(Mis)Using employee volunteering for public relations: Implications for corporate volunteers' organizational commitment

• Corporate volunteers interpret company support for employee volunteering (CSEV).
• Their interpretations of company's motives for CSEV affect their attitudinal responses.
• Public relations motives weaken the link between CSEV and company prosocial identity.
• A weaker company prosocial identity in turn reduces commitment to the company.

This study examines the conditions under which corporate volunteering initiatives can result in work outcomes. We posit that employees participating in company-supported volunteering activities (corporate volunteers) respond attitudinally to company support for employee volunteering (CSEV) based on the attributions they make about the company's purpose in implementing the volunteering program. Specifically, we examine the moderating role of corporate volunteers' attributions concerning the public relations motives underlying companies' employee volunteering programs. A sequential mixed methodology design is used for this study, consisting of two distinct phases: qualitative followed by quantitative. Results show that attributions of public relations motives undermine the positive effects of CSEV on corporate volunteers' perceptions of company prosocial identity, and subsequently, on corporate volunteers' affective company commitment. We discuss implications for theory and practice.