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By Russ Blinch

Not everything is about the “bloody ROI,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook famously sputtered in��his scolding of a conservative shareholder rights group��at its 2013 annual meeting. “Leaving the world a better place” is also important.

Cook was defending corporate activities that the group had criticised as distracting and perhaps even subtracting from the bottom line, such as Apple’s renewable energy efforts or its programs to help the blind use its devices.

Touchy-feely it was not. But Cook’s line in the sand is an oft-heard defense of today’s corporate social responsibility programs, or CSR for short.

Now a growing body of research suggests that CSR’s positive impacts include employees who are more committed and productive. Whether from a rise in corporate malfeasance or concern about the worsening environment, recent studies show that workers are running to companies that allow them to give a fig about something beyond return on investment — and staying at them longer.