Valerie Priscilla Goby and Catherine Nickerson

1
Valerie Priscilla Goby and Catherine Nickerson

• College of Business
• Zayed University
• Dubai
• United Arab Emirates

2
Study

• An Investigation of Corporate Social
  Responsibility (CSR) and Consumer Opinion in an
  Emerging Economy
• The Case of the United Arab Emirates

3
CSR in the uae

• Many CSR initiatives implemented by private and
  government organizations of both a philanthropic
  and ethical nature
• Low levels of CSR awareness among local
  population
• e.g., Emirates Airlines DEWA, Emiratization
  conformity
• Goby, V. P. and Nickerson, C. (2012).
  Introducing ethics and corporate social
  responsibility at undergraduate level in the
  United Arab Emirates An experiential exercise on
  website communication. Journal of Business
  Ethics, 107(2), 103-109.

4
Islamic philanthropy (zakat) and CSR

• Principles of Islamic philanthropy permeate many
  CSR initiatives implemented in Muslim countries,
  including the UAE. The reason for this is the
  belief that philanthropy is an obvious platform
  on which to leverage CSR campaigns that can be
  easily recognized and embraced.
• Rettab, B., Brik, A.B. and Mellahi, K. (2009). A
  study of management perceptions of the impact of
  corporate social responsibility on organizational
  performance in emerging economies The case of
  Dubai. Journal of Business Ethics, 89, 371-390
  Katsioloudes, M. I. and Brodtkorb, T. (2007)
  Corporate social responsibility An exploratory
  study in the United Arab Emirates. Advanced
  Management Journal, 72(4), 9-20.

5
Research objectives

• Gauge levels of CSR awareness of among general
  population
• Assess understanding of CSR and its potential
  role in socio-economic development
• Investigate any perceived link with Islamic
  philanthropy (zakat)

6
methodology

• Questionnaire administered by bilingual locals
• Population sample of 267 Emirati citizens
• Results processed with SPSS, Version 18
• Themes emerging from respondents definitions of
  CSR identified

7
General awareness

• Low 65 of respondents were not familiar with
  the term CSR

8
Interpretation of csr

• Three themes emerged in responses
• 51.7 - social development
• 20.4 - environmental protection
• 19.1 - charity
• 5.9 - environmental protection and social
  development
• 2.9 - social development and charity

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Csrs role in socio-economic development?

• 72.8 expressed the belief that CSR can
  contribute
• indicates an awareness of CSR as more than a
  philanthropic component subsequent to business
  decision making
• suggests an understanding of CSRs role as an
  integral part of wealth creation. This equates to
  the economic dimension of Dahlsruds definition
  of CSR.
• Dahlsrud, A. (2008). How corporate social
  responsibility is defined An analysis of 37
  definitions. Corporate Social Responsibility and
  Environmental Management, 15(1), 1-13.

10
Link with zakat

• 59.8 stated that there is no relationship
  between CSR and zakat
• suggests an understanding of CSR in the UAE that
  is akin to the European concept of CSR with its
  emphasis on ethical rather than philanthropic
  CSR. A purely philanthropic interpretation
  dominates in many emerging economies.
• Visser, W. (2007). Revisiting Carrolls CSR
  pyramid An African perspective. In A. Crane and
  D. Matten (Eds.), Corporate social
  responsibility Three volume set (pp. 195212).
  London Sage.

11
implications

• Organizations may no longer need to confine
  themselves to developing their CSR activities in
  accordance with the traditional practice of
  philanthropy as existing studies suggest.
• They may now need to consider how more innovative
  and far-reaching CSR campaigns that feed into
  socio-economic and environmental amelioration
  can be developed.