Corporate social responsibility practices of banks in Bangladesh: a structuration theory perspective

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to illuminate the role of the socio-economic, cultural and religious context in shaping corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of banks in Bangladesh. We utilise content analysis of annual reports and websites of banks to identify CSR activities in healthcare, education and financial inclusion sectors. We use structuration theory (ST) to explain how interactions between bank managers (as agents) with the social structures (institutions and government) shape CSR practices. Our findings show that banks’ engagement in CSR activities is embedded in the social fabric of Bangladesh and not a result of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). We also note that Islamic banks focus their CSR activities on social justice, while other banks target education and other humanitarian issues. We contribute to the literature on the determinants of CSR by revealing the rationalizations of different actors in the production and reproduction of CSR practices in Bangladesh, an insight we attribute to ST. We conclude that Islamic beliefs influenced managers to mitigate poverty through CSR investments.

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ORCID for Faizul Haque: orcid.org/0000-0003-1556-3466

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