CSR and religiosity in a developing country context : a comparative case study approach

Amidst global sustainability concerns, the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the interface between business and society cannot be underestimated. Multiple research streams emerged which tackled the motivations behind corporate engagement in CSR and theories attempt to explain to a concerned global community the managerial intentions behind the CSR curtain. Research has also tackled the individual and social factors behind CSR practices.One of these factors is, in fact, religion and religiosity, where few studies to-date have attempted to relate CSR behavior and religiosity. The aim of the present work is to advance research in this interdisciplinary domain through presenting a critical highlight of the literature intersections between CSR and general religiosity. The research is structured as an inductive empirical study of four prominent multinational corporations in Egypt. The findings show that the more stringent institutional structure for CSR, the less the impact of general religiosity on CSR behavior.