CSR Logics in the Middle East

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) Logics research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is still an understudied form of CSR discourse and practice. Juxtaposing the myriad forms of expressions across different countries and subregions is necessary to drive future research in this context forward. In recent years, CSR practices in MENA have become salient through tailoring and adaptation of Western CSR Logics. Each nation has a unique constellation of institutions (political, cultural, social, and economic) that help shape CSR Logics in context in somewhat different ways. In this book chapter, we consider the institutions relating to state, corporation, family, and religion in the Middle East and how they shape localized expressions of CSR, with nuanced comparisons between different MENA sub-clusters of contexts. We also keep in mind the analysis of Western Assumptive Logics of CSR and their increasing salience across the globe. The subregions in MENA that we study are clustered based on socioeconomic measures, namely, Human Development Index (HDI), and include Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), middle-HDI cluster, and low-HDI cluster, each having a unique set of political, social, and cultural understandings that shape CSR practices in the Middle East in different ways.