Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department/Program

Psychology

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Manuel F. Gonzalez

Committee Member

Valerie Sessa

Committee Member

Michael Bixter

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to better understand how an organization's prosocial behaviors, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), shape an individual member's private, prosocial behavior. This study examined whether an individual’s locus of control (LOC) works as a moderator to shape the CSR-behavior relationship. Participants were recruited through Montclair State University’s SONA pool and assigned into a High CSR, Neutral, or Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSiR) condition. Each participant completed self-report measures to assess internal LOC before the experimental manipulation. Each participant reviewed a news article to match their CSR condition and then had an opportunity to donate their compensation, which served as the prosocial behavior. We found no support for our first hypothesis that the CSR condition would result in more prosocial behavior than a neutral condition or that the CSiR condition would result in a lower likelihood of prosocial behavior than a neutral condition. Our mild CSR and CSiR conditions were not associated with a change in donation frequency compared to a neutral condition. Our manipulation check showed that there was not a significant difference in perceived responsibility between the neutral and CSR conditions and there were some recall issues with the CSiR condition. We did not find support for internal LOC as a moderator from CSR condition to donation. Our exploratory model showed similar affective reactions that have been mapped in recent research suggesting that CSR and CSiR can impact how people are feeling even in mild conditions.

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