Enhancing brand value using corporate social responsibility initiatives

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate employees’ perceptions of socially responsible financial services brands in Saudi Arabia. The study also identifies the motives and challenges for Islamic banks for higher involvement in social responsibility initiatives to enhance their brand values. Design/methodology/approach An inductive approach was used in this study to identify the motives and challenges related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The research design uses a qualitative approach where in-depth interviews were carried out among the employees in the financial services sector in Saudi Arabia. Findings Findings provide insights about how CSR initiatives for financial services brands in a developing and Islamic country are perceived. Results show that the focus of CSR activities is on the attribute of CSR, the magnitude of CSR and attitude towards CSR. Results show two main motives to engage in CSR activities, which are instrumental and ethical motives. The main challenges are related to the government, business, charitable organisations and customers and society. Practical implications Implications exist for how CSR is perceived in a new context and in the financial services industry. Understanding the current perception of CSR from a financial service brand perspective helps policymakers to develop appropriate platforms for financial service providers to become more socially involved. Originality/value The major contribution of this study lies in investigating the CSR perception among the key stakeholder (i.e. the employees) from a brand management perspective in the Saudi Arabian financial services sector. Further, this study shows the main motives and challenges, which local financial service brands face to become socially responsible. The categories of attributes, magnitude and attitudes can be used to enhance brand value in one of the economically advanced countries in the Arabic world, Saudi Arabia. In the first category “attribute”, the perception of socially responsible banks are highlighted, while the elements of CSR, including its dimensions, are emphasised in the second category “magnitude”. The third category “attitude” shows two themes, including stakeholders’ issues and business-related issues.

Can the concept of “lean management” be applied to academic recruitment? – a quasi-theoretical discourse

“…At the moment, both the awareness of lean recruitment and its practice have largely been excluded from the CSR and green human resources management (HRM) discussion (Ajina et al, 2020;Xu, 2020). Instead, CSR discussions focus on subjects such as sustainability (Millar and Searcy, 2020), brand value (Ajina et al, 2020) and to a large extent green HRM (Chaudhary, 2018;Shen et al, 2019;Suharti and Sugiarto, 2020). The continuous eschewing of "lean" in CSR and the HR discourse has led to some writers questioning the efficacy of the current recruitment practices in organisations (Cappelli, 2019).…”

“…If the intention is to collect biodata and other essential candidate information, this could be done at a later stage, once the candidate has been shortlisted: this will be in line with "flow" and "value steam" (Emiliani, 2006;Randhawa and Ahuja, 2017;Ajina et al, 2020). In so doing, the candidate is less likely to be given false hope and more likely to have a favourable view of the effort-to-outcome ratio in the recruitment process.…”

Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure on Brand Value: An analysis of Interbrand Companies

“…Several researchers (Ajina et al, 2020;Fatima & Arshad, 2019;Kádeková et al 2020;Kim, 2019;Melo & Galan, 2011;Pratihari & Uzma, 2018;Ramesh et al, 2019;Singh & Verma, 2018;Wang et al, 2015) analyzed the impact of the CSR disclosure on brand value with contrasting results.…”

“…Moreover, Kim (2019) with cross-country and cross-industry data sets from 144 global brands across 17 countries, shows a general relationship between CSR activities and brand value and that firm size positively moderates the relationship between CSR activities and brand value. Ajina et al (2020), examining the local banks in Saudi Arabia, evidence how CSR disclosure can enhance the brand value for financial services firms in a developing and Islamic country.…”

“…The number of empirical studies which focused on the impacts of CSR has continuously increased since the 1980s. Some of these studies have attempted to identify how the disclosure of the CSR practices affect the overall organizational performance, providing empirical evidence on the relationship between these corporate behaviors and reputation, competitiveness, and sustainability of the organizations (Ajina, Roy, Nguyen, Japutra, & Al-Hajla, 2020;Chandler, 2017;Diallo & Lambey-Checchin, 2017;Fatima & Arshad, 2019;Kádeková, Savov, Košičiarová, & Valaskova, 2020;Kim, 2019;Melo & Galan, 2011;Pratihari & Uzma, 2018;Ramesh et al, 2019;Singh & Verma, 2018;Wang, Chen, Yu, & Hsiao, 2015).…”