i-CSR Ranking in the Workplace

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has long been seen as an important business strategy. With the emergence of Islamic banking and finance, an Islamically compatible CSR list of activities has been outlined recently. The Islamic Social Corporate Responsibility (i-CSR) general practice framework consists of non-exhaustive list of possible activities that an organization can carry out under its CSR initiative and are grouped into four thematic areas – community, workplace, marketplace and environment. The aim of this research is to rank the CSR activities listed under the thematic area of workplace. The purpose of the ranking is to build a model that can measure and compare the contributions made by Islamic organizations through their CSR activities. In this research work, the CSR activities are ranked using analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The AHP produces pair-wise comparison type questionnaire and with 45 CSR activities identified under the workplace segment, 220 pair-wise questions under five sub-areas are generated. The analysis showed that the activities that are highly ranked in each sub-areas are ‘fardhu ain tazkirah session’, ‘medical benefit for immediate family members’, ‘fringe benefit, like entitlement to comprehensive medical benefit or takaful protection’, ‘entitlement to special leave to visit the elderly, parents or attending own children's school activities’ and ‘free biannual medical check-ups’. The rankings of these activities will serve as a reference point for Islamic organizations to prioritize their CSR initiatives according to Islamic teachings.