Factors Affecting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Intention Among Owners/Managers of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia: A Proposed Model

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has triggered many businesses to develop the right strategy for its implementation. In this article, the authors argued that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can also play a prominent role as large firms or multinational corporations (MNCs) when it comes to implementing CSR. Advantages of SMEs include flexible operations, fewer employees, less formal organizational structure and easiness of managers to adopt new ideas and able to adapt new business culture quickly. However, the implementation of CSR in SMEs for large firm and small firm is different in which the concept of CSR cannot be transferred directly to SMEs. The aim of this study is to investigate the CSR behaviors of the Malaysian SMEs which are being affected by the managers and owners intention toward the CSR activities. In this article, the authors proposed a CSR for SMEs model be build by using theory of planned behavior as the underpinning theory. Propositions related to the proposed model are also explored and discussed.