Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Performance in Takaful Agencies: The Moderating Role of Objective Environment

Muhamad Azrin Nazri, Nor Asiah Omar, Aini Aman, Abu Hanifah Ayob and Nur Ainna Ramli
Additional contact information
Muhamad Azrin Nazri: Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai 71800, Malaysia
Nor Asiah Omar: Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia
Aini Aman: Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia
Abu Hanifah Ayob: Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia
Nur Ainna Ramli: Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai 71800, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-18

Abstract: The previous research on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business performance produced mixed findings. Scholars exerted the mixed findings are largely influenced by several factors and contexts where different markets, type of companies, industries, and countries would show different results. On that basis, this study examines how the dimensions of objective environment influence the relationship between CSR dimensions and the business performance of Takaful agencies in Malaysia. Malaysia was chosen as the country because it is among the largest Takaful contributors in the world. Stakeholder and contingency theory are used to analyze the hypothetical relationship between the variables. Questionnaires were distributed to Takaful agency managers who operate their businesses in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Selangor state. About 211 of them participated in this study. The empirical findings suggest that economic and ethical activities have a direct influence on Takaful agencies’ business performance. Further results imply that while environmental dynamism influences business performance directly, environmental complexity significantly moderates the relationship between legal, philanthropy, and business performance. This research considered only the direct effect of CSR activities and the moderating effect of environmental dimensions on business performance with only the agency managers’ perspective studied. It adds new insights to the CSR and Takaful literature by revealing the relationship between the dimensions of CSR and business performance in the Takaful context, and sheds light on how governing authorities and Takaful operators should implement the CSR strategy and activities to make the industry successful in Malaysia and around the world, as Takaful businesses are heading towards becoming a global industry.

Keywords: CSR dimensions; environment dimensions; business performance; Takaful (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8291/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8291/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:20:p:8291-:d:425095

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().