Islam and CSR: a study of the compatibility between the tenets of Islam, the UN Global Compact and the development of social, human and natural capital

✍ Scribed by John Zinkin

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 120 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1535-3958
• DOI: 10.1002/csr.161

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Previous research has found that Muslims score elements that are assumed to matter in determining socially responsible business behaviour less highly than people of other religions. This paper looks at whether the tenets of Islam are the reason for this lower score by comparing and contrasting the UN Global Compact's ten principles with those of Islam in the affected areas. In so doing, the paper reconstructs the principles according to their impact on social, human and natural capital and explores whether Islam is supportive of responsible behaviour in these three areas. The paper concludes that, with the possible exception of Islam's focus on personal responsibility and non‐recognition of the corporation as a legal person, which could undermine the concept of corporate responsibility, there is no divergence between the tenets of the religion and the principles of the UN Global Compact. Focusing on this convergence of values could help avert the threatened ‘clash of civilizations’. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.