Designing a Model of Corporate Social Responsibility to Assist the Development of the Iranian Banking Industry

The present research seeks to design a model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and help with the development of the Iranian banking industry.

This is a mixed methods study and combines elements of both quantitative and qualitative research. The model of corporate social responsibility was designed using the qualitative approach and the model was tested by the quantitative approach afterward. In the qualitative section, the data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 academics and experts from Iran’s public and private banks. In the quantitative part and through random cluster sampling, districts 1 and 4 of Tehran were initially selected. Next, a questionnaire was distributed randomly based on the designed pattern among 248 managers, administrators, and employees of different branches of Bank Mellat, in districts 1 and 4 of Tehran. The interviews were analyzed using real and theoretical coding and the Glaser Grounded Theory. In the quantitative part, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied and SPSS and AMOS software were used.

The findings of the qualitative part led to the design of a model of corporate social responsibility in the banking industry based on the views of academic experts and the banking system. After confirming the validity and reliability of the model, the hypotheses of the quantitative part were developed. Testing the hypotheses indicated the validity of the model.

Data analysis showed that corporate social responsibility in the banking industry has five dimensions: economic, political-legal, cultural-ethical-social, humanitarian, and technological. Also, the results of the quantitative part indicated that these five dimensions are of significance in Bank Mellat.