Sam 1
[Sam]
[Robert]
[CSR]
[25 Feb 2024]
Does corporate social responsibility enhance corporate reputation? The global
trend with emphasis on Malaysia
1. Select a business phenomenon you would like to research on.
The concept of CSR mainly refers to conducting business in a manner which
gives substantial consideration to the environmental and social impact produced by
the operational activities of the business. CSR is a persistent commitment of
businesses to incorporate socially responsible policies in day to day management
affairs. Organizations are required to record and maintain the report on the efforts and
progress made for the practical implementation of such policies. Previously,
philanthropy was considered as the predominant element of CSR. This concept has
been recently replaced by the increased level of devotion and commitment to improve
and protect the living standards of the employees and their families. CSR reports in
today’s businesses embraces the issues and challenges faced by every department
such as induction, job opportunity, coaching and training of employees, governance,
supply chain strategies, ethics, environment and energy impact (Corporate Social
Responsibility).
Corporate reputation mainly involves the assessment of previous track record
of business in terms of its capability to deliver best outputs and financial value to
various stockholders as well as the strategies it has implemented in past to handle
different challenges and situations. For instance, factors such as financial stability,
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services and product, management quality and market competitiveness are used as a
measure to gauge corporate reputation (corporate reputation).
Corporate reputation is an intangible characteristic of an organization and
involves the perception of its brand value by the external and internal stakeholders in
view of past years as well as future prospects. The reputation of an organization may
vary among different stakeholders and largely depends on the dealing experience and
the market image being portrayed or perceived by others in the market. It has been
observed that most of the organizations don’t pay considerable heed to their image
reputation and are extensively engrossed in other hard-edge daily urgencies.
Whereas, there are few organizations who are enthusiastically concerned about their
image and good name. This approach is widely seen in organizations who are
knowledge–based for instance professional services are provided by the organizations
in the field of medical, law, finance, consultancy, university or software development.
Organizations in these businesses are profoundly active to construct a good image
founded on quality service and exceptional level of customer care, this sooner or later
brings them reputation in the market. The foremost advantages of a good reputation
in corporate world are precisely listed below (Harrison): •
Customer will prefer to buy the products of a company with distinctly good
repute even if similar products are also available in similar or lese price
manufactured by other companies.
•
Company will have the power to charge an extra price premium for services
and products.
•
Stakeholder will extend great support for the company in difficult times.
•
Company’s value will become the benchmark in the financial market.
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CSR and CR are closely related due to the relationship of these with the
customer satisfaction, perception and brand value etc. This study is therefore, focused
on the effects of CSR on CR while analyzing global trends with special emphasis on
Malaysia. Following is the research question to be used to undertake the research: Does corporate social responsibility enhance corporate reputation? The global
trend with emphasis on Malaysia
2. Provide a brief background of the study and research objective
Study Background
The government of Malaysia considers transparency, good corporate
governance and impartially responsible business policies as the foundation of
successful business investments and in acquiring the distinctively leading position.
The concept of CSR is widely promoted and supported by the government and is
indispensably applied in the formation of policies, rules and regulation, voluntary and
reporting standards, tax incentives
and
CSR endorsement is also exclusively
appraised by rewards (CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY POLICIES IN
MALAYSIA).
The consumers in Malaysia have become more educated, aware and readily
express their satisfaction and dissatisfaction. There are two associations of Sabah and
Penang that offer platform to the consumers to openly express their views and to
register complaints. The Malaysian Public have realized about their power from the
previous general election and are now demanding for improvised form of facilities in
education ,health, religious building and infrastructure sectors ,they are fully aware of
their basic human rights. This situation gives out a crystal clear message to the
organizations operating in Malaysia that they cannot ignore the strategic importance
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of CSR anymore, if they want to be successful and well-known in the society (Lo and
Yap).
The concept of corporate Reputation (CR) is given primary importance and is
considered as the valuable insubstantial asset that a business should prudently
handle. Businesses should pay attention to the factors that have the potential to
increase the strategic importance of CR in corporate world. CSR is one of those factors
mentioned by many authors in literature (Maden, Arikan and Telci).
The CSR practices contribute in improving CR of a firm or not is a debatable
matter and requires research to be carried out. The study is therefore designed with
an aim to establish the relationship between CSR and CR while focusing on the firms
in Malaysia.
Research Objective
The objective of this research is to establish the relationship between CSR and
CR while highlighting the importance of CSR in enhancement of CR. The study
objective also includes the global trends in CSR and CR with a particular emphasis on
Malaysia.
3. Provide a brief literature review leading to problem definition
The uniqueness of an organization should be communicated to the world in
such a manner that it could be used as the yardstick to measure the standard of its
services, products, actions and behaviors .This idea reflects that identity or
uniqueness of an organization is not limited to certain phrases or slogans but it should
rather be tangible, visible and embracing. Every action of the organization should give
out affirmation of its individuality. Business and academic interests have gained prime
importance in context of corporate identity. Organizations have acknowledged the fact
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that strong identity can be very helpful in aligning with the new trends in marketplace,
attracting heavy investments, motivating workers and as a mean to distinguish their
services and products from competitors (Mohamad, Bakar and Rahman).
The perception of CSR is same irrespective of any difference in religion, race,
and gender. Same is the case in case of owners of business and non-business men
and also within different generation groups. Nevertheless, a significant level of
difference has been noticed in factors such as employment status, political persuasion,
difference among the cause related organizational volunteers and those who are not,
CSR experience by the consumer at their workplace and those who never experience.
CSR engaged customers are easily discernable based on employment status, politics,
who is experiencing CSR at the workplace and have invested significant amount of
time in noble cause activities. It has been concluded through various research studies
that those who experience CSR at their workplace tend to have higher CSR
perception. In a study, the consumers who were holding top management position in
their workplace were highly perceptive of CSR as compared to the ones at low level
positions or ones who were unemployed. Consumers who were found to be involved
in community help activities were highly perceptive of the CSR and support it as
compared to those who never got engaged in such activities (Mueller).
A research study has divulged the significantly positive relationship between
corporate reputation and CSR. The finding of the study reflects that organizations who
operate in a more socially responsible manner tend to have good reputation in
corporate world. CSR has been demonstrated as the fundamental element in
improving performance on financial fronts. Good reputation builds a long-lasting
foundation of success and earn a leading edge among others. Organizations have
realized that strategic thinking should be done to protect and enhance the reputation
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like an asset. This will bring real value and financial benefits for the stakeholders. The
long term planning and thinking is not always perfect in most of the cases as the
uncertainty factor may interfere with the original strategic planning. There are certain
intrinsic challenges attached to the reputation and have influential impact in long-term,
the drastic fluctuations in climate has been reported as the most apparent impact on
strategic planning for last many decades and in forthcoming time. Therefore it is
emphasized that good reputation and its value must be gauged in a particular
timeframe. Another model for connecting CSR with the company’s performance and
reputation has been presented by Patrizia (2014). In this model, the researcher has
presented a comprehensive model to establish the relationship between the CSR
practices of firms and their reputation as well as performance. This is a relatively
important model to be considered while carrying out this research. The research has
shown a positive correlation in this model, between the firms CSR activities and its
corporate reputation. Similarly, the researcher has shown a positive impact of
corporate reputation on the company’s performance. The researcher has further linked
company’s performance with it CSR activities making a complete cycle through stating
that higher performance of a firm enables it to invest in CSR activities. This study
confirms the strong relationship present between corporate social responsibility and
corporate reputation (Gazzola).
Business is expected to preemptively look out for the environmental and
societal prospects and expectations. This subject has been extensively debated and
therefore the strategic role of CSR has become eminent in the businesses worldwide
(Yadav).
4. The research questions and explain its merits e.g. theoretical contribution
and/or practical value
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The research question chosen for the research is “Does corporate social
responsibility enhance corporate reputation? The global trend with emphasis on
Malaysia”. The research question will enable research for exploring of the relationship
between CSR and CR while emphasizing on the Malaysian firms and presenting a
brief of global trends. The study will explore the three major domains of the research
which are role of CSR in success of firms, effects of CSR on CR of firms, and success
of CSR in enhancing CR of firms around the world with special emphasis on Malaysian
firms. The research will provide rationale of implementing CSR as corporate strategy
towards improving firm’s performance. The research will open opportunity for readers
to further study the effects of CSR on CR on firms of countries other than Malaysia.
The study will also highlight level of significance placed by general public in CSR
practices by firms.
5. A conceptual framework that reflects your research
The term CSR has been derived from the term social responsibility that has a
wide span of functionality including charity campaigns, donation and philanthropy
being done to the society by the company. Conventionally, the philanthropic model is
used to describe the term CSR and it various facets. Various tremendous changes
have taken place in the definition of CSR over the period of time. In today’s highly
dynamic and uncertain business environment, the concept of CSR has been
flourishing extensively. Companies have become more socially responsible and are
committed to execute business activities in an ethical manner. The contribution of
companies in the social and economic development has been increased and firms are
keenly focused on improving the living standards and quality of their employees as
well as their family life. This focus has also been extended to the society and
community welfare activities in the recent decades. Companies are paying special
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heed to various commercial, ethical and legal concerns that society may feel towards
their businesses. The process of decision making is very prudently conducted to be
able to fairly address the claims made by all the stakeholders. This encourages the
business to broaden its horizon and liability to a range of investors. There are other
related terms that are used for CSR such as corporate citizenship, corporate
conscience, responsibly sustainable business and social performance. The term CSR
was first expressed and became very popular in the year 1960. The researchers have
articulated the mutual interaction of socially shared reputation and agreements on how
company has to behave under certain circumstances. There are various strong
evidences to believe in the fundamental role of corporate reputation in acquiring
unprecedented level of success. The term reputation is mainly described as the
identity or image of an organization developed over a period of time through hard work
and judged on the basis of its credibility, consistency and dependability. A company
reputation has colossal level of influence on the effectiveness and consistency of its
line work productivity (Yadav).
6. The hypotheses to be tested and provide a brief rationale for each

H1- CSR affects firms in positive manner
This hypothesis will form the basis of highlighting the significance of CSR
practices by firms. The positive manners that will be tested to be the outcome of CSR
include performance, growth, innovation, creativity, competitive advantage, improving
supply chain relationships, ethical practices, healthy competition, and long term
objectives. All of these factors determine the overall effectiveness of CSR practices in
a firm. This hypothesis will be tested through designing a separate questionnaire
based survey with 5-rating based answers. The results of obtained from the
respondents will be analyzed through appropriate statistical technique while proving
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or disproving the hypothesis. The research results will mainly depend on the primary
research conducted through the questionnaire including one for this hypothesis.

H2- Adopting CSR enhances the Corporate Reputation (CR)
This hypothesis determines whether CSR practices enhance CR of a firm. This
hypothesis will be tested through analyzing effects of CSR on CR of firms in various
aspects including competitive advantage, cost of product, after sales service,
customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer perception, hidden costs, brand
value and quality of product and services. All of these factors determine the overall
role of CSR practices in enhancing CR of a firm. This hypothesis will be tested through
designing a separate questionnaire based survey with 5-rating based answers. The
results of obtained from the respondents will be analyzed through appropriate
statistical technique while proving or disproving the hypothesis. The research results
will mainly depend on the primary research conducted through the questionnaire
including one for this hypothesis.

H3- CSR has been successful in Malaysia in enhancing firms’ CR
This hypothesis will enable the research to be done on the subject with
emphasis on Malaysia. This hypothesis will be tested through analyzing success of
CSR in relation with CR in Malaysia through asking questions on various aspects
including competitive advantage, cost of product, after sales service, customer
satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer perception, hidden costs, brand value and
quality of product and services. All of these factors determine the level of success of
CSR practices in enhancing CR in Malaysia. This hypothesis will be tested through
designing a separate questionnaire based survey with 5-rating based answers. The
results of obtained from the respondents will be analyzed through appropriate
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statistical technique while proving or disproving the hypothesis. The research results
will mainly depend on the primary research conducted through the questionnaire
including one for this hypothesis.
7. The key variables, brief description and the instruments and measures that
will be used to measure the variables
Following are the key variable which will analyzed through separate
questionnaire for each: 
Evaluating CSR role

Evaluating effects of CSR on CR

Evaluating success of CSR in Malaysian firms in enhancing CR
The questionnaire that will be used to measure the abovementioned key
variables are presented in the following tables: (a) Evaluating CSR role
Please rate the following statements by checking the appropriate rating score:1 – Strongly Disagree
2 – Disagree 3 – Neutral opinion 4 – Agree
5 – Strongly agree
S No
Statement
Rating
1
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a good practice
1
2
3
4
5
2
CSR should be made mandatory for all firms
1
2
3
4
5
3
CSR affects the company’s performance
1
2
3
4
5
4
CSR can only be practiced by financially strong firms
1
2
3
4
5
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5
CSR contributes to growth in a firm
1
2
3
4
5
6
CSR brings innovation and creativity in a firm
1
2
3
4
5
7
CSR gives competitive advantage to firms
1
2
3
4
5
8
CSR improves supply chain relationship
1
2
3
4
5
9
CSR results in ethical practices and healthy competition
1
2
3
4
5
10
CSR is a long term strategy
1
2
3
4
5
(b) Evaluating effects of CSR on CR
Please rate the following statements by checking the appropriate rating score:1 – Strongly Disagree
2 – Disagree 3 – Neutral opinion 4 – Agree
5 – Strongly agree
S No
Statement
Rating
1
CSR and CR have close relationship
1
2
3
4
5
2
CSR gives competitive advantage to CR
1
2
3
4
5
3
CSR increases the cost of product
1
2
3
4
5
4
CSR focuses on after sales service
1
2
3
4
5
5
CSR brings greater customer satisfaction
1
2
3
4
5
6
CSR brings greater customer loyalty
1
2
3
4
5
7
CSR improves customer perception
1
2
3
4
5
8
CSR results in hidden costs
1
2
3
4
5
9
CSR increases brand value
1
2
3
4
5
10
CSR improves the quality of product and services
1
2
3
4
5
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(c) Evaluating success of CSR for enhancing CR in Malaysian firms
Please rate the following statements by checking the appropriate rating score:1 – Strongly Disagree
2 – Disagree 3 – Neutral opinion 4 – Agree
5 – Strongly agree
S No
Statement
Rating
1
CSR is practiced in Malaysian firms
1
2
3
4
5
2
Firms practicing CSR in Malaysia have good brand
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
value
3
Firms practicing CSR in Malaysia have greater
customer satisfaction
4
CSR has role in positively affecting perception of
Malaysians
5
Malaysian consumers are more loyal to CSR practicing
firms
6
After sales service is important to Malaysians
1
2
3
4
5
7
Malaysians don’t want to see any hidden cost in
1
2
3
4
5
products they buy
8
Malaysian like low price products over CSR
1
2
3
4
5
9
Malaysians prefer quality of product and service with
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
CSR
10
Malaysia is a good market for healthy and ethical
competition
8. The population and sample size that will be used, justify
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The population will be people online from different countries in order achieve
diversified results. A number of people will be specially contacted from Malaysia in
order to get input on Malaysian firms’ CSR practices and the effects of it on the CR of
those firms. The sample size will be 75 people in the manner that 25 respondents will
be for each of the questionnaire. The 25 respondents selected for the third
questionnaire that related to CSR and CR in Malaysia will be from Malaysia. The
sample population of 75 makes it a significant study undertaken on a diversified level
of respondents. The participants will be asked to take survey only if the demographics
of them meet the requirements of the study.
9. The data collection methods that you propose to use, compare, contrast and
argue to justify
The data collection method will include surveying through web-based means.
In this method a specific website named surveymonkey.com is chosen for conducting
the surveys. This website is the world's prominent provider of the survey solution on
the web-based platform. This website is trusted by a large number of companies as
well as individuals while helping them to gather detailed information that is required by
them to take well-informed decisions. The SurveyMonkey is used by all of the Fortune
100 companies in order to acquire data from the market regarding latest trends and
consumer preferences. A number of institutions including students use this web-based
solution that help them in carrying out required studies (SurveyMonkey).
The surveys formulated in this paper will be converted into the web-based
surveys and distributed to the respondents to respond to the surveys according to their
preferences. The respondents will be reached through direct contacts on social
networking websites and their willingness to take surveys will be acquired. After
acquiring willingness of the respondents, the relevant survey link will be forwarded to
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them and the results will be downloaded from the SurveyMonkey after surveys have
been taken by the number of respondents as required by the study.
The online survey based analysis will help in acquiring responses from
diversified range of participants as compared to direct surveying. In direct surveying,
the research is generally limited to the people within a certain region that is accessible
to the researcher. On the other hand, online surveying has no boundaries because it
work on internet. The research based on the online surveying method can be
conducted on people having specific demographics in order to analyze response from
that particular segment of people. In this research the responses will be taken from 25
Malaysian people who will be approached through social networking websites and
requested to take the survey. The survey questionnaire for third hypothesis will be
used to conduct this survey. Since a large number of people from every part of the
world use internet and social networking websites so it is forecasted that finding 25
persons from Malaysia for this research will not be a big issue as compared to what
could have been faced in case of direct surveying.
10. The analyses that will be used to test/examine the hypotheses
Statistical analysis including correlation models will be used to test the hypothesis.
The analysis will be carried out separately for each hypothesis while identifying the
level of certainty in each of the results. The results of each hypothesis will be taken
from three separate surveys hence the analysis can be done separately for each of
the survey. The analysis will be conducted through employing empirical research
analysis techniques. The results will be plotted on charts as well as other appropriate
methods in order provide graphical insights of the results. The analysis will be carried
out through keeping the main issue of the research in mind in order to keep the
direction of analysis and results intact. Graphical representation of the results will
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provide important aspects of each hypothesis like which parameter of the CSR or CR
is more significant than others as responded by the participants of the surveys. The
graphical representation of results will be accompanied by tabular form of the results
in order to acquire important values such as mean, standard deviation and maximum
& minimum rating received for each of the question in each survey. The reflection of
results in tabular form along with the described parameters will provide the reflection
of each respondent on the each question along with a summary of all the responses
received.
11. The limitations of the study.
The study has few limitations that would result in restricting the results to the
domains defined in the study. The very first limitation is that the identity of people
approached through social networking website may be not exactly the same as stated
in their profiles; however, there is a low level of chance that such individuals would be
interested in taking surveys because people using faking social networking profiles
have specific goals of doing so and they consider it a waste to take surveys through
their fake profiles. Despite such low probability, the study is limited in the sense that
there is no way of actually proving that the person who took the survey was the person
as mentioned in their social networking profile. Keeping in view the low probability as
discussed before, the study results can be considered valid. This limitation can be
overcome through chatting on webcam with the respondents; however, such a step
would require a lot of time to first develop confidence in the respondents regarding
their privacy and confidentiality etc.
Another important limitation of the study is the general perception of the
respondents which is influenced by the environment. This is basically the limitation
that can be described as the stereotyping. People taking survey may respond to a
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question in a specific manner based on the information they get from other people and
the already perceived thoughts they have regarding the issue. There may be less or
not at all presence of personal experience of the respondents behind the particular
answer that they chose. This limitation also does not affect the validity of the results
because the answers based on general perception of the individual reflect the
perception of the society around that individual. In order to get real experience based
answers from individuals, further research can be conducted either through asking for
personal experience they had pertaining to the answer given in each question by the
respondent or by first asking that whether they had any experience in the area
pertaining to the question and then asking the question.
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Works Cited
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"Corporate Social Responsibility." 2015. http://www.asyousow.org/about-us/theoryof-change/corporate-social-responsibility/. 10 April 2015.
"CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY POLICIES IN MALAYSIA." n.d.
Gazzola, Patrizia. "CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPANIES’
REPUTATION." Network Intelligence Studies (2014): 74-84. Print.
Harrison, Kim. "Why a good corporate reputation is important to your organization."
2015. http://www.cuttingedgepr.com/articles/corprep_important.asp. 07 April
2015.
Lo, Bryan Ching-Wing and Kim-Len Yap. "ARE MALAYSIAN COMPANIES READY
FOR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY? ." Labuan e-Journal of
Muamalat and Society (2011): 11-15. Print.
Maden, C., et al. "Linking corporate social responsibility to corporate reputation: a
study on understanding behavioral consequences." Procedia - Social and
Behavioral Sciences (2012): 655-664. Print.
Mohamad, Bahtiar, Hassan Abu Bakar and Nik Adzrieman Abdul Rahman.
"RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORPORATE IDENTITY AND CORPORATE
REPUTATION: A CASE OF A MALAYSIAN HIGHER EDUCATION
SECTOR." JURNAL MANAJEMEN PEMASARAN (2007): 81-89.
Mueller, Thomas S. "Consumer Perception of CSR: Modeling Psychological
Motivators." Corporate Reputation Review (2014): 195-205. Print.
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SurveyMonkey. "About Us." n.d. https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/aboutus/. 10
April 2015.
Yadav, Miklesh Prasad. "IMPACT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON
CORPORATE REPUTATION: INDIAN SCENARIO." International Journal in
Management and Social Science (2014): 27-39. Print.