Exploring the Relationship Between Corporate Volunteering and Internal Communications in Multinational Organizations

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between internal communications and corporate volunteering in order to better understand how companies promote volunteerism among employees. According to Aguilera et al. (2007), volunteerism can be promoted by directly communicating about such programmes, as well as indirectly communicating to employees on organizational purpose, strategy and values. A survey has been conducted with employees of three multinational companies, and data were analysed to comprehend the relationship between employee understanding of their company’s organizational purpose, CSR strategy and employee participation in both structured volunteering programmes and out-of-work volunteering. The authors concluded that management of internal communications has an impact on aligning employees’ perception of the company’s organizational purpose with its CSR strategy and in prompting them to actively take part in employee volunteering programmes. The research conducted proves the interdependence between internal communications and corporate volunteering: when the internal communications were effective, there were higher volunteering engagement rates and a more positive organizational image. In addition, the research provides an understanding of the state of corporate volunteering and its relationship with internal communications in a country which could be described as an emerging market both from the point-of-view of local approaches to CSR as well as its economic status. Findings have been used to identify how companies can better align their organizational purpose and CSR strategy via internal communications in order to better promote volunteering programmes amongst staff