Perceptions of altruism of the chief executive officer: a mixed-methods study

Altruism is defined as discretionary behaviours that have the effect of helping colleagues, supervisors, teams and people in organizations related to organizationally relevant tasks or problems. As an important element of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), altruism has been found to influence group and firm effectiveness. Recent studies have extended altruism discussions to board members in boardrooms. However, little is known about altruism demonstrated by CEOs towards employees. Using a mixed method approach and drawing on literature on OCB, social support, organizational support theory, social exchange theory and social learning theory, this thesis explores CEO altruism towards employees with three related papers. The data were collected through interviews with, and surveys of CEOs, managers and employees of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia. Using SMEs as the context of the study, this research applied comprehensive thematic and content analysis to find major categories of CEO altruism in the qualitative component, and statistical analysis of structural equation modelling using AMOS for the quantitative studies. In Paper A, CEO and employee perceptions of CEO altruism categories and impacts are explored in an interview study and participant observation. Findings indicate CEO altruism revolves around work-related and non-work-related issues and explains positive employee attitudes and performance. Paper B is a mixed method study that consists of Study 1, Study 2 and Study 3, and was designed to test the relationship of CEO altruism with employee attitudes and performance, develop CEO altruism scales and test the relationship of CEO altruism with employee attitudes. Study 1 shows that CEO altruism has a positive relationship with employee attitudes and performance. Study 2 finds two CEO altruism categories while Study 3 indicates that CEO altruism is associated with job satisfaction mediated by perceived organizational support. Paper C, a survey study rated by SME managers, is aimed to test the relationship of perceived CEO altruism with employee performance. The study found that perceived CEO general altruism is a good predictor of employee OCB mediated by manager altruism. Overall this thesis introduces CEO altruism towards employee work-related and non-work-related issues, presents some features of CEO altruistic practices and adds another predictor of employee attitudes and performance to the literature. These findings suggest that CEOs who demonstrate altruism towards employees are perceived as having exemplary behaviour for managers and employees --abstract.