Edinburgh Napier University

  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) have received much attention in the literature. However, a review of previous studies has revealed that the current discussions on CSR and CSRD do not go beyond the disciplinary perspective (e. g. management, accounting, and ethics) and ignore the possibility of conceptualisation of CSR and CSRD based on other values, such as religion. Many of these studies have proposed different theories to explain why corporations disclose or do not disclose social responsibility information. The various CSRD theories exclude religion as a foundation in explaining why organisations should disclose social responsibility information, and also in making assessment of the performance of organisations in terms of fulfilling their obligation to God. These theories have been developed mainly in the context of the liberal market, and may not offer full justification of CSR and CSRD practices in a dissimilar socio-culture, such as the case of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs).
While values and principles that have been central to Islamic teaching and philosophy are directly related to the notion of CSR, there are some empirical studies that have attempted to investigate the relationships between those Values and CSR and CSRD. The mainstream of existing studies has tended to examine the gap between the expectation of social disclosure and the actual disclosure practice in Islamic business organisations such as IFIs. In order to understand the practice of CSR and CSRD by IFIs, it is also important to investigate the perception of the managers who are in charge of producing corporate reports, and to understand the reasons and rationales behind disclosing or non-disclosing social responsibility information. In addition, there is a lack of comprehensive studies comparing the practice of CSRD in IFIs with its conventional counterparts, as such a comparison offers an insight into the nature of CSRD in IFIs, which are influenced by the value of Islam.
To achieve this objective, this study conducted a mix of qualitative and quantitative research. On the quantitative part, 42 financial institutions, divided equally between IFIs and conventional financial institutions (CFls), were studied.
The content analysis method was utilised to compare the extent and level of CSRD in the annual reports between IFIs and CFIs. On the qualitative research side, interviews were utilised to seek the perspectives, attitudes and opinions of IFIs' managers on CSR and CSRD.
This study presents evidence that Islamic values have driven the business practice of IFIs and consequently influenced CSR and CSRD. The principle of accountability to Almighty Allah was found as the prominent driver for CSR and CSRD in IFIs. This accountability is based on the relationship between individuals and businesses, and Almighty Allah. Accountability in this context means not only a duty to report performance, but performing ethically in the first place. This notion of accountability from an Islamic perspective provides a different dimension to the concept of CSR and CSRD, which was not identified in the existing framework and literature. This study has therefore contributed to our understanding and knowledge of CSR, and CSRD in particular, in the business environment of IFIs.