Identifying variables affecting corporate social responsibility in project-based organizations

Demanding for organizations that act responsibly and move towards social responsibility has intensified with the organizations' increasing impact on the components of sustainable development. In this regard, organizations contribute to their credibility by being aware of the factors involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and manifesting it in their decisions. In this article, we investigated variables affecting policies and actions related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of project-based organizations in the country. For this purpose, first, an initial theoretical framework has been developed by reviewing scholarly journal articles and interviewing experts. Then, the theoretical framework has been validated and finalized by sending questionnaires to several experts and the Delphi method. As a result, we identified 11 factors at three institutional, organizational, and individual levels. Five factors at the institutional level include the country's growth and development rate, government-society relationships, the action of formal governmental institutions, the action of formal non-governmental institutions, and the action of informal institutions; four factors at the organizational level include the organization's governance system, organization profile, Organizational planning, and cultural orientation of the organization; and two factors at the individual level include the characteristics of the governing body and the characteristics of human resources.