Determinants of employees’ intention to exert pressure on firms to engage in web accessibility

Abstract

Web accessibility can help reduce the digital divide between persons with disabilities and the web by providing easy access to information on the Internet. Providing web accessibility can be an important element that manifests a firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employees can play a vital role in this process. This paper examines how employees can impact a firm's decision to fulfil their CSR regarding web accessibility. We propose that employees’ intention to exert pressure on a firm is primarily influenced by three psychological needs, namely need for control, need for belonging, and need for meaningful existence. Additionally, perceived importance of CSR moderates the relationship between need for meaningful existence and intention. We empirically test the research model using data collected from 106 Chinese employees. The results suggest that for employees to pressure their firms to improve the accessibility of their websites, it is imperative to enhance their perceived importance of web accessibility, and their need for belonging and for a meaningful existence. We present the theoretical and managerial implications arising from our findings.

Keywords:

• corporate social responsibility
• digital divide
• web accessibility
• moral motives
• psychological needs

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Chenyan Yang for her contributions to this project.

Funding

This research was funded by the Chinese Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant [10YJC630083].