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The purpose of this study is to develop an Islamic corporate social responsibility (ICSR) model.

Based on Qur’anic verses and previous literature, the authors aim to develop an ICSR model with an extension of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) theory of Carroll (1979).

This study extends the theory of Carroll (1979) using an operational definition of CSR that encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic dimensions of CSR from an Islamic perspective. This ICSR model is applicable to both Islamic and non-Islamic business systems because both Islamic and Western CSR have common humanitarian grounds.

The conceptual research is not tested in this article. Further, not all Islamic principles are integrated in this model.

Many Western theoreticians have attempted to offer theoretical, moral and ethical grounds for CSR initiatives. However, these attempts have been broadly criticized for problems relating to justification, conceptual clarity and possible inconsistency and for failing to provide adequate ethical guidance to business executives who must determine which course to pursue and their level of commitment. Therefore, there is a need to develop the concept of CSR, which has gained popularity and wide acceptance among the Western and Islamic business communities, especially from an Islamic perspective.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the determinants and outcomes of Islamic corporate social responsibility (ICSR) adoption in Islamic bank branches in Pakistan. The research framework examines the influence of stakeholder’s pressure on ICSR adoption. It also analyses the relationship between ICSR adoption and intangible outcomes achieved by the Islamic bank branch.

A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed through a mail survey to Islamic bank branches in Pakistan. The respondents of the study were the branch manager of Islamic bank branches in Pakistan. A simple random sampling technique was used and resulted in the collection of 293 usable questionnaires. SMART PLS was used to statistically analyse the data using partial least squares structural equation modelling approach. The measurement and structural models were analysed.

The results indicate a significant and positive relationship between Shariah supervisory board pressure, competitor pressure and ICSR adoption in Islamic bank branches. A moderate strength positive relationship was found out between top management pressure and ICSR adoption. Results reveal that customer pressure and community pressure have an insignificant influence on ICSR adoption. Data analysis shows that the adoption of ICSR practices have a significant and positive influence on an Islamic bank branch’s Intangible outcomes.

The sample size was relatively small because of the limited time duration.

The construct of ICSR has not been extensively researched upon especially through empirical studies. Limited research exists in the area of factors than can influence Islamic bank branches to adopt ICSR practices and currently no empirical research has focussed on the intangible outcomes that can be achieved through ICSR adoption by an Islamic bank branch. The limited study exists in the Pakistan context as well, which is a rapidly growing Islamic banking industry.

The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual model of Islamic branding. Based on the theory of self-congruity and existing literature, the conceptual model proposes three antecedents that can form the building blocks of Islamic branding.

The authors have developed a conceptual model to propose the antecedents of the Islamic branding construct based on the theory of self-congruity. The antecedents are adapted from existing literature and customized according to the Muslim consumer market. Three hypotheses are formulated on the basis of the proposed model and justified from existing literature.

The proposed Islamic branding model can be applied to both local and multinational brands in both Muslim majority and minority markets. Religiosity, Islamic brand knowledge and Islamic corporate social responsibility are proposed as the antecedents of Islamic branding. Muslim consumers are attracted to brands that portray congruity with their religious values. The proposed antecedents of Islamic branding can result in the subsequent formation of an emotional attachment between the Muslim consumer and the respective Islamic brand, and thereby a stronger Islamic brand.

The proposed Islamic branding model has not been empirically tested in this study.

Islamic branding is in the infancy stage of conceptual development. Currently, limited research exists on the operationalization of this construct. A gap exists in the literature regarding models and instruments for the operationalization and development of Islamic branding. The proposed model attempts to fill the conceptual gaps while taking into account the heterogeneity of the Muslim consumer market. Up until now, religiosity, Islamic brand knowledge and corporate social responsibility have not been studied as antecedents of Islamic branding. This study offers new insights by proposing customized brand-building blocks for an organization’s Islamic branding strategy based on theoretical grounds.

Internationalization has witnessed rapid growth of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in emerging markets, requiring reflection on how to operate within these markets. The purpose of this paper is to assist MNEs to adapt to these markets, and adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy with social initiatives (SIs), relevant to stakeholders, including their employees and the communities they reside in. The current paper does this by examining the relationships between employee identification with the organization’s SIs (SI-I) and their engagement in them (SI-E), alongside their perspective on the general importance of CSR (ICSR) and employee values to help with CSR (VCSR). The findings will better prepare managers in pre-emerging and emerging markets to design CSR strategy and SIs relevant to these markets and their communities.

Guided by social identity theory, this paper examines local employee identification of SI (SI-I) and engagement in SI (SI-E), in two MNE subsidiaries across varying emerging market levels in developing countries, utilizing a quantitative survey design. Structural equation modeling is utilized to analyze responses of N=544 employees in two South East Asian countries, namely, Indonesia (as an emerging country) and Vietnam (as a pre-emerging country), to determine any differences that may exist between the two countries.

The findings reveal that SI identification (SI-I) has a strong effect on employee engagement in SIs (SI-E) and also the importance they attach to organizations conducting CSR (ICSR). However, employee values to help with CSR activities (VCSR) has an effect on Vietnamese employees but not Indonesian employees. Likewise, SI-I mediates the effect between ICSR and SI-E for Vietnamese employees but not for Indonesian, suggesting differences exist between these two developing countries where the less developed country, Vietnam, is defined as pre-emerging and Indonesia as an emerging market (MSCI, 2016).

An awareness of the differences that may exist across employees in emerging markets will assist managers to design CSR strategy relevant to the level of market emergence of the host country, allowing for better CSR SIs identification and engagement in these countries.

The research model for this analysis utilizes constructs based on past Identification literature, while including new constructs for this study adapted from past literature, and underpinned uniquely by social identity theory in an International Business setting. The findings indicate differences between emerging and pre-emerging markets for particular constructs, which suggests the importance of considering the market level when implementing MNE CSR strategy. Limited research has been conducted examining the differences between emerging and pre-emerging markets, so further research is required to replicate these findings and provide insight into the differences that may exist for CSR SIs in emerging markets.

As part of discussing future research in the era of change for Globalization 4.0, this chapter examines the traditional academic CSR literature to determine a gap in current research. An academic literature search revealed limited literature on actual CSR activities, and more specifically, Social Initiatives (SIs). It is important to expand on this area of research as it relates to an evolution of the original CSR definition by Carroll (1979, 1999). The literature review also revealed limited use of Social Identity Theory in CSR studies: a theory which provides an excellent context to give ‘purpose’ and meaning to a more socially oriented form of CSR. It also provides a base to understand human ‘identification’ and ‘identity’ with CSR activities, in a new era of change. Recent research reveals the importance of understanding what employees and global citizens as stakeholders want, need, identify, and engage with. Following a literature review, this chapter introduces a new ‘Social Initiatives Framework,’ designed to incorporate the many terms and alternative themes associated with CSR. The chapter concludes with extracts from an example paper for this area of research, and provides a model to examine changing stakeholder perspectives in global settings. The findings behind the development of the model is discussed, revealing substantial opportunities for future research. The chapter highlights the development of CSR SIs to study the sustainable development goals, while also supporting social enterprises to solve wicked challenges and create shared value (CSV) for both the host community and the company within the setting where the organization resides.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between ethical values and performance in the context of the banking sector in Malaysia.

Based on the philanthropic model, this study posits that firms undertaking zakat and charity are ethical firms. Zakat disclosure index (ZDI) and charity disclosure index (CDI) were constructed to measure ethical values. This study hypothesises that ethical values are positively associated with bank performance. Ethical values (i.e. CDI and ZDI) and financial performance data (i.e. return on assets) were collected from the disclosures made in the annual reports of 50 banks for a period of five years (2010-2014).

A positive association was found between zakat disclosure and bank performance. The results indicate that higher zakat disclosure is associated with greater bank performance. However, no relationship was found between charity disclosure and bank performance.

Considering the limitation of the index used in this study, other dimensions such as corporate governance, sustainability, products and environment can be considered in the development of index to measure ethical values in future studies.

This study offers additional explanation on the relationship between ethical values and performance by examining the role of zakat disclosures that characterize the unique aspects of Malaysian companies.

This paper aims to explore the online corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication by domestic and global banks operating in the United Arab Emirates.

Through a qualitative content analysis, the study examines the strategies banks use to market their CSR initiatives on their corporate websites. CSR marketing strategies are classified with reference to Kotler and Lee’s (2005) categorization.

The analysis indicates that overall, all CSR marketing strategies, as proposed by Kotler and Lee (2005), are used by the domestic UAE banks with the most frequently used being cause-promotion, philanthropy and socially responsible business practices. Government owned and conventional banks display patterns congruent to the communications observed in the global sample. Islamic banks have a less diversified approach relying mostly on philanthropy with only one Islamic bank using four of the six strategies.

The present study provides insight into how CSR is communicated within one of the largest industries in the fast-growing economy of the UAE. The observations reported here could help corporate communication practitioners and managers in domestic corporations that contribute to the Islamic economy to understand how to benchmark better and to communicate more effectively about their CSR.

Currently, one of the most important dilemmas facing mankind is environmental degradation and natural resource shortage. The adoption of Green Banking practices has been identified as a solution to the growing environmental problems all over the world. However, an important issue being faced by both the conventional and Islamic banking industry is the creation of stakeholder engagement in Green Banking practices. The purpose of this paper is to propose the use of Islamic principles in developing an emotional attachment between Green Banking practices and the Muslim consumer market to facilitate Green Banking adoption.

Based on the theory of self-congruity, the authors have proposed a framework to analyze the congruity between Islamic principles and Green Banking. The argument is built on secondary data by identifying the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) dimensions of Green Banking and proving its congruence with teachings of the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah.

It is observed that the doctrine of Islam established for mankind 1,400 years ago consists of the same principles that are now being implemented in the shape of Green Banking. The dimensions of Green Banking are in line with Islamic teachings and, thus, can easily be adopted and marketed by banks, especially Islamic banks, targeting the Muslim consumers. The congruence of Green Banking with Islamic principles can play a major role in fostering the growth of this imperative ideology for the Green Muslim consumers. Islamic banks can market green products and services on the basis of religious congruity to the Muslim consumer market and create greater acceptability and loyalty.

The proposed model has not been empirically tested.

Limited research exists in the area of Green Banking adoption, especially in Muslim countries. Up until now, academic research has not been conducted on the congruity between the principles of Islam and Green Banking dimensions. This paper attempts to add to the unsaturated research area of Green Banking adoption by Islamic banks and how Islamic banks can gain a competitive advantage by building on the congruity between Green Banking and Islam.

Drawing on social identity theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose and test a conceptual framework of the mechanism of customer response toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Islamic banks.

A survey was completed by 203 customers of Islamic banks in Bahrain. Structural equation modeling, was used to test the hypotheses.

Islamic ethics fit partially mediates the relationship between CSR initiatives and consumer-bank identification (CBI) which in turn contributes positively to customer advocacy. These findings emphasize the importance of CSR practices compliance with Islamic ethics principles for customers to identify with and advocate Islamic bank.

Understanding the mechanism of customers’ responses toward CSR initiatives of Islamic banks provides insights into the complexities of Islamic bank customers’ perceptions of CSR initiatives. The successful introduction of a mediating variable, namely, Islamic ethics fit suggests future research opportunities.

Much of the value of the present work is because of the findings regarding the relationship between CSR and customer responses. The originality of this study lies in being the first research examining the mediating role of Islamic ethics fit to the relationship between CSR initiatives and CBI which in turn enhances Islamic banks’ advocacy.

The purpose of this study aims to empirically examine the corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) levels of conventional and Islamic banks in Malaysia. Additionally, as Malaysian banks have different shareholding patterns that are more highly concentrated than those in the developed economies, this study also investigates the impact of ownership concentration on CSRD in both types of banks.

This study employs hand-collected corporate social responsibility (CSR) data from the annual and sustainability reports of 21 conventional banks and 16 Islamic banks in Malaysia during 2010–2017. The data are then run using the pooled ordinary least square (OLS) with robust standard errors and robust regressions models together with all possible factors determining CSRD in the banking sector.

This study discovers that Islamic banks disclose a higher level of total CSRD than their conventional counterparts after controlling a number of important determinants of CSRD. These results remain consistent for four different dimensions of CSRD, i.e. employees, communities, environment and products and services. In relation to the impact of ownership concentration on CSRD level, the results show that high ownership concentration reduces the level of CSRD by Malaysian banks. However, in an additional interaction test, the result exhibits a complementary relationship between Islamic banks and ownership concentration in influencing CSRD level.

This study finds that the principle of Islamic accountability has been internalised by Islamic banks, and shaped them to put equal emphasis on the disclosure of CSR practices and the financial information disclosure.

It is recommended for all banks to ensure the integration of a more comprehensive ethical system, such as theological ethical values in every aspect of their business activities. The findings from this study also highlight the necessity for the central bank to increase their monitoring role, especially towards banks with a more concentrated ownership structure by limiting the size of shareholdings by any particular types of owners.

Only a few studies have compared CSR practices between these two types of banks, and most of them are descriptive and qualitative in nature. This study is the first that uses a robust model with a high R-squared value, which control for all possible factors determining CSRD in the banking sector.