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     Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology


The Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility among Construction Companies in Malaysia

Athira Abdullah, Saeed Reza Mohandes, Abdul Rahim Abdul Hamid and Bachan Singh
Department of Structures and Materials, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology  2016  7:742-755
http://dx.doi.org/10.19026/rjaset.12.2750  |  © The Author(s) 2016
Received: October ‎9, ‎2015  |  Accepted: November ‎27, ‎2015  |  Published: April 05, 2016

Abstract

The main objectives of this research are to assess the current level of CSR implementation, to investigate the barrier in implementing CSR and finally to examine the practicable strategies in reducing those barriers among construction companies in Malaysia. Implementation of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) among construction companies in Malaysia is necessary due to the growing environmental awareness and demand for better social equality among population and community. Despite numerous promotions and encouragements given, the implementation of CSR among Malaysia construction companies remains low. Guideline of social responsibility presented in ISO 26000 (Guidance on social responsibility) served as the main reference point to gauge the CSR implementation level among organizations. Thirty questionnaires were set using five point Likert scale method, which sent to selected construction companies in Malaysia. Furthermore, collected data were analysed using average index formula. From the findings obtained, 66.7% of the companies claimed that they implemented CSR principles and related core elements. In addition, no support from the top management would be regarded as the critical obstacle to implementing CSR. Reduction in cost constrains such as tax incentive, separate CSR budget and appropriate CSR activities would be contemplated as the fruitful strategies to reduce the CSR implementation barriers.

Keywords:

Barriers, community, construction companies, corporate social responsibility, strategies,


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Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.

ISSN (Online):  2040-7467
ISSN (Print):   2040-7459
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