CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND HEALTH AT WORK:

A DAY RECONSTRUCTION STUDY

Dr. Milena ValevaEthNa - Competence Center CSR, University of Applied Sciences

Niederrhein

M.Sc. Ivan ValevErasmus University Rotterdam

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Agenda• Health at Work– Theoretical Background– Method & Sample– Results– Overview of Findings

• Practical Implications for CSR• Theoretical Implications for CSR/Business

Ethics

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Theoretical BackgroundEffort-Recovery (Meijman & Mulder, 1998)

• Investing effort at work is unavoidable, causing acute load reactions• When off-job activities don’t occupy the same type of resources needed for work,

then these activities possess a recovery function

Conservation of Resources (Hobfoll, 2002)• People strive to obtain, retain, protect, and build personal resources• People attempt to restore their resource during after-work hours

Need for Recovery (NFR) (Demerouti et al., 2009)• Sense of urgency that people feel to take a break from job demands when personal

resources are exhausted• Indicates an impaired state of well-being

Well-being (Shirom, 2004; Sonnentag, 2001)• Vigor: cognitive liveliness & physical strength• External Recovery: the extent to which people restore their personal resources to

pre-stressor levels during off-work time/activities

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Method & Sample• Trait Questionnaire to establish baseline levels• Daily Questionnaire to assess day levels• Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) to assess well-being at bedtime and

daily need for recovery (Kahneman et al., 2004) Ecologically valid method of accounting for daily intrapersonal variation Closer examination of momentary constructs experienced at the task level

• 79 participants• 351 days reconstructed• 2,556 logged activities overall• Mean age: 32.01 (SD = 11.19)• Working hours, weekly average: 37.58 (SD = 13)

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DRM: Example

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Results

Scheme*** = p < .001, est = estimate

Direct Effect Moderation Effect

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Overview of Findings

• High Daily Need for Recovery leads to less Time spent on Social off-job activities

• Daily Need for Recovery and Time spent on Physical Activities interact to impact Daily Well-being at bedtime:

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Practical Implications I• The classification of social & physical activities along the

“active vs. passive” spectrum only is not satisfactory• Not the activity, but the subjective experience of an activity

matters:Vitality programs should be diverse in their offering and

encourage employees to try out different activities in non-work time

The ideographic and not the nomothetic approach could lead to diversity and high variety of options for off-time activities

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Practical Implications II• Current vitality programs provide means of external motivation:

Beneficial to individuals already into the given activities Challenge: Reach out and Activate individuals internally

motivated (pleasure) to participate in (a variety of) recovery activities

• To illustrate: A HR-program encouraging employees to visit a local gym by

providing membership discounts by default excludes non-gym-goers who prefer running outside or engaging in team-based sports

• A suggestion: A HR-program should consider individual employee preferences

and go beyond universal solutions: address employees’ needs and offer them an opportunity to improve their well-being

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Theoretical Implications• Findings confirm the general understanding of Business Ethics

and CSR of Peter Ulrich – integrative economic ethics:The internal commitment of the members of an

organization is key.The moral capacity of employees is the starting point of

further ethical reflection,whereby the usual emphasis on externally given norms

isn’t productive in the long run.

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Thank You for Your attention!

Dr. Milena Valeva M.Sc. Ivan Valev