Assessing the impact of corporate social responsibility and total quality management on the firms’ performance

: a case of the ready-made garment industry in the emerging economy of Bangladesh

Abstract

Previous research provides several conceptual and theoretical perspectives relating CSR (corporate social responsibility) to company performance including the lack of guidelines regarding how to implement CSR initiatives within a company. In addition, previous research indicates a lack of empirical evidence to measure the CSR implementation with specific reference to a developing country. The present study attempts to empirically assess the effect of corporate social responsibility using a structural equation modelling approach. A quantitative research method was considered to be useful mostly to seek to answer the question: ‘To what extent does the Total Quality Management (TQM) paradigm mediate the relationship between CSR implementation and company performance in the context of the emerging garment industry in Bangladesh?’. To conduct the survey a sample of 499 employees from 25 garment industries in Bangladesh was used for this empirical study. A small element of qualitative interview-based investigation was conducted through eight senior managers to ascertain their views in RMG (ready-made garment) sectors for CSR implementation. The results of this study suggest that CSR activities have significant, positive impact on firms’ financial and non-financial performance through the mediation of TQM (total quality management) implementation where there is no presence of moderating effect of firms’ size and age particularly for the RMG sectors in the developing country like Bangladesh. It is assumed that CSR practices are not so extensive in its garment industry regardless of how old or big the firm is. This research contributes to filling gaps in the literature in connecting CSR implementation with firms’ financial and non-financial performance through the TQM mediating route. This provides a much-needed roadmap for companies on how to embark on CSR implementation journey using the well-established framework of TQM. It also provides much-needed empirical evidence to observe the success of CSR implementation regarding a company’s financial and non-financial performance for a particular sector (Textiles) in the context of a developing country such as Bangladesh. From a practical perspective, the research makes an original contribution providing guidelines on how CSR activities could be implemented through a well-established operational management system and TQM tools, thereby enhancing the success rate of CSR initiatives.

Date of Award	2 Nov 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Abertay University
Supervisor	Mohamed Branine (Supervisor) & Gonzalo Forgues-Puccio (Supervisor)