Exploring Corporate Social Responsibility among SMEs in Malaysia

The issues of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have received growing attention in recent years. However, previous studies on CSR were largely focused on developed countries. This is because CSR practices have long been associated with big corporations in developed countries such as Mark & Spenser, Johnson & Johnson, Volkswagen, and Coca-Cola. It has been argued that organizations operations and interaction with other stakeholder to a certain degree have an impact on society and the environment regardless of the size of the organization. Hence, CSR is critical in all firms, large and small. Despite the importance of CSR in all organizations, there is a lack of literature on CSR concerning small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to explore the awareness of CSR concept among SMEs in Malaysia. In addition, this study is to investigate CSR initiatives implemented by SMEs as well as attempt to understand the challenges and barriers to CSR commitment. This is an exploratory study which employs a qualitative strategy as it provides deeper understanding of the phenomenon understudy.