Attitude and Motives Towards Corporate Social Responsibility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This paper explores the attitudes of large and small firms’ managers toward Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the motivations behind the implementation of such an initiative. The research revealed a gap in the minute number of studies exploring CSR practices the kingdom’s SMEs. There was a further gap in the managers’ motives towards CSR within the same region. As a way of responding to the four proposed research questions, the researchers surveyed 52 SME and large firms. Ideally, the results showed that large firms pursue traditional CSR practices and record their activities unlike SMEs, which follow a contemporary approach to CSR, with little regard to recording their activities. In addition, large firms significantly perceive CSR as an obligation, while SMEs rely on their board of management’s beliefs. This paper provides an insight for the policymakers to adopt different approaches for large and small firms in their implementation of CSR practices in pursuance of satisfactory reports.