Corporate social responsibility in Iran from the perspective of employees

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in Iran from the perspective of employees. Design/methodology/approach - To achieve the objectives of this research, the perceptions of 142 Iranian employees were examined regarding the CSR practices of their respective organizations. The required data were collected using a questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to refine scale items and confirm the factorial structure of the scale applied. Descriptive statistics and at‐test were used to analyze the data. Findings - The paper unveils information about the current status of CSR in Iran from the perspective of employees, and shows that on average Iranian employees perceive their organizations to be committed to CSR, although the mean CSR scores were relatively low in all dimensions. Also, this research shows that while the four‐factorial structure of Truker's CSR scale was confirmed in the Iranian context, some of the items had to be removed from the original scale when measuring CSR. Research limitations/implications - The relatively low mean on the categories of CSR among Iranian organizations from the perspective of employees indicates the infancy level of CSR among Iranian organizations and calls for further awareness among Iranian organizations and managers about the issue of CSR. This research also shows that researchers need to be cautious when using CSR scales that have been developed in Western or European contexts to measure social responsibility activities of organizations in culturally different contexts such as the Middle East. A major limitation of this research pertains to sample size, which limits the generalizability of the findings to the whole country. Practical implications - This research indicates the infancy level of CSR among Iranian organizations and calls for further engagement of Iranian organizations in social initiatives and community outreach endeavors. Originality/value - Being among the first research studies of its kind to examine the CSR status in Iran, this study provides invaluable understanding and insights about the status of CSR in Iran, an important country in the Middle East. Furthermore, it validates and supports a recently proposed CSR scale by providing empirical findings from a culturally different context.