Social Reporting of Egyptian Islamic Banks: Insights from the Post-Revolution Era

Abstract

This chapter presents a case study exploring the social reporting practices of Egyptian Islamic banks (IBs) following two revolutions in Egypt. The two Egyptian Arab uprisings in 2011 and 2013 threatened the social legitimacy of IBs. Thus, this study aims at investigating the social reporting strategies employed by Egyptian IBs to defend their social legitimacy following two uprisings. The case is framed within legitimacy theory, arising from the notion of a “social contract” between company and society. It adopts content analysis of annual reports and websites, and interviews with different stakeholders, to explore motivations for social reporting in the new era. The findings reveal that Egyptian IBs used different communication strategies to legitimise themselves after the two uprisings; however, they failed to do so. This research concludes with different implications for policy makers in IBs in Egypt and Arab Spring countries.