Perceived corporate social responsibility and job satisfaction in grocery retail: a comparison between low- and high-productivity stores

The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and job satisfaction is underexplored in the retail sector. We aim to fill this gap by unpacking these constructs to analyse their interrelationships. Moreover, conceptualising productivity as a contextual factor able to generate multiple stressors for retail employees, we compare the CSR-job satisfaction relationship between low- and high-productivity stores. We argue that CSR strategies effectively contribute to maintaining high job satisfaction in both retail contexts. Working on a sample of 708 grocery retail chain employees, we apply structural equation modelling and multigroup regressions to test our hypotheses. The results show that CSR positively influences job satisfaction. In detail, internal CSR benefits job satisfaction more than external CSR. CSR strategies effectively work to strengthen job satisfaction even in high-productivity stores. These findings contribute to the debate about the employees' job satisfaction management in busyness and high-productive retail contexts.