How spirituality affects individuals' attitudes towards corporate social responsibility: a moderated mediation model

The study investigates how spirituality shapes individuals' attitudes toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the micro level. Motivated by increasing expectations for firms to address environmental, social, and sustainability issues, the authors argue that leaders’ and future managers’ moral standards should extend beyond conventional business norms. Prior micro-CSR research highlights psychological traits and personal values as antecedents of CSR attitudes but has largely overlooked spirituality. The paper proposes that spirituality positively influences CSR attitudes because it (1) provides a foundational source for ethical and social responsibility perceptions and (2) emphasizes self-transcendence (universalism and benevolence), directly tied to ethics and social responsibility. The research context is Pakistan, a Muslim-majority developing country where religious and moral values strongly influence CSR expectations. MBA students, as future managers, were surveyed to understand their CSR attitudes and the mechanisms through which spirituality exerts its influence. The study aims to test a moderated mediation model in which idealism mediates the spirituality–CSR attitudes link, and relativism moderates the spirituality–idealism path.

Spirituality lacks a universally accepted definition but commonly encompasses intrinsic values, connectedness, and transcendence, including qualities such as love, compassion, patience, and forgiveness. Transcendence, particularly universalism (social justice, equality) and benevolence (honesty, helpfulness, responsibility, altruism), is central to spirituality and aligns intuitively with CSR attitudes. Prior work predominantly examined spirituality–CSR links at the organizational level, often considering religiosity, and found spiritually attuned leaders shape CSR practices. Calls in the literature advocate for micro-CSR research focusing on individual-level antecedents, as organizational CSR is enacted by individuals. Moral drivers (values, religiosity, traits) are key determinants of CSR attitudes, yet spirituality has been underexplored as an antecedent. The Pakistani context presents a relevant setting given strong Islamic values emphasizing benevolence, fairness, and social justice, which shape stakeholders’ expectations of CSR and influence individual attitudes. Ethical ideologies comprise two orthogonal dimensions: idealism (belief in avoiding harm to others) and relativism (rejection of universal moral principles). Empirical studies show idealism tends to be positively related to CSR attitudes, while relativism shows weaker or context-dependent relations. Theoretical development yields five hypotheses: H1: Spirituality positively relates to CSR attitudes. H2: Spirituality positively relates to idealism. H3: Idealism mediates the effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes. H4: Relativism moderates the spirituality–idealism relationship, weakening the positive association at higher relativism. H5: Relativism moderates the indirect effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes via idealism (moderated mediation), such that the indirect effect weakens at higher relativism.

A two-wave questionnaire survey was conducted in Pakistan in 2021 among MBA students. To reduce common method bias, data were collected six months apart: Wave 1 (T1) measured spirituality, idealism, relativism, and controls (gender, age), with 189 complete responses; Wave 2 (T2) measured CSR attitudes, with 170 completes. After excluding invalid questionnaires, the final matched sample comprised 147 respondents. Instruments used 9-point Likert scales (1 = strongly disagree, 9 = strongly agree). CSR attitudes were measured using a 13-item PRESOR scale (eight stakeholder-oriented items and five shareholder-oriented items reverse-scored), reliability α = 0.883. Spirituality was measured with the 6-item Intrinsic Spirituality Scale (Hodge, 2003), reliability α = 0.879. Idealism and relativism were each measured with 10-item scales (Forsyth, 1980), reliabilities α = 0.886 and α = 0.863, respectively. Controls included gender (1 = male, 0 = female) and age (five categories). The survey was translated using back-translation between English and Urdu to ensure clarity and equivalence. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated acceptable convergent validity: factor loadings generally > 0.5, AVE ranging 0.371–0.548, composite reliabilities 0.863–0.886. Discriminant validity was supported as a four-factor model (spirituality, idealism, relativism, CSR attitudes) fit better than alternative models. Harman’s single-factor test indicated common method bias was unlikely (first factor 26.64% variance). Hypotheses were tested using OLS regressions for direct, mediating, and moderating effects, and a moderated mediation analysis following Edwards and Lambert (2007) with bootstrapped confidence intervals.

Descriptive correlations showed spirituality positively related to idealism (r = 0.476, p < 0.01) and CSR attitudes (r = 0.606, p < 0.01), and idealism positively related to CSR attitudes (r = 0.587, p < 0.01). Regression results: H1 supported—spirituality positively predicted CSR attitudes (β = 0.454, p < 0.01). H2 supported—spirituality positively predicted idealism (β = 0.471, p < 0.01). Mediation (H3): idealism positively predicted CSR attitudes (β = 0.511, p < 0.01); adding idealism reduced but did not eliminate the spirituality → CSR attitudes effect (β = 0.395, p < 0.01), indicating partial mediation. Moderation (H4): the interaction spirituality × relativism negatively predicted idealism (β = −0.159, p < 0.01), showing the spirituality–idealism link is weaker at higher relativism. Moderated mediation (H5): the indirect effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes via idealism was significant at low relativism (β = 0.219, 95% CI [0.111, 0.372]) and non-significant at high relativism (β = 0.073, 95% CI [−0.022, 0.174]). Model fit statistics and CFA supported measurement validity; common method bias checks were satisfactory. Sample demographics: 65.3% male, 34.7% female; age distribution spanned below 19 to above 60.

Findings support the proposition that spirituality serves as a foundational moral resource shaping micro-level CSR attitudes. Spiritual individuals appear more inclined toward other-regarding ethical orientations (idealism), which in turn elevate CSR attitudes. Relativism operates as a boundary condition, attenuating the beneficial translation of spirituality into idealism and, consequently, into CSR attitudes. The results extend micro-CSR research by demonstrating a clear intra-individual mechanism (idealism) and a contingent factor (relativism) that together explain how spiritual values inform ethical and socially responsible orientations. The Pakistan context underscores the salience of religious-moral environments in shaping CSR perceptions but also suggests the need to consider cultural and religious context when examining spirituality and CSR attitudes. Practically, organizations seeking to cultivate CSR-supportive cultures may benefit from fostering spiritual values and ethical idealism in the workplace, while educators can integrate spirituality and moral philosophy into responsible management education to shape future leaders’ CSR orientations.

The study advances understanding of micro-foundations of CSR by establishing that spirituality positively influences individual CSR attitudes, with idealism mediating this effect and relativism moderating both the spirituality–idealism link and the indirect effect on CSR attitudes. Contributions include: (1) foregrounding spirituality as a key antecedent of CSR attitudes at the individual level, (2) articulating and empirically validating a moderated mediation mechanism, and (3) enriching CSR research in developing-country contexts. Practical implications highlight HR and educational strategies that encourage spiritual development and idealism to enhance CSR-supportive attitudes. Future research should examine cross-country and longitudinal designs, disentangle CSR attitude dimensions (economic, legal, ethical, discretionary), and broaden samples beyond business students to practicing managers and diverse populations.

The study is limited to a single cultural and religious context (Pakistan), which may constrain generalizability; cross-country and longitudinal research is recommended. CSR attitudes were examined as an overall construct rather than by specific dimensions, suggesting future work should analyze economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary components separately. The sample comprised MBA students from universities, raising concerns about single-source bias and differences from practicing managers; broader and more diverse respondent groups are needed.