Marketing strategies in communicating CSR in the Muslim market of the United Arab Emirates: insights from the banking sector

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Journal of Islamic Marketing

Publication Date

2-1-2021

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the online corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication by domestic and global banks operating in the United Arab Emirates.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a qualitative content analysis, the study examines the strategies banks use to market their CSR initiatives on their corporate websites. CSR marketing strategies are classified with reference to Kotler and Lee’s (2005) categorization.

Findings

The analysis indicates that overall, all CSR marketing strategies, as proposed by Kotler and Lee (2005), are used by the domestic UAE banks with the most frequently used being cause-promotion, philanthropy and socially responsible business practices. Government owned and conventional banks display patterns congruent to the communications observed in the global sample. Islamic banks have a less diversified approach relying mostly on philanthropy with only one Islamic bank using four of the six strategies.

Originality/value

The present study provides insight into how CSR is communicated within one of the largest industries in the fast-growing economy of the UAE. The observations reported here could help corporate communication practitioners and managers in domestic corporations that contribute to the Islamic economy to understand how to benchmark better and to communicate more effectively about their CSR.

ISSN

1759-0833

Publisher

Emerald Publishing Limited

Disciplines

Business | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Banks, Corporate websites, CSR communication, Emerging economies, Islamic economies, Marketing strategies, UAE, United Arab Emirates

Scopus ID

85100177175

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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