When Too Much is Not Enough : Internal CSR Communication as a Facilitator of Employee Satisfaction at Umeå University

Abstract: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept receiving more attention from the public than ever before. Companies are no longer operating for purely profit gaining reasons as they are nowadays expected to act as good citizens, which is why having a CSR strategy is increasingly more common for businesses and organizations. CSR has previously revolved mostly around businesses responsibilities towards external stakeholders. Therefore, there is a need for additional research regarding CSR activities directed towards internal stakeholders such as employees. The aim is to contribute to the current literature gap by providing additional information on the effects internal CSR communication can have on employee satisfaction. The theoretical framework upon which the thesis is based contains literature about concepts important for the purpose of the thesis. These concepts are CSR, internal communication and employee satisfaction. The aim of the theoretical framework is to present related theories to provide further clarification of the concepts and to facilitate an analysis together with the empirical findings. The purpose of this thesis is to explore employee perceptions of internal communication of CSR policies at Umeå University to see how employee satisfaction can be affected. In order to fulfill this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees of the chosen organization, Umeå University. In addition, official documents from Umeå University were analyzed in order to increase the informational foundation for the following analysis. The empirically collected information was analyzed in relation to the theoretical framework and the findings facilitated the development of a conceptual model. The model highlights the importance of employee involvement in relation to all three examined concepts. Furthermore it could be concluded that internal CSR communication can facilitate employee satisfaction. The findings can help Umeå University develop their CSR policies with an increased employee focus and involvement in order to achieve higher employee satisfaction.