Corporate Social Responsibility for Takaful Industry’s Branding Image

Abstract

This study attempts to confirm the likelihood of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities giving different effects on brand image components and whether corporate reputation mediates these effects. Four action-based types of CSR, namely the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic, were analyzed and tested in this study. This study employs quantitative method of analysis whereby the participants were exposed to different treatments and the brand image was divided into an affective, specific and generic cognitive elements. A total of 327 (N = 2110) stakeholders of Takaful; the agents/ operators in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia were involved. Using the Structural Equation Model analysis, the affective component of the brand image showed a greater impact on the commitment towards the four types of CSR as compared to the others. The results revealed that the economic and philanthropic CSR activities significantly led to a more positive level of both brand image components and corporate reputation management than legal and ethical CSR activities. In addition, brand image has positively influenced the betterment of corporate reputation management. These findings have significant implications for future research directions in the corporate communication perspective.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Performance in Takaful Agencies: The Moderating Role of Objective Environment

“…This argument is consistent with the view of other scholars who described mixed evidence in the relationship, but most studies were found to show positive relationship [62]. While some studies found CSR as an increaser of business performance [26,41,42], other scholars documented negative [63] or no relationship [54] between the CSR practices of an organization and its performance. Even though scholars found mixed results of correlation between social responsibility and financial performance, society still desires a firm to implement good social responsibility and environmental management practices [64].…”

“…The classical view of the concept postulated that CSR entails activities meant to generate and increase profit only [37]; while the instrumental theory asserts that organizations should support social activities to gain a good image and competitive advantage [38]. Indeed, a corporation should fulfill the expectations of society and different stakeholders [26] to survive in business [39,40].…”

“…It helps to achieve a good and favorable position in an extremely competitive market [27]. The dimensions of CSR (economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic) positively influence an organization's brand image and corporate reputation [26]. Lee at al.…”

“…As a result, some scholars emphasized examination of the role of CSR on brand image and corporate reputation in Malaysian Takaful context [26], to determine the influence of companies' CSR disclosure behavior on firms' financial performance in insurance companies (both conventional and Takaful) [27]. Although these studies provide valuable insight regarding the influence of CSR in organizations, how the several dimensions of CSR activities influence the business performances of Islamic insurance companies has not been scrutinized properly in early research.…”

Branding Image of Zero Food Waste Management Actions for Corporate Reputation Development

“…Hence, based on the number of important aspects of the rationale for conducting several CSR activities, the survey divided the cognitive image into an effective image, generic cognitive image and a specific cognitive image component that fits all the relevant standards. This approach conforms to the idea that associations of those affected can be divided into micro-associations that specifically address the level and number of interest groups and metaassociations, whereby all parties are of equal importance to all stakeholders [13]. Moreover, various types of brand image components build the brand image.…”