IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i2p909-d724465.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Drivers and Barriers of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Comparison of the MENA Region and Western Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Amin Alizadeh

    (Department of Educational Administration & Human Resource Development, College of Education, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

Abstract

(1) Although numerous articles have been published to address the drivers or barriers of corporate social responsibility (CSR), some parts of the world have received less attention. In this study, I reviewed the literature from 2010 to 2021 to identify drivers and barriers of CSR in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and compare them with the findings in Western countries. (2) Methods: For this study, I used a structured literature review method. By setting the inclusion and exclusion criteria, only 28 articles remained from the selected database. (3) Results: The findings revealed that some CSR drivers, such as leadership styles, profitability, reputation, moral commitment, and environmental conservation, are common in both regions. There are also some differences between CSR drivers, for example, religious beliefs, low concentration of ownership, and company characteristics are some of the drivers in the MENA region. Maintaining social license to operate, and avoiding the risks of community opposition, pressure from the government, and consumer demand tend to be more important in Western countries. Common barriers in both regions are lack of financial resources, cost, lack of CSR knowledge and awareness, and ownership concentration. This review also highlighted that lack of law enforcement, lack of stakeholder communication, lack of management commitment, lack of interests, corruption, and financial debts are some of the barriers of CSR addressed in the MENA region, whereas cost/benefit ratio, lack of customer interest, and lack of scientific frameworks are special barriers in Western countries. (4) Conclusions: Although researchers in Western countries have more focus on the energy sector, there is a lack of research about the drivers and barriers of CSR in the MENA region in several industries, including oil and gas.

Suggested Citation

  • Amin Alizadeh, 2022. "The Drivers and Barriers of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Comparison of the MENA Region and Western Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-15, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:909-:d:724465
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/909/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/909/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yaping Fang & Feng Liu & Sunmin Kim & Minchan Pyo, 2023. "Consumer Participation in CSR: Spending Money versus Spending Time," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Camila Kolling & José Luis Duarte Ribeiro & Donato Morea & Gianpaolo Iazzolino, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility and circular economy from the perspective of consumers: A cross‐cultural analysis in the cosmetic industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1226-1243, May.
    3. Sharif Mohammad Aqabna & Mehmet Aga & Huthayfa Nabeel Jabari, 2023. "Firm Performance, Corporate Social Responsibility and the Impact of Earnings Management during COVID-19: Evidence from MENA Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-20, January.
    4. N. Nurlaela Arief & Melia Famiola & Andika Putra Pratama & Prameshwara Anggahegari & Aghnia Nadhira Aliya Putri, 2022. "Sustainability Communication through Bio-Based Experiential Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:909-:d:724465. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.