A tertiary review of corporate social responsibility (CSR) research: lessons for the Arab region

Purpose Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature has been under research since its advent in the 1950s, scholars have only recently begun to examine the overly neglected Arab region along with other developing countries. As this region harbors more scholarly interest through its rising global impact and engagement in CSR, the authors seek to learn from the extant CSR literature in the West. Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct a tertiary review of 97 CSR review studies and propose five broad future research topics that scholars can examine and learn from, in their examination of CSR in general and particularly in the Arab region. Findings The knowledge gaps proposed for future scholarly research include (1) surveying CSR measurement tools, (2) conducting multi-level studies on CSR, (3) studying the interaction effects in CSR-performance relationship, (4) exploring CSR in service industries and (5) examining the implementation of CSR. Originality/value In reviewing the general CSR review literature, the authors provide a tertiary review on CSR that is one of the first of its kind for the topic under study. Further, the proposed future research agenda is a step forward towards advancing the less-examined CSR research in the Arab region