How much do new employees value corporate social responsibility?

Many firms tout their devotion to the triple bottom line and corporate social responsibility (CSR).  Why do they do it?  One answer, according to University of Chicago economist John List in an interview on Freakonomics, is that it helps attract and retain workers.

List made his reputation doing field experiments in economics.  He is so devoted to this approach that he has set up his own data collection firm HHL Solutions to do experiments on labor market issues.  HHL posted help-wanted ads on Craigslist in 12 cities.  The ads varied in terms of the hourly wage ($11 to $15) and whether they mentioned HHL's commitment to corporate social responsibility.  Not surprisingly the application volume was 33% higher at $15 per hour than it was at $11.  Surprisingly (at least to me), the application volume also was 33% higher when the ads mentioned CSR.

The next surprise: the people who responded to the ads mentioning CSR were more 10 to 25 percent more productive and more accurate in their data entry tasks.

So let's see -- lower your hourly wage costs AND get more output.  Sounds like at least one part of the triple bottom line is dong just fine in firms dedicated to CSR.