CSR practices
In order to find out the key CSR practices undertaken by Msheireb Properties, the Q1 in the interview protocol was designed to ask the interviewees ‘What are the kinds of CSR practices that are common in Msheireb Properties?’ In their response to this question, the following theme emerged:
“Our company undertakes a range of CSR practices. I can give account of two kinds of CSR practices the company has been performing for as long as I have been working here. First, the company uses eco-friendly technologies to realize a new approach to urban planning that aims at protecting and preserving the environment so as to contribute in enriching Qatar. Secondly, the company has been paying taxes to the government as mandated by law and also keeps its books of account clean to help the government track the firm’s business activities and economic state. Other practices include recycling of building materials and fair treatment of employees and customers.” (Interviewee 1).
“Our company has been engaging in recycling and thereafter building with the recycled materials. This has helped the company to save huge amounts of money that would be spent on buying additional new building materials. As well, using recycled building materials enables the company reduce its negative impacts on the environment. At times, the company engages in charity work by helping the less fortunate in the surrounding communities.” (Interviewee 2).
“The company has created numerous job opportunities for the local people and continues to do so even now. To add on this, the company is actively involved in charitable giving and also volunteer efforts within the surrounding community to help improve the social welfare of the people. Lately, the company has intensified its efforts in recycling activities and reducing carbon footprints to ensure that it contributes to the collective goal of mitigating climate change“. (Interviewee 3).
“The company engages in ethical sourcing as well as maintains ethics in its entire supply chain. Importantly, the company manages all the logistic activities right from the origin of building materials, their arrival in the company warehouse to the delivery of the final products (houses) to the consumers to ensure that ethical guidelines are observed. Also, the company encourages employees to volunteer to work on specific projects in the communities as well as support local charities“. (Interviewee 4)
“The company donates some funds to local hospitals to purchase medical equipment and other funds to schools to purchase essentials like books and other reading materials. Also, to co-exist with the local communities, we set aside some job openings specifically for the local people. The company also does recycling to minimise the use of more new resources that can lead to their fast extinction. I cannot forget to mention that we also operate within the legal framework as stipulated by the government and take good care of our employees and customers“. (Interviewee 5)
“CSR practices starts right in the company from the placing of recycling bins in designated office space to the installation of energy efficient bulbs and using building materials more responsibly. Outside its boundaries, the company awards educational grants to some few needy students as well as contributing to some environmental projects that seek to improve the ecological sustainability of Qatar“. (Interviewee 6)
“With the company seeking to improve the overall quality of life of the urban people, top on agenda of its CSR has been recycling, reducing carbon footprint and responsible use of resources, water and energy. To add on this, the company is involved in charity work and volunteer efforts within the local community“. (Interviewee 7).
Drawing from the above responses provided by the interviewees, it is evident that Msheireb Properties engages in a range of CSR practices. These are identified under five key categories- economic responsibility, social responsibility, ethical responsibility, philanthropic responsibility, and legal responsibility. Economic responsibility appears to be a priority in Msheireb Properties as inferred from the answers given by interviewees 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7. In fact, all these employees confirm that the company is engaged in recycling activities, which is a pointer to its economic responsibility goals of lowering the cost of building materials, improving profits, and maximizing shareholder value. This finding is congruent with the findings of Carroll (2016) that businesses have an economic responsibility of generating money for the shareholders and maximize their value in the enterprise. Aside from lowering the cost of building materials, recycling activities at Msheireb Properties ultimately benefit society by reducing the consumption of resources, which improves the sustainability of the region. Another economic responsibility practice at the company, as pointed out by interviewee 1 is the use of eco-friendly technologies. Aside from improving efficiency and lowering the cost of production, the use of these technologies has an environmental benefit since they improve the company’s capability to protect and preserve the environment.
The legal responsibility practices of Msheireb Properties as evidenced by the interviewees’ responses include paying taxes to the government, operating within the legal framework of doing business as prescribed by the government, and taking good care of employees and customers. These findings confirm the viewpoints of previous scholars as analysed in the literature review section. For instance, Du and Vieira (2012) hold that legal responsibility is captured in the ability of organisations to adhere to rules and regulations. Accordingly, Msheireb Properties adheres to the rules and regulations of the land (Qatar) in regard to employees, customers, business conduct, and tax obligation. This legal duty exemplifies the company’s efforts to do social good as well as obey the spirit of doing good as alluded by Carroll (2016). However, reasoning from the arguments of Shum and Yam (2011), it can be argued that engaging in legal responsibility practices by Msheireb Properties may be as a result of government compulsion that places certain moral limits on behaviors of organisations such as Msheireb Properties, which are driven by profit-making motives.
Further, the interviewee responses have revealed that the ethical responsibility practices that are common in Msheireb Properties include ethical sourcing; reducing carbon footprints so as to minimize global warming; responsible use of resources, water and energy; and creating job opportunities for the local people. These findings keep earlier research findings of Griseri and Seppala (2010) that ethical responsibility forms the key obligation that informs the corporate culture of an organization and how it views itself as a citizen in society. Based on this obligation towards citizenship, Msheireb Properties embraces moral values that seek to improve the social welfare and wellbeing of the local people by empowering them through job creation in addition to protecting the survival and sustainability of the present and future generation through responsible business practices that protect natural resources, water, energy, and minimal emissions. This, as supported by the views of Forsman-Hugg et al. (2013), shows that Msheireb Properties is not only focused on profit-making but also in ensuring that the values and welfare of the people are supported and protected.
At last, the philanthropic responsibility practices of Msheireb Properties, as evidenced by the interviewees’ responses include charity work, volunteering, and awarding of educational grants. These practices point to the contributions of Msheireb Properties to the wellbeing of local people and societal projects irrespective of their benefit or association with the business. This finding is in line with earlier research viewpoints of Brown and Forster (2013) that philanthropic responsibility focuses on the contribution of an organization to societal projects regardless of their relationship to the business. In this regards, the interviewees confirm the company’s efforts to take part in neighbourbood projects (Russo and Perrini, 2010) with the ultimate goal of ensuring general welfare out of the recognition that the success of the company is determined and influenced by the needs and wellbeing of the surrounding society (Carroll, 2016).
4.4.2 How Msheireb Properties leadership facilitates or inhibits CSR practices
Having ascertained the kinds of CSR practices that are common in Msheireb Properties, it became of interest to the researcher to find out how leadership impacts these practices, that is whether leadership facilitates or inhibits CSR practices in the company. The Q2 in the interview protocol was designed to achieve this. The Q2 asked the interviewees: How does the leadership at MP encourage or hinder the CSR practices? All seven participants affirmed that the company embraces good leadership and this has been instrumental in facilitating the company’s efforts to engage in a range of CSR practices. This finding supports the investigation of Pakir et al. (2012) into the real estate industry, which established a strong correlation between good leadership and promoting the undertaking of a range of CSR practices. For instance, in his response to Q2, interviewee M1 said:
“Good leadership in the company not only supports but initiates sustainable decision making to take place at all departmental levels. This is a fundamental factor to make sure that informed choices on the kinds and levels to which CSR practices are undertaken.” (Interviewee M1)
The above answer indicates that leadership plays a vital role in influencing the collective involvement of all employees and other key stakeholders in decision-making that concerns the choice and degree of company involvement in CSR practices. Ensuring collective decision-making is vital since it allows businesses to choose CSR practices that keep the interests of nearly all stakeholders especially the employees, customers, the government, the community, and the environment (Apanaviciene et al., 2015). Besides, good leadership helps in placing sustainable practices at the core of the decision-making process and this plays an instrumental role in influencing the collective engagement of employees in a range of CSR practices. In other words, employees show unwavering commitment and support for sustainable decision making and this facilitates a firm’s efforts in undertaking multiple CSR practices (Pakir et al., 2012).
However, interviewee M2 revealed that leadership at the company has sometimes poised as an inhibiting factor to the practicing of CSR practices. In his answer, he said:
“A big problem we have here at the company is shaky collaborative leadership style. At one point, leadership across all departments is supporting the implementation of important CSR practices. At another time, some departmental leaders and managers are opposed to putting CSR practices at the forefront in decision-making because of cost implications. Now this inhibits the extent and consistency in the practicing of CSR practices.”
Considering the above response, it is evident that leadership at Msheireb Properties faces collaboration issues. As explained by Strand (2011), consistency in CSR practices demands collaborative leadership styles whereby senior leaders in a firm support collective decision making and consensus across all departmental functions to make sure that sustainability initiatives. But it appears that some senior leaders at Msheireb Properties are sometimes overwhelmed by profit motives and as such consider engaging in CSR practices as a means that will inhibit them from achieving their set profit/financial targets. As such, they tend not to give CSR practices a priority, and this inhibits the company’s efforts and engagement in CSR practices. Further, interviewee M6 and M7 revealed that some leaders in the company lack leadership skills and expertise in CSR practices, and this poses as an inhibiting factor to the practicing of CSR. Specifically, they claimed:
“At times, some senior leaders show the lack of expertise and leadership skills in the execution of CSR practices. These leaders will need to be knowledgeable about sustainability issues, performance and impact if the company wants to take its efforts in CSR practices to a higher level“. (Interviewee M6).
“…But some of our senior leaders are not adequately skilled in matters of CSR practice. Out of this, they sometimes show cold support to certain CSR practices fronted or abolish them altogether.” (Interviewee 7).
From these responses, it can be deduced that lack or shortage of expertise and leadership skills in CSR matters is another big inhibiting factor to CSR practice at Msheireb Properties. According to Kim and Thapa (2018), proactive and committed leadership is key to making the practice of CSR happen. Importantly, the leadership being knowledgeable and cognisant of essential CSR practices in your respective industry of operation and surrounding community is important to support a firm’s effort in engaging in CSR practices at present and in the future. This goes a long way to building corporate reputation and winning the support of key stakeholders like employees, customers, and the community in such matters. Reasoning from the perspective of Arjalies and Mundy (2013), it can be argued that expertise and leadership skills challenges in matters of CSR at Msheireb Properties could be because of lack or inadequate CSR learning and interactive control systems that foster sustainability learning capabilities. Sustainability learning within Msheireb Properties can help leaders develop a novel strategic direction to placing CSR practices at the core of the company’s decision making which will in turn facilitate the company in engaging in CSR practices consistently.
4.4.3 CSR practices and competitive advantage in Msheireb Properties
In order to determine the extent to which Msheireb Properties perceives CSR as leverage of competitive advantage, the interviewees were asked whether the CSR practices undertaken by the company leans towards supporting the company to become more competitive than its rivals. All the seven interviewees affirmed that the primary purpose of undertaking CSR practices by the company points towards ensuring that the company creates and sustains its competitive advantage compared to its close industry competitors. For instance, in response to question 3, the following themes emerged.
“The main reason for the company engaging in a range of CSR practices is to reap into the many benefits which CSR activities present, which in turn translate into improving the company’s competitive edge“. (Interviewee 1).
“The overriding goal of undertaking CSR activities here at the company is a pointer to increasing the company’s competitive position. You know we operate in a highly competitive environment and as such, it is the company’s responsibility to pursue all possible means that can enable improve its competitive position so as to beat the intense competition we currently face. And one such strategies is engaging in promising CSR activities“. (Interviewee 2).
“In the present business world we operate in, more and more companies are taking CSR much more serious than they did in the past because such activities are a source of competitive advantage. Flowing in the same current, our company wants to also reap the competitive advantage benefits of CSR activities”. (Interviewee 3).
“Looking around the business environment we operate under, CSR is growing in importance especially in terms of its influence on the competitiveness of a firm. With substantial evidence of its contribution to enhanced competitive advantage, here at the company we pursue a range of CSR activities so that we can also benefit by improving the company’s competitive position as other companies are doing”. (Interviewee 4).
“Even though I cannot speak on behalf of the company and directly link the intentions of CSR activities here to wanting to improve the company’s competitive position. It is clear that the benefits that come along with engaging in CSR practices lead to leveraging the competitive advantage of the company.” (Interviewee 5).
“But it has always been obvious that in the current era of doing business, companies engage in CSR activities so that they can improve their competitiveness. Similarly, the intentions of the company here involving itself in numerous CSR activities has always been to also want to reap into the benefits of these activities, which is improved corporate image and hence competitive position.” (Interviewee 6).
“Yes. The main reason for pursuing many CSR activities simultaneously or concurrently is to ensure that we sustain the competitive advantage of the company and stay ahead of the competition in this highly competitive industry of ours“. (Interviewee 7).
Drawing from the above responses obtained from the interviewees, it is clear that just as other enterprises do, Msheireb Properties undertakes a range of CSR activities so that these practices can support, enhance and sustain its competitive advantage and consequently ensure its survival in the highly competitive real estate development industry in China. These findings confirm earlier research findings by Johnson (2016) that CSR activities create competitive advantage because they highlight the important factors that a company should take into consideration so as to achieve a competitive advantage. Similarly, the findings of this study confirm previous arguments by El-Garaihy et al. (2014) that CSR practices are positively linked with the development of competitive advantage. Besides its own corporate initiatives, a company can be compelled to undertake CSR activities out of the competitive pressure received from the surrounding business environment. Accordingly, beyond projected corporate benefits, Msheireb Properties is compelled to engage in a range of CSR practices to beat industry competition and ultimately stay ahead of the competition. On this, it can be argued that owing to increased competitive pressure in the real development industry in China, players in this industry have resorted to engaging in CSR activities to improve their competitiveness and so Msheireb Properties has followed a similar path. Yet still, owing to the environmental implications of the real estate industry, consumers are demanding that players in this sector show their sustainability commitment to remain appealing to them. Cognizant of this, Msheireb Properties undertakes CSR activities that seek to protect the environment so as to appeal to many consumers and consequently improve its competitive advantage.
With this understanding, it became of interest to the researcher to understand the specific areas or contributions of CSR practices to the competitive advantage of Msheireb Properties. In this regard, questions 4, 5, 6, and 7 sought to understand the correlation between CSR practices and firm competitive advantage in Msheireb Properties.
The Q4 asked whether CSR practices impact on employee engagement in Msheireb Properties and whether this leads to increased firm competitive advantage. All seven interviews affirmed a positive association between CSR practices and employee engagement levels in the company. In particular, interviewee 3 said:
“I have observed a positive change in the level to which employees engage in company matters before, during and after implementation of certain CSR activities. It is like adopting CSR activities triggers a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment in them and this causes them to be highly motivated and productive in their work.” (Interviewee 3).
“Practicing CSR makes the current employees stay engaged and productive in their respective jobs while for potential employees, CSR practices of the company adds an incentive to their desire to want to join the company and support its corporate goals.”(Interviewee 5).
“Undertaking CSR initiatives and activities has been instrumental in influencing positive work behavior among employees. In fact, some of our employees go an extra mile of saying good things about the company, work harder to exceed their current performance levels, and even openly express the intentions of staying with the company for longer periods.” (Interviewee 7).
The above responses indicate that CSR practices at Msheireb Properties are leverage of the company’s competitive advantage through the mediating role of increased employee engagement. Precisely, the company’s CSR activities have been instrumental in keeping employees at Msheireb Properties productive and positive in their respective workplaces, highly engaged in their daily work activities. And because of the satisfaction and fulfilment they derive from the company’s involvement in CSR activities, the employees even go an extra mile to work harder and overachieve their daily performance goals, express the intentions to remain loyal to the company, and speak positively about the company outside the firm’s premises. These factors go a long way to improving the competitive advantage of Msheireb Properties. These findings affirm earlier research findings by Kim et al. (2020) that factors such as increased productivity, brand power, corporate image, financial performance are key drivers of competitive advantage. Thus, a highly engaged workforce at Msheireb Properties enables the company to enhance its competitive advantage through increased productivity, brand power, and corporate image (through positive word-of-mouth). However, interviewee M6 held the opinion that employee engagement at the company cannot only be exclusively pinned to CSR activities. Instead, more aspects influence employee engagement such as training, pay, and compensation. Therefore, according to her, associating the company’s CSR activities with employee engagement can only be done to some degree.
The researcher proceeded to establish the linkage between CSR practices and customer satisfaction at Msheireb Properties. When asked about the influence of CSR practices on the company’s customer satisfaction performance, the following themes emerged from the employees’ responses.
“Through our CSR activities and initiatives, we have been able to influence the trust and loyalty of our many customers from far and wide. In fact, many of our customers trust us as one of the leading sustainable company in the industry and this influences their purchase decisions“. (Interviewee 4).
“You see, in the current business world, consumers now expect companies to make a positive social, environmental, economic and philanthropic impact while still going about with their corporate objectives. Now by us engaging in CSR activities, we have been able to meet these emerging consumer expectation and by doing so we influence customer satisfaction in us as a brand“. (Interviewee 5).
The above responses indicate that by engaging itself in CSR activities, Msheireb Properties gets to influence customer trust, satisfaction, and loyalty to the company. In the current competitive business world, companies are concerned about influencing the trust, satisfaction, and loyalty of their customers since these factors impact significantly on firm competitive advantage. Putting this in the context of real estate development industry in China, it can be reasoned that owing to the high switching behavior of customers and industry competition, real estate development companies like Msheireb Properties need to find strategies that can help win the trust, satisfaction, and loyalty of customers so as to sustain brand competitive advantage. Msheireb Properties recognizes that this can be achieved through CSR practices. Therefore, the CSR initiatives and practices at Msheireb Properties help the company elicit the trust, satisfaction, and loyalty of both existing and potential customers. This in turn helps the company leverage its competitive advantage in the industry and marketplace. These findings confirm previous research findings by El-Garaihy et al. (2014) that CSR helps companies build customer loyalty and influence customer satisfaction, factors that in turn lead to the positive development of competitive advantage. Further, from the customers’ perspective, customers of Msheireb Properties are concerned with contributing to the greater good in the society besides just buying products from the company. In this respect, the various social, economic and philanthropic CSR practices of Msheireb Properties paint the picture of a socially responsible company, a factor that makes their existing and potential customers feel like they are contributing and/or participating in charitable social and efforts the company supports and this gives them a sense of satisfaction in the company. This is evidenced from the response of interviewee 7 who said:
“My close interaction with some of our customers revealed that these customers feel good and satisfied in the company since they perceive that they are directly involved and engaged in the charitable and social efforts and initiatives supported by the company when they purchase products from us. Therefore, their reason for purchasing goods from us goes beyond just the benefits derived from consuming the products to also feel part of the social and charitable initiatives we undertake in the surrounding community.” (Interviewee 7).
Further, the researcher sought to establish the association between CSR practices and corporate image and its contribution to enhanced competitive advantage in Msheireb Properties. To achieve this, the Q6 was posed. All the interviewees affirmed that there has been a positive association between CSR practices of the company and improved corporate image and increased customer advocacy. In particular, interviewees 1 revealed that other than other factors, CSR practices have been a contributing factor to the improvement of the company’s corporate image in the marketplace. Interviewee 4 added by affirming that the brand image of Msheireb Properties has consistently improved over the past few years and a key contributing factor has been the CSR initiatives the company is involved in. Further, interviewee 6 revealed that the positive brand image created as a result of the company’s involvement in CSR initiatives has enabled the company to attract more customers, improve its sales and grow its financial performance. Consequently, this has seen the company become more competitive. According to Chahal and Sharma (2006), CSR has a positive relationship with firm reputation and financial gain, factors that in turn result in a boost in firm competitive advantage.
Lastly, the Q7 was posed to the interviewees to understand the association between CSR practices and brand awareness/market share in Msheireb Properties and consequently the implication of this on firm competitive advantage. In response to this question, the following themes emerged.
“I can confidently admit that CSR practices have been used by the company as brand positioning tool. Through a range of CSR activities the company involves itself in, more and more customers have come to know the company and become aware of its business dealings.” (Interviewee 1).
“The company has received increased recognition in the market because of its CSR initiatives as much as its products. In fact, many consumers have come to know about the company through its CSR involvement.” (Interviewee 2).
“You see, the employees and customers who are directly or indirectly involved in the company’s CSR activities have turned into the company’s ambassadors spreading good news about the company. This has helped the company get high brand awareness in the industry and for this reason, it has in turn grown its market share because now many customers are attracted to the company.” (Interviewee 6).
“Our customers play a good role in boosting brand awareness. Through social media, the customers who are satisfied in our CSR activities spread positive word about the company’s CSR activities. This has helped increase the company’s brand awareness and also boosted its market share and performance.” (Interviewee 7).
Drawing from the above responses, it is evident that there is a positive correlation between CSR activities and enhanced brand awareness of Msheireb Properties. Here, brand awareness plays a mediating role between CSR and enhanced competitive advantage of Msheireb Properties. Specifically, the responses point to the fact that both employees and customers of Msheireb Properties who are involved in or are satisfied with the company’s CSR activities play an important role in boosting brand awareness through word-of-mouth or on social media spaces. This means that CSR practices of the company have turned employees and customers into brand ambassadors, to ensure that the company is known by many for its good deeds. Out of increased brand awareness, Msheireb Properties has grown its market presence and market share, factors that have in turn improved its competitive position and competitive advantage. These findings are in agreement with earlier research findings by Rhou and Singhal (2020) that CSR activities of a firm result in customers and employees developing long-term relationships with the business and in turn work towards increasing brand awareness of the firm. This leads to not only increasing market share but also growing sales, financial performance, and retain its customers for the long term.
4.5 Conclusion
This chapter sets out to present, analyse, and discuss the findings of this research as collected from the research participants through methodological procedures given in the previous chapter. Drawing from the data results, this chapter has established that Msheireb Properties is involved in a range of CSR practices that fall within the realm of economic, ethical, legal, and philanthropic spheres. Moreover, the findings have indicated that CSR practices of Msheireb Properties lead to improved firm competitive advantage by impacting positively on the company’s brand image, corporate reputation, productivity, financial performance, market share, customer satisfaction, brand awareness, and employee engagement