccamatil.com, 2017). The growing interest of corporate social responsibility, however, raises a question on employee satisfaction, i.e. how effective these activities are to enhance the level of employee performance as well as employee satisfaction. The research to be conducted will essentially investigate the connection between CSR and job satisfaction of the employees and the outcomes of this research are likely to open new dimensions for employee motivation and their job satisfaction.

The research to be conducted will have the following objectives:

1. To find out the impact of CSR in the workers’ performance
2. To locate whether impressive CSR activities help to improve workers’ morale
3. To find out whether CSR activity can have an impact on the workers’ satisfaction

To achieve these research objectives, the following questions have been developed.

1. How can a company improve employee performance by engaging in CSR?
2. To what extent can CSR be proved useful to boost employee morale?
3. Does participating in CSR improve the satisfaction level of the employees?

Although Coca-Cola is a huge brand and is spread over 200 nations, it may be unfair to limit the research on CSR and employee satisfaction within the chosen company. In addition, limiting primary research on the employees of a certain nation i.e. Australia is also a research constraint here.

Research Objectives and Research Questions

After the introduction on the topic, in section 2, the report presents a deep insight on the relevant accessible literature and tries to draw some crucial points from there to conduct the research. Thereafter, in section 3, the report delineates the methodology that will be used to collect data to fulfill the previously stated research objectives. The results have been outlined in the section 4 and the ending section, section 5 deals with conclusion as well as the recommendation part that addresses the issues regarding CSR.

The present day organizations have been facing with a new challenge where they are being called to admit the responsibility for the manner they function in the area surrounding them, the people and the natural environment to be specific (Lee, Park and Lee 2013). It is no longer expected from an organization that it enjoy its economic benefits isolated from its surroundings. A stark shift can be observed from the previous trends that now a corporation has to identify itself with the wide variety of expectations from both the locals and the stakeholders. This is known as corporate social responsibilities of a company that is indeed crucial for success. However, many scholars like Shen and Benson 2016, have identified a close relation of participating in CSR activities and improved employee performance within the organization. This dimension of CSR, that had so long been undiscovered has evoked seminal perspective points on CSR.

Studies conducted by Anthony Wong and Hong Gao 2014, show that the majority of employees all over the world have become keen to be a part of those companies where CSR is high.  The possible reason as Zhu et al. 2014 identify, is that engaging with such a company gives a purpose to be connected with something larger other than the regular work. In this perspective, Fairlie and Svergun 2015 seem to add that improved CSR not only engages the employees at work but in life too; many a time the workers and officials of the companies have been seen to spend their off time as a team when they are actually serving the community or doing something purposeful for the local surrounding. Companies that encourage engaging in CSR, consequently have a higher employee engagement and thus, outperform in the market capitalizing on the highest commitment gained from the employees.

Improving employee morale is a significant question that many companies tend to evade due to the possibilities of a sudden increase in the organizations’ operational cost. As Khan et al. 2014, opines that enhancing the spirit of work among the employees and that too with the help of CSR is a difficult issue that is not possible to follow for several small and medium sized organizations. Some scholars like Ditlev-Simonsen and Brøgger 2013, have put forward logic supporting this view stating that CSR activities for employees will include better compensation package and revision in reward and remunerations, which will in a way increase company expense. However, against these negative views, Dögl and Holtbrügge 2014 seem to state that CSR activities offer opportunities for both employees and the corporations and in order to grab those opportunities the employees put extra effort on their part indicating their improved morale for the job. Effective framework for CSR and improved morale, as Moon et al. 2014 states, have direct impact on employee satisfaction too. Apart from the revision in reward and remuneration segment, as mentioned by Ditlev-Simonsen and Brøgger 2013, there are other ways to improve employee morale that should essentially be a part of every companies’ CSR. In view of Singhapakdi et al. 2015, emphasizing on employees’ health and monetary security is also a part of CSR as the employees are a congruent part of stakeholders. Improvement and flexibility in the working environment alongside preserving the human rights of every employee and creating added benefits to the job can potentially in sustain employees’ morale. Besides, it creates good opportunity for the corporation too, as these measures build up a superior brand image for the enterprise giving it a competitive edge over its competitors (Santhosh and Baral 2015).

Research Boundaries

The research conducted by Barakat et al. 2016, clearly shows that the employees with higher participation in the CSR activities are more satisfied in their job than the employees of other organizations, suffering from a lack of CSR. The satisfaction level is also measurable as Hullberg and Sjögren 2016 opine; with decreasing absenteeism, increasing turnover as well as customer loyalty and satisfaction, improving productivity of the employees and the sky reaching revenue growth for the companies indicate the level of satisfaction among the employees. The question however, remains that how engaging in CSR can cause employee satisfaction. In this context, scholars like Ali et al. 2010, have answered that the present employees are more keen on obtaining knowledge about their employers since it gives them a sense of fulfillment and pride about their work. They find a purpose in their work and prefer to choose their employer whose values would match their own. For these reasons, as mentioned by Vlachos, Panagopoulos and Rapp 2013, the employees gain satisfaction to contribute to those companies where their participation would not only bring an impact on the company but on the surroundings as well.

Thus, the literature review significantly underpins the key connection between employee satisfaction and the participation in corporate social responsibilities. Moreover, identifying the barriers in CSR activities, the literature also points out the immense opportunities that these hold for both the corporation and the employees (Korschun, Bhattacharya and Swain 2014). These positive aspects gained from the literature encourages further research to be done on a global company like Coca-Cola, where it will be interesting to find out employee satisfaction level with the high and impressive CSR the company already offers.  

To conduct this research, the researcher would like to use exploratory research method since the research problem is to be solved through surveys and close-ended questions from questionnaire and through the secondary data analysis obtained from the literature review (Moon et al. 2014). Choosing this method would be advantageous to gather the opinions and perceptions of the employees about the corporate social activities of the chosen company. In this context, the researcher would like to apply a descriptive approach to create a completely new theory from the collected data as well as due to the relevancy of the approach with the exploratory research method (Anthony Wong and Hong Gao 2014). This mixed methodology of the research is certain to evaluate the observations in detail alongside offering a concrete opinion and theoretical outline associated with the problem of the research.  

Report Outline

In addition, the researcher would like to apply the case study research design that would enable the research to bring an understanding of the employee opinion and the connection between CSR and employee performance in the contextual analysis of Coca-Cola Company.

In the next stage, both primary and secondary data have to be collected in order to fulfill the research objectives by obtaining required information about the chosen company. The secondary data from the existing literature will be used to frame the foundation to address the research problem (Dögl and Holtbrügge 2014). The websites of Coca-Cola, annual CSR reports of the company, newspaper and journals both online and offline will frame the source of secondary data. The primary data, on the other hand, will be qualitative since the research problem is a rather subjective one. Hence, the researcher, having gained permission to access the employees’ opinion entering into the premises of several Coca-Cola divisions would gather information through open-ended questionnaires. Alongside, interviews of some officers in the managerial level will also be taken after fixing appointment with them. The objective of interviews will be to understand how familiar the managers of Coca-Cola are with the connection of CSR activities and employee satisfaction and that what they are doing to encourage this (coca-cola.com.au 2017).

To conduct the primary data analysis, the statistical software excel is to be used by the researcher to present the outcomes from the questionnaire in a comprehensible manner (Suen and Ary 2014).  To analyze the information gathered from the interviews, the researcher will use coding of transcripts (Lewis 2015). Coming to the secondary data analysis, the data gathered from there is to be reviewed by the researcher to draw conclusion.

The entire research work is to be followed according to the schedule given below in the form of Gant-Chart.

Activity	Months
M June	M July	M August	M Sept	M Oct	M Nov	M Dec
Laying out the framework of the research	ü
Conducting Literature Review	ü	ü
Data collection from secondary sources		ü
Formation of the research plan		ü	ü
Arranging permissions for accessing Coca-Cola employees			ü
Fixing interview appointments with two of the managers			ü
Distributing questionnaire				ü
Taking interviews					ü	ü
Analyzing the gathered data and information						ü
Appearing to a conclusion						ü
Framing a draft						ü	ü
Submission of the final work							ü

The research questionnaire that will help to gather primary data to appear to the result is attached below in the appendix section.

Conclusions

Therefore, the study to be conducted is likely to frame strong opinion about the connection between employee satisfaction and CSR activities of a company. The research conducted on an MNC like Coca-Cola is certain to provide an overall idea about the research problem on other multinational giants as well. The research is well balanced on both primary and secondary data and hence, the results are likely to come out quite authentically. However, it is recommended that while gathering answers from questionnaire, the researcher must take care that the employees can answer without any pressure. It is also recommended not to use only the annual CSR reports of Coca-Cola as it may make the research biased. Thus, with the chosen research tools, the analysis of the data will enable the researcher to conclude much easily.

Literature Review

References

Ali, I., Rehman, K.U., Ali, S.I., Yousaf, J. and Zia, M. 2010. Corporate social responsibility influences, employee commitment and organizational performance. African Journal of Business Management, 4(13), pp. 2796.

Anthony Wong, I. and Hong Gao, J., 2014. Exploring the direct and indirect effects of CSR on organizational commitment: the mediating role of corporate culture. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(4), pp.500-525.

Barakat, S.R., Barakat, S.R., Isabella, G., Isabella, G., Boaventura, J.M.G., Boaventura, J.M.G., Mazzon, J.A. and Mazzon, J.A., 2016. The influence of corporate social responsibility on employee satisfaction. Management Decision, 54(9), pp.2325-2339.

ccamatil.com (2017). Community. [online] Ccamatil.com. Available at: https://www.ccamatil.com/en/our-contribution/our-community [Accessed 18 May 2017].

coca-cola.com.au (2017). Coca-Cola Australia, New Look – Same great feeling. Discover our brands and stay up to date with the latest news and special events.. [online] Coca-cola.com.au. Available at: https://www.coca-cola.com.au/en/home/ [Accessed 18 May 2017].

Ditlev-Simonsen, C.D. and Brøgger, B., 2013. CSR and employee motivation. CSR and beyond: A Nordic perspective, pp.117-134.

Dögl, C. and Holtbrügge, D., 2014. Corporate environmental responsibility, employer reputation and employee commitment: an empirical study in developed and emerging economies. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(12), pp.1739-1762.

Fairlie, P. and Svergun, O., 2015. The interrelated roles of CSR and stress in predicting employee outcomes. In 11th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health, Atlanta, GA.

Hullberg, F. and Sjögren, P., 2016. Motivation through Benevolence: A Case Study on the Impact of CSR on Work Motivation.

Khan, A., Latif, F., Jalal, W., Anjum, R. and Rizwan, M., 2014. The Impact of Rewards & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on Employee Motivation. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 4(3), p.70.

Korschun, D., Bhattacharya, C.B. and Swain, S.D., 2014. Corporate social responsibility, customer orientation, and the job performance of frontline employees. Journal of Marketing, 78(3), pp.20-37.

Lee, E.M., Park, S.Y. and Lee, H.J., 2013. Employee perception of CSR activities: Its antecedents and consequences. Journal of business research, 66(10), pp.1716-1724.

Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, p.1524839915580941.

Moon, T.W., Hur, W.M., Ko, S.H., Kim, J.W. and Yoon, S.W., 2014. Bridging corporate social responsibility and compassion at work: Relations to organizational justice and affective organizational commitment. Career Development International, 19(1), pp.49-72.

Santhosh, M. and Baral, R., 2015. The Moderating Role of Top Management Support in the Link between Csr and Employee Engagement-a Conceptual Framework. Journal of Contemporary Management Research, 9(2), p.1.

Shen, J. and Benson, J., 2016. When CSR is a social norm how socially responsible human resource management affects employee work behavior. Journal of Management, 42(6), pp.1723-1746.

Singhapakdi, A., Lee, D.J., Sirgy, M.J. and Senasu, K., 2015. The impact of incongruity between an organization’s CSR orientation and its employees’ CSR orientation on employees’ quality of work life. Journal of Business Research, 68(1), pp.60-66.

Suen, H.K. and Ary, D., 2014. Analyzing quantitative behavioral observation data. Psychology Press.

Vlachos, P.A., Panagopoulos, N.G. and Rapp, A.A., 2013. Feeling good by doing good: Employee CSR-induced attributions, job satisfaction, and the role of charismatic leadership. Journal of business ethics, 118(3), pp.577-588.

Zhu, Q., Yin, H., Liu, J. and Lai, K.H., 2014. How is employee perception of organizational efforts in corporate social responsibility related to their satisfaction and loyalty towards developing harmonious society in Chinese enterprises?. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 21(1), pp.28-40.