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Comparative CSR decision-making in the Middle East: an exploratory study

Pierre El Haddad (Faculty of Business Administration and Management, Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon and IAELyon Université Jean Moulin Lyon III, Magellan Research Center, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France)
Alexandre Anatolievich Bachkirov (Department of Management, College of Economics and Political Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman)
Olga Grishina (Infrastructure Advisory, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Australia, Sydney, Australia)

International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management

ISSN: 1753-8394

Article publication date: 22 March 2021

Issue publication date: 27 July 2021

435

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the commonalities and differences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions among business leaders in Oman and Lebanon, two Middle Eastern countries forming a comparative dyad with a high level of cultural variance within the Arab cluster.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit qualitative data that were analyzed by means of multilevel analysis.

Findings

The findings provide empirical evidence that CSR is a powerful factor in managerial decision-making in the Middle East with the national cultures of Oman and Lebanon exerting partially differing effects on CSR decision-making.

Practical implications

The study enlightens practicing managers and policymakers in terms of the salience of multiple actors’ influence on CSR decision-making processes and the responses they may receive when developing and implementing CSR initiatives in the Middle East.

Originality/value

The study proposes a seven nodal model, which captures the flow of CSR decision-making in the research contexts.

Keywords

Citation

El Haddad, P., Bachkirov, A.A. and Grishina, O. (2021), "Comparative CSR decision-making in the Middle East: an exploratory study", International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 792-811. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMEFM-01-2020-0017

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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