Corporate Social Responsibility Practices of UAE Banks

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe study aims at investigating corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of UAE banks. A modified questionnaire has been developed. The questionnaire is divided into two parts. The first part covers general information, namely the experience, position and educational level of the respondent. The second part consists of 18 questions about awareness of CSR, dimensions, the most important issues of CSR, instruments, stakeholders' engagement and co-operation, the community activities carried out by UAE banks, voluntary activities to mitigate climate change, practices, organizational responsibility for CSR, payback, public policy support for corporate social responsibility and the relationship with the The main results indicate that the UAE banks are aware of the concept of corporate social responsibility; they place more emphasis on compliance with mandatory social and environmental legislation and less on the non-mandatory legislation; the social specific issues are the most important ones; the banks collect information about/from stakeholders and consult stakeholders and participate in multi-stakeholder initiatives; the banks contribute positively in supporting community activities, for instance through donations and sponsorship; the banks are not heavily involved in problems of climate change; the banks ensure equal access to their banking services for all women, irrespective of their marital status, race, etc.; the banks meet the mandatory legislation requirements related to CSR; and finally, the majority of the respondents (90 percent) indicated that it is important for their banks to inform stakeholders about their corporate social responsibility activity.JEL: G2, G21KEYWORDS: Social Responsibility, UAE banks, UAE Islamic Banks, Direct and Indirect Aspects of CSRINTRODUCTIONCarroll (1991) defined corporate social responsibility (CSR) as organization's commitment to operate in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner while recognizing the interests of all its stakeholders. is also defined as Corporate initiative to assess and take responsibility for the company's effects on the environment and impact on social welfare. The term generally applies to company efforts that go beyond what may be required by regulators or environmental protection groups (investopedia). Wikipedia indicates that CSR is one of the newest management strategies where companies try to create a positive impact on society while doing business. It can be concluded that affects positively the success and sustainability of corporations. Geva (2008) describes the importance of as follows: Decades of debate on corporate social responsibility (CSR) have resulted in a substantial body of literature offering a number of philosophies that despite real and relevant differences among their theoretical assumptions express consensus about the fundamental idea that business corporations have an obligation to work for social betterment.Working for social betterment means corporations are committed towards their society to achieve this goal. In other words, they are socially responsible in this regard. Geva provided a comprehensive review of three models of corporate social responsibility, namely pyramid, intersecting circles, and concentric circles as is shown in Figure 1. The models consist of four dimensions: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. Geva also indicated that these four dimensions of social responsibility constitute total CSR: economic (make profit), legal (obey the law), ethical (be ethical), and philanthropic (be a good corporate citizen).The importance of is also reflected in the UN Global Compact which was launched in July 2000. The UN Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their realm of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labor standards, the environment and anti-corruption. …