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TopIntroduction
Historically, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has attracted a significant interest and attention in the field of business administration. Surprisingly, this interest has intensified presently to gather an exceptional significance not only around the academic community, but also among practitioners (Gualtieri, & Topić, 2016). The question of whether CSR has become a source of competitive advantage in strategic management has consistently emerged in the recent years. Some scholars view it as mechanism that some companies or entities use to differentiate their products, processes or themselves from their competitors (Jones, Comfort & Hillier, 2007). Other corporate and business strategists opine that these companies may be developing CSR strategies as mechanisms of outperforming rival companies.
The integration of CSR into business operations and activities in a company such as Qatar requires an understanding of the concerns and objectives of the stakeholders. According to Gualtieri & Topić, 2016), there is emergence of a new paradigm for business which constitutes various CSR principles and values. These values and principles are diffused and transferred into the organizational structure through organizational network that brings together all stakeholders such as customers, employees, suppliers and the wider community (CSR Report, 2016).
Significance of the Study
From a strategic viewpoint, the ethical and business orientation of any business relies largely on its CSR. A company’s obligation towards its stakeholders is measured by the moral orientation it manifest (Farooq et al., 2013). Similarly, stakeholders’ perception towards a company problem and the need to solve it rely on the complex networks of relationships among affected groups within and outside the company. From this perspective, it is deducible that the strategic integration of CSR in the CSR-organizational performance plays a significant role as a measure of the value addition component of a company. For instance, in this case, understanding the role of CSR-strategic integration is important in determining the performance of that entity.
Objectives of the Study
In order to provide adequate assessment of the research topic, the following research objectives were formulated:
- 1.
To Explore the contribution of CSR strategic integration to the creation of strategic advantage,
- 2.
To determine the contextual factors that need to be taken into account CSR integration in CSR-organizational performance
- 3.
To determine whether the adoption of CSR activities has a positive and significant relationship to organizational performance.
Literature Review
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) defined as the ‘company activities demonstrating the inclusion of social and environmental concerns in business operations, and in interaction with stakeholders, also according to the ambition levels of corporate sustainability’ (Van Marrewijk, 2003). Over the years, CSR viewed as important as it can lead to improved corporate reputation, brand image, and customer and employee satisfaction (Bai and Chang, 2015). Overall, these valuable resources can lead to enhanced organizational performance (Hansen et al., 2011). An enormous body of the literature has emerged regarding the relationship between CSR and organizational performance (e.g. Rettab et al., 2009; Chang et al., 2013; Griffin and Mahon, 1997; Wright and Ferris, 1997; Graves and Waddock, 1997). However, existing findings on the relationship between CSR and company performance have exhibited inconsistent results, with studies reporting positive link (e.g. Griffin and Mahon, 1997), negative link (e.g. Wright and Ferris, 1997), and mixed relationship (e.g. Graves and Waddock, 1997). Such inconsistency remains the focus of scholars and researchers today in order to provide clear picture of whether CSR related to different indicators of organizational performance.