The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility Policies on the Perceived Performance of Renewable Energy Companies

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a corporate doctrine of managing business processes to increase their positive impact on society. This study examined the effect of corporate social responsibility practices on perceived performance of companies in renewable energy businesses as compared to other businesses. This study focuses on the policies and strategies based on the principles of corporate social responsibility, adopted by the renewable energy sector and in particular by Masdar, a renowned renewable energy source company. The literature reviewed indicated that there is a significant impact of internal awareness of CSR activities on the perceived performance of companies. This study developed an integrated framework to test the significance of internal and external awareness of CSR activities and market turbulence on the perceived performance of companies. Three CSR factors were considered: legal, ethical and economical. To study of the effect of various CSR practices on companies’ perceived performance, we distributed a questionnaire to 176 companies, including 60 renewable energy companies. The study concluded that Economic CSR practices, which measure how well the organization modifies its activities to maximize profits, had the strongest correlation with perceived organization performance (r = 0.667, p= 0.000). A second conclusion was that internal awareness of organization did not have a significant correlation with these three factors. The methodology and results presented in this thesis serve the Abu Dhabi 2030 vision in supporting innovative activities and engaging industries with communities. To this end, this thesis identified the most significant factors affecting the perceived performance of companies, thus providing companies with a competitive advantage to compete in the market and attract talented and expert employees.

Date of Award	May 2015
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Bruce Walker Ferguson (Supervisor)