Despite a much evidence on the potential role of senior management in the success of corporate social responsibility initiatives in Western-dominated organizational contexts, little attempt has been made to document the how managers think about corporate social responsibility in organizations in Muslim-dominated countries in the Middle East region. New research from a team including Professor Ebrahim Soltani and Dr Abdullah Iqbal of Kent Business School provides case studies of corporate social responsibility attitudes in three manufacturing firms operating in Iran’s auto industry. The study identified three types of managerial mindset toward corporate social responsibility: conformist, self-seeker, and satisfier. The study concludes that while these different mindsets serve managerial ends and short-term self-interests, they fall short of both the core values of Islamic ethics and corporate social responsibility best practice.
This research is published in the April 2014 issue of the Journal of Business Ethics.