The impact of corporate social responsibility on employee burnout: The crucial role of work overload

Abstract The current study examines the intermediary procedures (mediators and moderators) which underlie the corporate social responsibility (CSR)‐employee burnout link. Burnout is a multifaceted psychological construct that has been widely explored in the academic literature and is related to important outcomes for individuals and organizations. Despite its significance, few studies have investigated the impact of CSR on burnout. The present research proposes that CSR diminishes employee burnout through the sequential mediation of psychological safety and job stress. Additionally, this paper proposes that work overload negatively moderates the influence of CSR on employee psychological safety. Survey data obtained from 413 South Korean workers over three‐waves were utilized, and structural equation modeling was used to test a moderated mediation model with related hypotheses. The findings demonstrated that CSR diminishes employee burnout via sequential mediation of psychological safety and job stress. Furthermore, work overload has a negative moderating influence on the association between CSR and psychological safety. The practical and theoretical implications of this research are described.