The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Enhancing Firm Performance from the Perspective of IT Employees in Jordanian Banking Sector: The Mediating Effect of Transformational Leadership

Abstract

Direct relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and firm performance has been extensively studied by scholars in several majors. The direct examination of this relationship seems to be relatively imprecise since many other variables have indirect influence on this relationship. Therefore, this study takes into considerations Transformational Leadership (TFL) as a probable mediator in the role CSR plays to enhance the firm performanceamong Information Technology (IT) employees in banking sector. Data were collected from IT employees within IT departments from 25 banks in Jordan through a questionnaire survey. 354 valid questionnaires were returned and analyzed using different quantitative techniques. This research finds that CSR has a significant influence on firm performance and three of its dimensions, namely, economic responsibility, ethical responsibility, and discretionary responsibility have a significant effect on firm performance, whereas legal responsibility has no remarkable effect. It also finds that CSR has a positive influence on TFL. Specifically, discretionary responsibility has a significant effect on TFL, whereas other dimensions have no significant contribution to TFL. As well as, it finds that TFL has a positive contribution to the firm performance. Inspirational motivation and individualized consideration have the only remarkable contribution to the firm performance. Finally, it has been revealed that TFL partially mediates the relationship between CSR and firm performance.