Corporate social responsibility in a non-western context: the case of the United Arab Emirates

Using the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a non-Western and Middle Eastern case study, this study investigates the benefits and challenges of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This is pursued via a qualitative methodology of semi-structured in-depth personal interviews of a group of senior managers from the public, private, and quasi-governmental sectors. Using the stakeholder theoryḍ and the thematic analysis approach. the study reveals the following social benefits: improved stakeholder dialogue, value creation, and responsiveness to societal need. Identified economics benefits include: job creation and enhanced corporate competitiveness. Major challenges include: contradictory regulations, dependency culture, lack of embedded frameworks, and poor impact measurement. The contribution of the study are three-folds. First, it shows that CSR in the UAE is influenced by institutional factors and the developmental priorities of the state instead of grassroot demands. Second, it contextualizes stakeholder theory within a rentier state political economy. Third, it illuminates on how CSR operates in rentier states and offers guidance for CSR implementation in similar non-Western contexts.