Introduction

Spirituality has been identified as a crucial part of laying the groundwork for the development of personal moral imagination, particularly in business ethics (Do & Sum, 2021). Managers and employees may confront many complex moral challenges in doing business, and it is more required by stakeholders that they should consider more than the laws, contracts, and conventional ethics in the operating environment (Raimo et al., 2021). Firms of the industrial age used to put profit maximization as the primary strategic objective, setting economic goals ahead of social and public ones (Walsh et al., 2003). However, with the increasing attention to the environment, society, and sustainability, firms are expected to respond to the needs of stakeholders on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in recent years (Raimo et al., 2021; Sarfraz et al., 2023; Zhao et al., 2016). In this case, the leaders of such firms ought to be encouraged to reflect on and be influenced by values and principles that call them to adhere to a moral standard that requires more than the minimally acceptable norm of conventional business practices in their own home country (Hu et al., 2023; Nave & Ferreira, 2019; Ruwanti et al., 2019). Therefore, the current situation stresses the importance of the attitudes of managers and executives toward CSR, and the role of spiritual principles and values can shed some light in shaping these perceptions, attitudes, emotions, and thoughts.

Research on individual attitudes toward CSR can be identified as an essential part of micro-CSR research (Gond & Moser, 2021). With the calls for the development of micro levels of CSR research (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Frynas, Stephens (2015); Glavas, 2016), the research of CSR focusing on individuals has increasingly emerged in recent years (Girschik et al., 2022; Gond & Moser, 2021; Mahmud et al., 2021), mostly aiming to provide micro-foundations of CSR (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012). Previous research has studied the role of psychological traits in initiating CSR at individual levels (Jones, Rupp, 2015; Morgeson et al., 2013; Rupp & Mallory, 2015). For instance, Celma et al. (2014) analyzed firm, employee, and job-related characteristics affecting the implementation of CSR employed in human resource management, using a survey conducted in Spain.

Some scholars have also found that personal values, evaluation, and perception can be considered important factors in driving personal CSR attitudes (Celma et al., 2014; Petrenko et al., 2016), emphasizing the significance of moral drivers to individual CSR attitudes. However, spirituality, as an important moral trait, has been ignored in the prior research on antecedents of CSR attitudes. The research gap becomes particularly critical when we consider that CSR concerning ethical and moral problems sheds light on individuals to evaluate what is acceptable or valuable (Demers & Gond, 2020; Finch et al., 2017).

Our paper addressed the crucial research gap by investigating the effect of spiritual principles and values on individual CSR attitudes. Such spiritual principles and values ought to evoke reflection on individual attitudes toward social responsibility in a way that such reflection takes place in religion and theology (Karakas, 2010). This study proposed that there are two reasons why spirituality can have a positive impact on individual perception of ethics and social responsibility. On the one hand, spirituality provides the most direct source and forms the foundation for one’s perception of ethics and social responsibility (Jackson, 1999). On the other hand, one critical component of self-transcendence of spirituality can directly affect the individual perception of ethics and social responsibility (Shafer et al., 2007).

These ideas were tested in the context of a developing country, Pakistan. Since Muslims have a greater share of the population of Pakistan, it is a suitable context for our study to investigate spirituality. Selecting Muslims as respondents is particularly suitable for this research since their philosophy stresses individual motivation (Arnold, 2002; Arslan, 2001; Qureshi et al., 2023; Raza et al., 2023), similar to spirituality. We interviewed MBA students in universities in Pakistan who described themselves as drawing on spiritual principles and values to pursue a higher level of ethics. Considering business students as future leaders or managers (Albaum & Peterson, 2006; Haski-Leventhal et al., 2017), it is critical to investigate their attitudes toward CSR and its intrinsic mechanism. Therefore, we collect our data through a questionnaire survey of MBA students in Pakistan.

In summary, this study provided some theoretical implications. First, since few researchers have studied how spirituality can affect CSR attitudes from the individual level, this study brings the role of spirituality to the fore to explore its impact on individuals’ attitudes towards ethics and social responsibility, which is an important research gap. Second, our analyses using the moderated mediation framework advance the research of CSR attitudes by showing how the relationship between spiritual values and principles and CSR attitudes is mediated by idealism and moderated by relativism. Third, given the unique connection between spirituality and religiosity, it is necessary to consider the specific religious context when studying spirituality (Saroglou & Muñoz-García, 2008). Taking this view into account, we conducted a survey in a Muslim country, Pakistan, and incorporated the philosophy of Islamism into the study to enrich the research on individual CSR attitudes.

The structure of this paper is as follows. First, we review the existing literature on the relationship among spirituality, ethical ideologies, and CSR attitudes, as well as the situation of CSR attitudes in Pakistan. Next, we proposed a theoretical moderated mediation model to illustrate that spiritual values and principles can evoke the reflection of CSR attitudes. Figure 1 summarizes the suggested theoretical framework for this study. Then, we describe our research design and methodology and present the results. Finally, we discuss the main conclusion and propose suggestions for future research.

Literature review

The definition of spirituality has been largely discussed, but there is no widely accepted one (Karakas, 2010; Markow & Klenke, 2005). Many scholars have attempted to define such a complex and diverse concept, for example, Scott (1995) thought of spirituality as “the vital principle or animating force within living beings”, it is invisible for human beings and composes one’s intangible aspect. According to Mitroff & Denton (1999), spirituality is “the basic feeling of being connected with one’s external perception”. Briefly, spirituality is concerned with human spirit qualities such as love, compassion, patience, and forgiveness (Fry et al., 2011), which is also concerned with good ethics and personality.

Most importantly, many definitions of the term “spirituality” emphasize the dimension of “transcendence.” Giacalone and Jurkiewicz (2003) suggested that spirituality refers to the desire of the individual to experience transcendence, so they are inclined to pursue a deeper understanding of life in the manner of their working or living. Hodge (2003) proposed that spirituality is normally one’s intrinsic value, about experiential connectedness with transcendence that affects individuals’ behaviors and beliefs. Karakas (2010) defined spirituality as “the journey to find a sustainable, authentic, meaningful, holistic, and profound understanding of the existential self and its relationship interconnectedness with the sacred and the transcendent”. Rahmawati et al. (2019) defined spirituality as “a way of being and experiencing that comes about through an awareness of a transcendent dimension and that is characterized by certain identifiable values regarding self, others, nature, life, and whatever one considers being ultimate”. From the above definitions, we can conclude that transcendence is a critical dimension of spirituality.

The association between spirituality and CSR has been examined extensively (Mir & Sair, 2014; Rumambi et al., 2014). The reason why individual spirituality can influence how organizations take social responsibility needs to be attributed to spiritual leaders (Rahmawati et al., 2019). Spiritual leaders, with their understanding of ethics and social responsibility, can guide their firms to adopt a comprehensive view of their duties to stakeholders and society. Hence, leaders’ awareness of spirituality can shape the strategy of an organization, which in turn contributes to and benefits the organizational behavior of CSR (Rahmawati et al., 2019). In addition, recent research examining the link between spirituality and CSR has also considered taking religiosity as background. For example, Rumambi et al. (2014) discovered that Christian managers are more likely to act positively toward social responsibility as a reflection of man’s love for others and society. In conclusion, most existent literature addressed the issue of how spirituality might affect the implementation of CSR initiatives and practices at the organizational level.

Since prior research on the relationship between spirituality and CSR has focused on the level of organizations rather than individuals, many scholars have recently called for research on the antecedents of CSR at the individual level (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Gond et al., 2017; Moser, 2019), which is also referred to as individual CSR attitudes in this study. Organizational CSR initiatives and practices primarily need to be developed and transferred by organizational individuals in the form of individuals or groups. (Gond et al., 2017). Besides, some studies have explored the drivers of CSR attitudes by dividing them into different categories, such as instrumental drivers, relational drivers, moral drivers, and other individual factors (Aguilera et al., 2007; Do & Sum, 2021; Gond et al., 2017; Rupp et al., 2011). Despite the efforts in prior research, most literature continues to study CSR from the view of organizations based on sociological orientations (Shin, Vu, et al., 2021). Therefore, prior research has provided some antecedents of CSR attitudes from the organization level, but the intra-individual mechanisms of CSR attitudes still need to be explored further as personal values and evaluation are critical in the process of the development of CSR attitudes (Gond & Moser, 2021).

Individuals’ ethics and values have been deemed as vital determinants of personal CSR attitudes (Petrenko et al., 2016), including sociodemographic features, individual religiosity, cultural background, and personal traits (Hemingway & Maclagan, 2004). Most importantly, existing research within this stream continues to concentrate more on the moral driver of CSR attitudes, as reflected in the macro view of CSR (Shin, Vu, et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2023). For instance, Angelidis and Ibrahim (2004) and Hemingway and Maclagan (2004) have revealed whether there is a significant relationship between an individual’s religiosity and CSR attitudes. Graves et al. (2013) find managers’ autonomous motivation can be a critical determinant of their CSR attitudes. Therefore, these studies have shown that individual moral factors can be critical antecedents for their attitudes toward CSR engagement. To enhance our understanding of the moral drivers of individuals’ attitudes toward CSR, we concentrate on an important individual’s spirituality to investigate how individuals’ spiritual values in the workplace shape their attitudes toward CSR since such an important moral factor has not been studied yet.

Theory and hypotheses

CSR attitudes in Pakistan

Pakistan is a developing country with a population of 225 million, and the majority of the people in Pakistan are Muslims (Ahmed et al., 2020). In the actual picture, Pakistan presents a unique case to study CSR attitudes as the philosophy of Islamism promotes kind-heart and benevolence (Raza & Khan, 2022; Zhang et al., 2023).

Stakeholders in Pakistan attach great importance to CSR engagement for firms due to their moral and religious inclinations (Khaskheli et al., 2020). Islamic stakeholders of firms would hold the paradigm that demands the work to comply with the humanitarian agenda in business and pursue the enhancement of social welfare and the general public. They expect firms to obey socio-ethical values, including risk-sharing, fairness, and social justice. Consistent with the creed of Islam, firms are supposed to take responsibility for distributing financial and material resources to ensure optimal market productivity and engage in these activities in the interest of the general public (Khan, 2016). Furthermore, affected by moral ethics and religious beliefs, stakeholders are inclined to propose corresponding CSR standards, which have a significant impact on individual CSR attitudes. In the unique environment of Pakistan, the attitudes toward CSR play a critical role in acquiring legitimacy and community support as well as long-term sustainability for firms.

Prior literature has proved that the relationship between religiosity and individual values and attitudes toward CSR is significant (Ibrahim et al., 2008; Mazereeuw-van der Duijn Schouten et al., 2014). Some theorists like Max Weber concluded that religion significantly impacts general practices (Van Aaken & Buchner, 2020), hence shaping the perceptions and behaviors toward CSR (Jamali & Sdiani, 2013). There is some survey research also suggesting that individuals with religious faiths are more likely to take responsibility seriously. People who identify as religious tend to be more responsible, as shown by some studies that employed survey interviews. For instance, Brammer et al. (2007) found that religious people, in general, have a favorable view of CSR by surveying 17,000 people across 20 countries. There is a growing trend of research on the effect of religiosity on CSR attitudes (Mazereeuw-van der Duijn Schouten et al., 2014), and scholars found that CSR behavior is built on the managers’ values and ethical standards connected with their religiosity. Pakistan offers a distinctive cultural setting in which religion is widely regarded as a defining feature, and religious values of ‘giving’ and ‘helping’ the underprivileged are observed to have a substantial impact on all facets of Pakistani society (Oppong, 2013), which is consistent with prior research on CSR attitudes.

In summary, Pakistani stakeholders expect CSR initiatives in business and community because of the influence of religious beliefs and moral ethics. As a result, they are likely to hold consistent attitudes to respond to these activities, affecting the legitimacy and community support for firms. Given the prevalence of Islamism in Pakistan and its role in helping people deal with vulnerabilities and insecurities, the religious background in Pakistan is particularly suitable for this research.

Fig. 1: Conceptual framework.
figure 1

Moderated mediation analysis, aims to investigate the effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes, with the mediating role of idealism and the moderating role of relativism.

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The impact of Spirituality on CSR attitudes

Previous research has found that spirituality provides a deeper foundation for principles of ethics (Jackson, 1999), as well as social responsibility. It is also noted that self-transcendence is an important dimension of spiritual principles and values, which is intuitively related to CSR attitudes. In this way, we propose that there are two reasons why spirituality can have a positive influence on individual perception of ethics and social responsibility.

First, spiritual principles and values provide the most direct source and form the foundation for one’s perception of ethics and social responsibility (Jackson, 1999), resulting in the significant influence of spirituality on CSR attitudes. In a world full of deception and illusion, one’s perception of ethics and social responsibility must stay unshakable, stable, and integrated into one’s own to face moral truths in real life. CSR attitudes cannot be something that religion or government advocates “in to” from time to time. The central goal is not trying to find some satisfying “mission and values statement and glossy code of conduct”; instead, it must ask hard questions(Jackson, 1999). The answers to these questions concerning the meaning and purpose of life in the most profound sense are in the realm of spirituality and the broadly philosophical. In this way, spiritual principles and values form the foundation of ethics and social responsibility for people’s perceptions around the world. Specifically, moral imagination creates the image of a better life and plays the role of talent in the moral life, which spirituality helps to stimulate and can provide a greater depth of understanding of many ethical and social problems. The judgment or perceptions of many ethical and social problems must be based on moral imagination, including a much greater depth of understanding. Therefore, spirituality provides the most direct source and forms the foundation for CSR attitudes by stimulating moral imagination.

Second, spirituality emphasizes the dimension of transcendence, which should have a significant impact on individual attitudes toward ethics and social responsibility (Shafer et al., 2007). Spirituality encourages people to place higher importance on values of transcendence (Shin, Vu, et al., 2021), which can be identified as universalism and benevolence (Schwartz, 1992, 1994). Universalism consists of social justice and equality, which have direct and intuitive relevance to individual attitudes toward ethics and social responsibility. For example, many social responsibilities, such as human rights and workplace safety, have direct implications for social justice and equality. The other transcendence category, benevolence, includes items like honesty, helpfulness, responsibility, and altruism. Individuals who value ethics and altruism should be more supportive of ethics and social responsibility in a business or corporate environment. Hemingway and Maclagan (2004) suggested that benevolence is supposed to be positively related to CSR in the form of charity or donation. Therefore, universalism and benevolence as two categories of transcendence are closely related to individual ethics and perception of social responsibility. Then, in general, the critical dimension of self-transcendence of spirituality should promote the personal perception of ethics and social responsibility.

In summary, spirituality should be positively associated with CSR attitudes for these two reasons, on the one hand, spirituality provides the most direct source and forms the foundation for one’s perception of ethics and social responsibility, on the other hand, one critical component of self-transcendence of spirituality can directly affect the individual perception of ethics and social responsibility. Therefore, we propose,

Hypothesis 1: Spirituality is positively related to CSR attitudes.

Ethical ideologies and CSR attitudes

Research on morality and ethics has been explored for a long time in various contexts, such as philosophy, religion, and business (Forsyth, 1980; Kolodinsky et al., 2010). According to Forsyth’s research, personal moral philosophy contains two orthogonal dimensions of ethical ideology: idealism and relativism (Forsyth, 1980, 1992). Idealism refers to the extent to which individuals assume beneficial outcomes can be obtained without harming others, while relativism generally means attaching the least importance to others (Forsyth, 1980, 1992).

Recent research revealed that idealism is positively correlated with CSR attitudes while the relationship between relativism and CSR attitudes is weak (Kolodinsky et al., 2010; Park, 2005). It is because individuals with idealism are more likely to be unselfish than relativists (Forsyth, 1992). For instance, Forsyth (1992) found that idealism is significantly related to CSR attitudes or ethical attitudes. Similarly, Davis et al. (2001) suggested that idealism has a direct relation with empathy, empathic concern, and perspective-taking, which may affect CSR attitudes. Moreover, Park (2005) discovered hints of a positive correlation between idealism and the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility in an analysis of apparel and shoe companies. Do & Sum (2021) and Kolodinsky et al. (2010) found that CSR attitudes are positively related to ethical idealism. The continuing empirical and conceptual research of ethical ideologies and CSR attitudes has enlightened us to examine further.

Mediating effect of idealism

It is argued that spirituality has a direct effect on ethical cognitions, and more broadly on personal moral philosophy (Giacalone & Jurkiewicz, 2003). Personal moral philosophy is also an essential factor in determining the individual perception of ethicality and business social responsibility (Hunt & Vitell, 1986; Trevino, 1986). Idealism and relativism are two common manifestations of individual moral philosophy (Do & Sum, 2021; Fernando & Chowdhury, 2010). Fernando & Chowdhury (2010) revealed that spirituality is correlated with and predictive of idealism while relativism is not. Individuals can be high or low in both dimensions of idealism and relativism, which are orthogonal constructs (Forsyth, 1980).

Idealism deals with the degree to which individuals assume beneficial outcomes can be obtained without harming others (Forsyth, 1980, 1992). From the nature of the concept of idealism, it is primarily related to an individual’s concern for the welfare of others. Idealists always take avoiding harming others into consideration and believe it is feasible. Karande et al. (2002) showed that caring and focusing on others as personal factors are related to higher levels of idealism.

We proposed that individuals with more spiritual values and principles would be concerned about the influence of their actions on others (Fernando & Chowdhury, 2010), thus leading to a greater tendency toward idealism. Spirituality encourages individuals to be more conscious of the relationship between others and the linkage between oneself and the environment, which means focusing on others in the light of one’s actions. Within this domain of spirituality, the viewpoint of care about others can be directly related to idealism, as idealism also attaches great importance to the consideration of others. Thus, increased spirituality can correspond with an increased level of ethical orientation in idealism. This leads to the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2: Spirituality is positively related to idealism.

As mentioned above, idealism can be an important factor in determining personal ethics and perception of social responsibility (Hunt & Vitell, 1986; Trevino, 1986). Previous research has found that there is a positive relationship between idealism and CSR attitudes (Etheredge, 1999; Kolodinsky et al., 2010; Park, 2005; Singhapakdi et al., 1996).

We proposed that idealistic individuals should be regarded as other-centered, altruistic, and unselfish, thus causing a high level of CSR attitudes (Forsyth, 1992; Park, 2005). Idealistic persons are more likely to embrace values of care and empathy (Do & Sum, 2021), which may promote the understanding of business ethics. Idealistic persons with more consideration for others can be the foundation of individual perception of social responsibility (Forsyth, 1992; Gilligan, 1993; Kolodinsky et al., 2010), as well as ethics. For example, Davis et al. (2001) revealed that idealism is positively correlated with empathy, empathic concern, and perspective-taking. Likewise, individuals with an inclination toward high idealism have been found to attach more importance to morality, social responsibility, and ethical judgment (Singhapakdi et al., 1996; Vitell et al., 2016). Therefore, we posit that there is a strong positive relationship between idealism and CSR attitudes.

In sum, we have developed an argument that spirituality can positively affect CSR attitudes through personal moral philosophy to care and consider more about others as idealism. Research has indicated the significance of the mediating role of idealism between spirituality and CSR attitudes, leading to the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3: Idealism mediated the relationship between spirituality and CSR attitudes.

The moderating effect of relativism

Idealism and relativism are two independent manifestations of individual moral philosophy (Do & Sum, 2021; Fernando & Chowdhury, 2010), which persons can be low or high in both dimensions (Forsyth, 1980; Kolodinsky et al., 2010). In this way, this study explores how the relationship between spirituality and idealism would change with the varying individuals’ perceptions of relativism.

Relativism usually involves the rejection of universal moral principles when making moral decisions (Forsyth, 1992). Relativists are skeptical of normal ethics and attach more importance to outcomes than humanity. In the case of rejecting universal ethical principles, relativists tend to regard financial performance as a critical goal for organizations to go beyond ethics and social responsibility (Do & Sum, 2021).

As relativists reject universal moral principles and may not be concerned about others, the relationship between spirituality and idealism may be weakened with the increased level of individual relativism. As argued before, individuals with more spiritual values and principles would be concerned about the influence of their actions on others (Fernando & Chowdhury, 2010), thus leading to a greater tendency toward idealism. The concern about the influence of one’s actions on others can be inhibited by the tendency of individual relativism, which negatively moderates the relationship between spirituality and idealism. Therefore, we propose

Hypothesis 4: Relativism moderates the relationship between spirituality and idealism, such that the positive relationship is weaker for high-relativism individuals.

The arguments presented above constitute a comprehensive framework in which idealism mediates the positive relationship between spirituality and CSR attitudes, and relativism moderates the relationship between spirituality and idealism. According to the moderating role of relativism, and given that idealism is positively related to CSR attitudes, it follows that relativism also moderates the strength of the mediating mechanism for idealism in the relationship between spirituality and CSR attitudes—a moderated mediation model (Edwards & Lambert, 2007). As mentioned previously, a weaker relation between spirituality and idealism would appear, with a higher tendency toward individual relativism. Hence, the indirect effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes through idealism may also be weaker, with a higher tendency toward individual relativism. Taken together, we propose the following hypothesis and the conceptual framework, as shown in Fig. 1.

Hypothesis 5: Relativism moderates the mediating effect of idealism on the relationship between spirituality and CSR attitudes, such that the indirect effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes via idealism is weaker for high relativism individuals.

Methodology

Sample and data collection

A questionnaire survey was conducted in Pakistan in 2021 to collect data for this study. The respondents of the questionnaire survey are MBA students at a Pakistani university. The respondents were surveyed independently without being informed of what the other respondents were asked. To mitigate the common method bias, we collected data in two separate phases within nearly a year. Information on spirituality, idealism, relativism, and control variables (e.g., gender and age) was provided to respondents in the first waves of the survey (T1). In this wave, 189 individuals provided complete information for all variables. The second wave of the survey (T2) was conducted six months later, providing the respondents with information on CSR attitudes. To avoid judging the respondents, we did not deal with the first wave of data until the second wave of data collection was completed. In addition, we guaranteed complete confidentiality of the respondents’ answers to ensure the reliability of the survey. 170 individuals provided complete information for all variables in the second weave. The initial sample, therefore, consisted of 170 firms, we excluded twenty-three invalid questionnaires and the final sample consisted of 147 questionnaires.

The original questionnaires of all variables were developed in English. We chose to use the back-translation method to ensure this translation’s validity (Li & Atuahene-Gima, 2001). We hired two competent research assistants who could communicate well in English and Urdu. First, we let an assistant translate all the original items of the survey into Urdu. Then, we invited another assistant to translate Urdu back to English, compared the two versions, and improved some wording in the Urdu version to avoid ambiguities and misunderstandings. Finally, we made some enhancements to confirm that all the questions were clear, relevant, and explained as expected.

Measurement

Dependent variable

CSR attitude is measured by a thirteen-item scale developed by Shafer et al. (2007). The items included in the CSR attitudes scale are illustrated in Table 1, illustrating the attitudes towards ethics and social responsibility of individuals. Shafer et al. (2007) refer to this construct as the perception of ethical value and social responsibility (PRESOR) and develop the scale from two perspectives: stockholder view and shareholder view. As indicated in Table 1, the first eight items adhere to the stakeholder view, and higher values for responses to these eight scales indicate the greater importance of perceived ethics and social responsibility. In contrast, the last five items adhere to the stockholder view, and higher values for responses to these five scales indicate the less importance of perceived ethics and social responsibility. Therefore, we reverse-scored the last five items when measuring the construct of PRESOR to make sure that the higher values of all items on this scale always indicate a more positive attitude toward CSR. The response options ranged from 1 to 9, with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 9 being “strongly agree”. The reliability of the scale was 0.883.

Table 1 Results of confirmatory factor analysis.
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Independent variable

Spirituality is measured by a six-item scale developed by Hodge (2003). The items included in idealism are illustrated in Table 1. Sample items included: “In terms of the questions I have about life, my spirituality answers absolutely all my questions,” “Growing spiritually is more important than anything else in my life,” “When I am faced with an important decision, my spirituality is always the overriding consideration.” The response options ranged from 1 to 9, with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 9 being “strongly agree”. The reliability of the scale was 0.879.

Mediating variables

Idealism is measured by a ten-item scale developed by (Forsyth, 1980). The items included in idealism are illustrated in Table 1. Sample items included: “A person should make certain that their actions never intentionally harm another, even to a small degree,” and “Risks to another should never be tolerated, irrespective of how small the risks might be.” The response options ranged from 1 to 9, with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 9 being “strongly agree”. The reliability of the scale was 0.886.

Moderating variables

Relativism is measured by a ten-item scale developed by (Forsyth, 1980). The items included in idealism are illustrated in Table 1. Sample items included: “There are no ethical principles that are so important that they should be a part of any code of ethics.”,” and “What is ethical varies from one situation and society to another.” The response options ranged from 1 to 9, with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 9 being “strongly agree”. The reliability of the scale was 0.863.

Control variables

We control for gender and age because of the potential effects of individual demographics. Gender is represented by a dummy variable, with 1 being a man and 0 being a woman. Age is a categorical variable, and we classify respondents as below 19, 19–25, 26 to 40, 41–60, and above 60 in these five categories.

Results

Confirmatory factor analysis

We conducted confirmatory factor analyses to assess the convergent validity and discriminant validity of the key variables. To measure the convergent validity, we performed the following tests. We first examined convergent validity through the size of factor loadings. As is shown in Table 1, the factor loadings ranged from 0.514 to 0.819, with all being greater than 0.5, indicating support for convergent validity (Hair et al., 1987; Shevlin & Miles, 1998). We further calculated the average variance extracted (AVE), which measures the amount of variance captured by a specific construct relative to the amount of variance attributable to the measurement model. The value of AVE for each latent variable ranged from 0.371 to 0.548, all exceeding 0.36 and suggesting that the result of convergent validity is acceptable (Chin, 1998). Finally, we calculated the composite reliability (CR) and found the value of CR for each latent variable ranged from 0.863 to 0.886, all exceeding 0.7 and suggesting acceptable convergent validity (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). These results indicate an acceptable level of internal consistency and convergent validity for the measurement model.

Furthermore, as shown in Table 2, we established the discriminant validity of these constructs following the Tanriverdi & Venkatraman (2005) and compared the 4-factor model (χ2 = 1156.506, df = 696, χ2/df=1.662, RMSEA = 0.067, CFI = 0.817, TLI = 0.805, SRMR = 0.080) with other measurement models (a) modeling relativism and spirituality as one construct instead of separate constructs (χ2 = 1626.708, df=699, χ2/df = 2.327, RMSEA = 0.095, CFI = 0.631, TLI = 0.609, SRMR = 0.160); (b) modeling relativism and idealism as one construct instead of separate constructs (χ2 = 1514.175, df = 699, χ2/df = 2.166, RMSEA = 0.089, CFI = 0.676, TLI = 0.656, SRMR = 0.115); (c) modeling idealism and spirituality as one construct instead of separate constructs (χ2 = 1399.827, df = 699, χ2/df=2.003, RMSEA = 0.083, CFI = 0.721, TLI = 0.704, SRMR = 0.094); (d) modeling idealism and CSR attitudes as one construct and modeling relativism and spirituality as one construct (χ2 = 1790.585, df = 701, χ2/df = 2.554, RMSEA = 0.103, CFI = 0.566, TLI = 0.542, SRMR = 0.163). (e) modeling CSR attitudes and spirituality as one construct and modeling relativism and idealism as one construct (χ2 = 1663.947, df = 701, χ2/df=2.374, RMSEA = 0.097, CFI = 0.617, TLI = 0.595, SRMR = 0.119) (f) modeling CSR attitudes, spirituality, relativism and idealism as one construct (χ2 = 1912.996, df = 702, χ2/df = 2.725, RMSEA = 0.108, CFI = 0.518, TLI = 0.491, SRMR = 0.127). The results indicate that the 4-factor model fits the data best, showing a strong level of discriminant validity.

Table 2 Discriminant validity.
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We constructed Harman’s one-factor test to examine if there is a concern of common method bias as the variables are collected from the same respondents. The result revealed eleven factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, and the variance ratio of the first is 26.64%, which is considerably less than 40% (Podsakoff & Organ, 1986; Ylitalo, 2009), indicating that the common method bias is not an issue in our study.

Descriptive statistics and correlations

Table 3 summarizes the demographic statistics of the respondents in this study. The distribution of gender indicates that 34.7% of the respondents are female, and 65.3% of the respondents are male. The distribution of age indicates that 10.2% of the respondents are below 19 years old, 32.0% of the respondents are between 19 and 25 years old, 36.7% of the respondents are between 26 and 40 years old, 15.6% of the respondents are between 41 and 60 years old, and 5.40% of the respondents are above 60 years old.

Table 3 Demographic items.
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The descriptive statistics and correlations between the constructs of the study are summarized in Table 4. Spirituality seems to be positively correlated with idealism (r = 0.476, p < 0.01) and CSR attitudes (r = 0.606, p < 0.01). In addition, there is a positive correlation between idealism and CSR attitudes (r = 0.587, p < 0.01). These results are consistent with our hypotheses and provide initial support for our hypotheses.

Table 4 Descriptive statistics and correlations.
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Hypothesis testing

Table 5 reports ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis results. Model 4 is the basic model containing control variables only. Compared with Model 4, Model 5 adds spirituality as the independent variable. As is shown in Model 5, spirituality has a significantly positive relationship with CSR attitudes (\(\beta =0.454,{\rm{p}}\, < \,0.01\)), thus supporting hypothesis 1. Model 1 is the basic model containing control variables only. Compared with Model 1, Model 2 adds spirituality as the independent variable. As is shown in Model 2, spirituality has a significantly positive effect on idealism (\(\beta =0.471,{\rm{p}}\, < \,0.01\)), thus supporting hypothesis 2.

Table 5 Results of regression analysis.
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We analyzed the mediating role of idealism using the approaches of MacKinnon et al., (2000), an extension of Baron and Kenny’s (1986) method. As mentioned above, the direct effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes has been supported, and the first part of the second step in the mediation analysis has also been supported. In the second part of the mediation analysis, as is shown in Table 4 Model 6, the effect of idealism on CSR attitudes (\(\beta =0.511,{\rm{p}}\, < \,0.01\)) is statistically significant. In the final step of the mediation analysis, Model 7 shows that the coefficient of spirituality on CSR attitudes is lower but still significant (\(\beta =0.395,{\rm{p}}\, < \,0.01\)) when idealism is entered into the equation. At the same time, the effect of idealism on CSR attitudes remained significant (\(\beta =0.338,{\rm{p}}\, < \,0.01\)). It shows that idealism mediates the relationship between spirituality and CSR attitudes, thus supporting hypothesis 3.

As is shown in Model 3, the interaction between spirituality and relativism (\(\beta =-0.159,{\rm{p}}\, < \,0.01\)) is negatively related to idealism. The interaction term accounted for 1.7 percent of the variance in CSR attitudes (\(\varDelta R2=0.116\,\)). The interaction patterns are depicted in Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 2, the positive relationship between spirituality and idealism is weaker as relativism is higher, thus supporting hypothesis 4.

Fig. 2: Interactive effects of spirituality and relativism on CSR attitudes.
figure 2

The moderating analysis shows the relationship between spirituality and idealism when relativism is low or high. The slope of this relationship is larger when relativism is low, and the slope becomes smaller when relativism is high.

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We proposed that relativism would moderate the indirect effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes through idealism. To test the hypothesis, we conducted a moderated-mediation analysis following the guidelines of Edwards and Lambert (2007). Table 6 displays the results of the moderated mediating effect. We used the approach of bootstrapping to estimate the direct and indirect effects of weak versus strong individual relativism. The significance levels are in accordance with bias-corrected confidence intervals. In Table 6, the indirect effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes is significantly positive when individual relativism is weak (\(\beta =0.219,{\rm{LCI}}=0.111,{\rm{UCI}}=0372).\,\)In contrast, the indirect effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes is non-significant when individual relativism is strong (\(\beta =0.073,{\rm{LCI}}=-0.022,{\rm{UCI}}=0.174)\). Thus, leading support to hypothesis 5.

Table 6 Results of the moderated mediation.
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Discussion and conclusion

This study explores the intra-individual mechanisms of CSR attitudes in terms of spirituality by arguing that spiritual principles and values provide the most direct source and form the foundation for CSR attitudes (Jackson, 1999) and also emphasize the dimension of transcendence which should have a significant impact on CSR attitudes (Shafer et al., 2007). Our analyses generally supported proposed predictions based on a questionnaire survey conducted among MBA students in Pakistan. The results suggested that spirituality is positively related to individual CSR attitudes, and the relationship between spirituality and CSR attitudes could be mediated by individual ideologies—idealism, indicating that idealism plays a mediating role in linking spirituality and CSR attitudes. Moreover, the indirect effect of spirituality on CSR attitudes via idealism ought to be contingent on the extent to which individuals are inclined to relativism. Therefore, we proposed a moderated mediation framework to illustrate how spiritual values and principles affect CSR attitudes.

This study has some contributions and implications in several ways. First, although there are quite a number of researches investigating the effect of spirituality on CSR (e.g., Brammer et al. (2007); Cavanagh (1999); Vu, (2018), considering the distinctness between CSR (macro-level) and CSR attitudes (micro-level), the relationship between spirituality and individual CSR attitudes still needs to be explored further. Our study fills this research gap by directly liking spiritual values and principles with individual CSR attitudes. In this line, this study provides theoretical and empirical evidence to prove the case for the conclusion of spirituality as a vital variable in predicting individual CSR attitudes and enhances the understanding of the role of spirituality in influencing individual ethics and perception of social responsibility.

Second, based on previous literature, this study provided a moderated mediation approach to investigate the process of how spirituality influences CSR attitudes in greater depth. Previous literature has examined the relationship between spirituality and CSR (Mir & Sair, 2014; Muniapan & Satpathy, 2013; Rumambi et al., 2014), most of which employ the qualitative method or direct quantitative examination. As a result, it is quite difficult for previous literature to reveal the underlying mechanism behind spirituality and CSR attitudes theoretically and empirically. Therefore, this study found that idealism mediates the positive relationship between spirituality and CSR attitudes, and relativism moderates this indirect relationship between spirituality and CSR attitudes. In this way, we complete the framework by adding a mediating mechanism and revealing the contingent factor.

Third, this study has enriched the research on CSR attitudes in developing countries, especially as firms in developing countries ignored the importance of CSR. How spirituality influences CSR attitudes in the developing world needs academic attention to fill a critical research gap. Despite numerous calls for superior CSR results, few attempts were made to address the issue with a focus on emerging markets (Giacomin & Jones, 2021; Shin, Cho, et al., 2021). In other words, scholars have stressed the need for individual level and greater context-sensitive analysis (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Nguyen et al., 2018) to regard the CSR perceptions of business students as future managers (Albaum & Peterson, 2006; Haski-Leventhal et al., 2017), especially in developing countries. It is of great significance that our study enriches the research on CSR attitudes in developing countries.

Important practical implications also emerge from the findings of this study. This study provided a better knowledge of the impact of personal moral ideologies on CSR attitudes based on empirical findings. The implications for business leaders are significant since the underlying personal spiritual values and principles may influence their attitudes toward business ethics. Employing spiritual employees can be a promising human resource management strategy for CSR implementation, as spiritual individuals often highlight self-transcendence and organizational commitments. Firms intending to build a CSR culture should prioritize the creation of a work environment with more spiritual values and principles to promote a deeper understanding of spirituality in the workplace. The findings can also be helpful for educational institutions to improve their curriculum, increase student engagement, and improve career advice. It is reasonable to take the spiritual factors into account to improve the attitude toward social responsibility of future employees.

This study should also be considered from the perspective of the limitations and shed light on future research. First, the study is limited to a single research context, Pakistan, in South Asia, with a Muslim majority. The moral values and teachings of the religion are generally acknowledged and embraced across the country. In this case, future research can attempt to sustain the findings of this study in a different country with a distinct cultural environment. Similarly, a cross-country comparative study might be useful to obtain more robust results as students with diverse cultural values and religious beliefs may have varied attitudes toward CSR. Wong et al. (2010) study using business students from the USA, China, and India shows the effects of cultural values on CSR perception. A longitudinal study may also be needed to determine changes in the perception of students from the same country over time. There is considerable evidence that managers are less relativistic and value ethics more than students (Axinn et al., 2004; Singhapakdi et al., 1994).

Second, this study examined the impact of spirituality on overall CSR attitudes rather than its specific dimensions (i.e., economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary). Archimi, Reynaud, Yasin, & Bhatti (2018) have studied the impact of perceived CSR using the four dimensions on employees’ behavior, which is also in line with the research of Carroll (1979). The complete framework of CSR attitudes provides a deeper comprehension of the underlying mechanism of the motivation process for CSR attitudes. It is indicated that future studies can further distinguish the four dimensions of CSR attitudes to explore individual inner motivation.

Third, this study conducted a questionnaire survey of MBA students of universities, although business students are corporate leaders and managers in the future, it is possible that the single source of survey respondents may lead to unexpected biases. Considering that our research focuses on individually perceived value and social responsibility (Zavyalova et al., 2023), it is necessary to expect that business students should attach importance to CSR attitudes. However, Wurthmann (2013) concluded that business students may be uncertain regarding whether business issues should take precedence over CSR attitudes. Hence, future research can extend our research to a wide range of respondents to avoid such potential biases.