بقلم Suhib Jehad Alazzam “Mohammed buker” Ahmad Afaneh
Previous research has shown the problems of corporate social responsibility (CSR) since the fifties of the last century, and it is now achieving more importance, especially in a globalizing world and the subsequent effects of economic crises. As a result, by realizing the importance of social responsibility activities, several banks have implemented social and environmental activities in order to achieve profits and benefit society. This research paper aims to provide a review of several sustainability reports issued by a Jordanian commercial bank, as well as a review of several researches related to social responsibility activities in the Jordanian banking sector, in order to identify those 5 main axes that banks focus on through corporate social responsibility activities. These themes are a perception of corporate social responsibility, corporate social responsibility practices, and sustainability reports related to corporate social responsibility activities.
On the other hand, this research paper attempts to show and clarify corporate social responsibility practices in the Jordanian banking sector by taking a sample from commercial banks. By focusing on that, perhaps this new research paper will help develop a better understanding of corporate social responsibility among members of the local community and encourage the application of corporate social responsibility in the Jordanian banking sector.
Key words: CSR, Banking sector, Jordan, Society
Introduction
This chapter contains the background, justification, aims, and objectives of research and questions of this research. It also provides a structure for the research.
Background
CSR defined as Businessmen's decisions and practices made for reasons at least partly outside the firm's immediate economic interest (Albdour, Altarawneh, 2012).
The Arabi Bank’s journey started since its inception in the year 1930 and has evolved over time as an extension of the bank’s goals and continuous contributions. Since its establishment, the bank has played a vital role in supporting the aspirations of individuals and companies and working to develop the economies and societies in which it works by supporting and financing strategic projects in the region in addition to leadership in the field of social responsibility by supporting and developing community capabilities and contributing to creating added value for the relevant authorities to meet The growing social, economic and environmental challenges facing these societies, and coordinated support for corporate social responsibility initiatives at the highest levels of executive management is critical to the success of the company and the company's continued growth.
In light of the growing socio-economic challenges at the local, regional and global levels, in addition to its belief in the unique capabilities of the financial sectors to contribute to addressing these challenges, the Bank realizes the importance of integrating the concept of "sustainable development" into its basic commercial operations. From this standpoint, the Arabi Bank has
Launched an integrated strategy for sustainability that includes a clear message and vision. The bank has now created a Sustainability Department, which will be in charge of the systemic management of the bank's priorities and projects aimed at enhancing the bank's social and environmental impacts.
The strategic approach of CSR adopted by the bank is comprehensive and is based on five main strategic axes: Supporting orphans, health sector, anti-poverty, environment protection, and the educational sector. These main axes aim to achieve a sustainable future by enhancing environmental impact and societal contribution.
As part of the bank’s strategy, the Arabi Bank is keen to involve its customers in community development programs by providing them with the opportunity to donate through banking services channels through which customers can donate to the benefit of non-profit institutions participating in the “ma’an” program, which focuses on the following areas Supporting orphans, health sector, anti-poverty, environment protection, and the educational sector.
The Arabi Bank has adopted the concept of social responsibility on the scale of sustainability, continuity and ethical theory that suggests that social responsibility is an illegal obligation that achieves a balance between the organization and society, as this raises the value and reputation of the organization and its results and reduces risks. Adopting this ethical commitment requires a deliberate strategy and methodology that enables during which the employees of the target organization are involved to obtain results. (Kasturi Rangan, Harvard Business, 2015).
The progress achieved in social responsibility conducted by the Arabi bank grew, where as In 2015, the value of the social investments of the Arabi bank amounted to 8.48 million Jordanian Dinars, which represents 3% of the total net profits of the Arabi bank before Calculation of tax, compared to 2.8% in 2014. (Sustainability Report, 2015), but Bank's community investments in 2016 totaled more than 10.2 million Jordanian dinars, which represent 2.9 percent of the bank's net income before taxes (Sustainability Report, 2016), where as in 2017, the social contribution of the Arabi Bank decreased reaching 9.7 million, which constituted 3.2% of the total The net profits of Arabi Bank before tax, compared to 10.2 million in 2016 Jordanian dinars (Sustainability Report, 2017). In (2018) the societal investment ratio of the net profit of the Arabi Bank before tax was increased by 0.1% to reach 3.3% instead of 3.2% in 2017 (Sustainability Report, 2018). In 2019 the societal investment ratio of the net profit of the Arabi Bank before tax was decreased by 0.1% to reach 3.2% instead of 3.3% in 2018, whereas the total amount of societal investments in 2019 more than 24.9 million dollars ( Sustainability Report, 2019).
Justification
This research paper examines how the building alliances with official government agencies and civil society organizations to include services that are socially responsible which support of the local society in order to achieve the idea of community sustainability that meets the needs of the community. (Haddad, 2017)
The bank In the field of community service, focused on a written and clear strategy in the field of projects, whether joint projects that cover the contributions made by the bank or individual projects that cover the main axes of social responsibility and this returns to the bank with a term called "marketing interface" and support the community as a whole and the involvement of employees in such volunteer work. (almadenahnews, 2012)
Aims, objectives, research questions
Have social responsibility activities affected the society in a positive way?
What is the impact of the activities on the sectors that were supported by the bank?
Objectives
This study purpose to answer the questions by using the sustainability reports issued by the Arabi Bank and some academic articles and newspapers.
Literature review
CSR, is a company's duty to provide sustainable economic development by collaborating with employees, their families, the local community, and society in a way that improves their wellbeing and contributes to beneficial business and development as stated by the (World Bank, 2002).
The impact of corporate social responsibility programs in general had a positive impact on society, but it did not help in improving relations between the community and the company with most of the customers who maintained negative feelings against the company because of the services provided to them compared to other commercial banks, as the corporate social responsibility programs sponsored by the bank, Was not an important factor in the customer's choice of bank
) Abuya, Jamin, Odongo 2019)
In 2017, Arabi Bank employees volunteered about 704.3 hours in community initiatives ranging from physical activities to activities requiring intellectual skills, as their employees volunteered more than 983 times during 2017 (Sustainability Report, 2017).
On other side, they continue their support to the local society in year 2017, the bank’s contribution to the health sector was as follows, as they launched a blood donation campaign in cooperation with the Jordan Blood Bank. As a result, the Arabi Bank’s employees donated approximately 238 units for all patients all over Jordan) Sustainability Report, 2017).
Within the framework of their vision in support of youth, the Arabi Bank’s interest in developing the sporting tendencies of the youth category, the bank continued to support the Jordanian national team for soccer and the youth league by sponsoring the Jordan Football Association for a period of four years. The bank was also the golden sponsor of the Amman International Marathon; It also covered the costs of the participation of about 1,400 employees with their families and friends in the Amman International Marathon and the Dead Sea Marathon ) Sustainability Report, 2017).
During 2017, the bank continued its cooperation with a group of non-profit institutions to implement anti-poverty initiatives and activities around the Kingdom.
they launched the Winter Campaign out of its keenness to anti-poverty by providing approximately 1,400 blankets to help them withstand the cold weather, and as a result of this campaign 677 families benefited from the distribution of blankets, and 22 employees contributed to the campaign ) Sustainability Report, 2017).
The Arabi Bank provides support to a group of institutions working to improve the standard of living of the youth and provide education that they need, and their willingness to engage in the labor market and assume responsibility in order to become active members of society (Sustainability Report, 2017).
Where the bank volunteered in achievement courses in 2017, and 14 employees from the bank has volunteered with the “Injaz” Foundation by holding academic sessions in subjects not included in the curriculum of the Ministry of Education or university curricula. Through this program, students were able to enhancing their self-confidence as well as gaining practical and social skills that will help them in the future (Sustainability Report, 2017).
In 2017, through their concern for the environment, the bank supported the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature in focusing on raising awareness of the importance of ecotourism in preserving natural resources, developing local communities, and integrating society into concepts of nature protection) Sustainability Report, 2017).
The Arabi Bank sponsored the establishment of a new path between Chalets Ajloun nature reserves to protect nature with the aim of developing the reserve is an eco-tourism destination, where approximately 45 employees volunteered for this campaign.
The Arabi Bank also provided support to a group of institutions during 2017, with the aim of supporting orphans and integrating them into society (Sustainability Report, 2017).
Through the charitable clothing bank program, which the bank provides its services as a sponsor of this exclusive program for Orphans' Day, which aims to support orphans and anti-poverty by providing orphans in need with clothes and toys, as 1,200 orphans were hosted by the Arabi Bank and the Charitable Clothes Bank, whereas the program hosting 100 orphans every month for a full year, through 213 employees volunteered and accompanied orphans to the clothing bank's showroom and they helped them choose the best-suitable clothes for them (Sustainability Report, 2017).
Arabi bank encourages their employees to volunteer their time, effort, and expertise in initiatives and programs that are in line with their vision, through focus on five main axes. They work continuously with a number of non-profit institutions to create effective volunteering opportunities to enable our employees and their families to serve the community and contribute to its development and improving societal knowledge at the same time (Sustainability Report, 2019).
Since the launch of the capacity building program for non-profit institutions in 2012, the program has worked on employing the expertise of internal trainers in the bank to provide specialized training courses that meet the needs of non-profit institutions. Whereas, during the year 2019, our employees trained 126 employees of these institutions through 7 successful training courses that lasted 753 training hours (Sustainability Report, 2019).
Whereas, they spent more than 3587 hours volunteering from their employees and their families, also approximately 900 volunteering conducted by employees of Arabi bank and more than 73 volunteering activities. (Sustainability Report, 2019).
Below is a list of the initiatives the bank has supported during 2019:
In the field of health, they launched the School Health Program, in cooperation with the Royal Association for Health Awaren…
[١٢:٣٦ م، ٢٠٢١/٥/٢٤] صفاء الزامل: Methodology
This study applied an exploratory design to investigate the degree of awareness of commercial bank account holders in relation to the banks' social responsibility procedures and their effect on society, as well as the degree of knowledge and conviction of account holders of these operations This exploratory study is focused on first-hand information. A questionnaire with 13 questions was developed, and the data and information were collected using the questionnaire. The primary data was gathered solely from Amman-based commercial account holders. The results can be generalized to other residents as well because the social responsibility activities held by banks are the same throughout Jordan. The study was also based on secondary data collected from the annual reports of commercial banks. A sample was taken from one bank (the Arab Bank). Of the 23 banks in Jordan, there are 13 commercial banks, 3 Islamic banks, and 7 foreign banks. From a review of the literature and information and on the basis of the data collected, the following five variables were identified for assessing the social responsibility of banks (as shown in Table 1).
Environment Protection: This variable includes all the activities carried out by the banks for the purpose of environment protection or to reduce the environmental harm by adopting different initiatives, replacing traditional activities by ecofriendly processes or activities in day to day business (Sustainability Report, 2017).
Health: The Arabi Bank has provided assistance to the Air Ambulance center to raise the standard and standard of transportation to the specialist hospitals of the Kingdom of emergency sickness and patients from different remote areas of the Kingdom (Sustainability Report, 2017).
New initiatives related to CSR: Based on the bank’s interest in investing in youth and encouraging community innovation and encouraging the launch of community companies Sustainable development in Jordan, which aims to address societal problems and challenges and also aims to find a set of innovative and sustainable solutions. The innovative Jordanian youth (Sustainability Report, 2017).
Education: This variable is used to measure the contribution of banks in the field of education. In Jordan explained that education and poverty are inversely related: the higher the level of education of the population, the lower would be the proportion of poor people in the total population, as education imparts knowledge and skills that are associated with higher wages. The major activities carried out by the banks in the field of education are as follows:
The bank was the golden and exclusive sponsor of the program, which allowed students from government schools to visit a number of bank branches and departments and to learn about the relationship between the academic side and the banking work to form a picture of the nature of working life, whereas The effect of the program.
Twenty-two students spent an entire day with our employees at work, with the aim of enabling them to envision the real work environment and the skills they might need in the future.
"Traffic awareness among school students" campaign, in cooperation with the Central Traffic Department The Arab Bank continued its cooperation with the Central Traffic Department in order to enhance traffic safety for school students, by supervising the awareness campaign “My School is My Joy”. This campaign included the distribution of 125,000 educational booklets attached with manuals and tips that encourage raising awareness about road safety and preventing accidents in various governorates of the Kingdom of Jordan (Sustainability Report, 2017).
Anti-poverty: Adopting and supporting the less fortunate families who live below the poverty line by providing them with monthly food parcels for a whole year, where more than 5,355 beneficiaries benefit with monthly food parcels, as 123 employees volunteer with their families, and a charity breakfast campaign was conducted in Ramadan, where it supported the Ramadan Iftar for two days to feed the less fortunate families who live below the poverty line, and the effect of the program was that 3600 members of the less fortunate families living below the poverty line benefited from this program, and 87 employees volunteered it in these activities(Sustainability Report, 2017).
Scales
We have developed a questionnaire to gather data. Twelve elements have been taken to measure social liability activities for business banks.
Sample and Data Collection
We drew our sample from a combination of age, gender, and educational level for account holders in commercial banks. The sample was taken in Amman Governorate. After determining the sample, we created the survey tool and sent the questionnaire to the specified category and the questionnaire was filled out. Some of our respondents refused to respond to us. Some of them had missing values and were excluded from the analysis. Finally, 73 responses arrived and 62 were correct.
Results and Analysis
This chapter describes and analyzes the results, and determines whether the concept of these activities is widespread and understood by members of the local community, especially account holders in commercial banks, and where it provides possible explanations for understanding these activities. The results of the impact of the activities provided to members of the local community are presented, and the results are represented graphically in the graphs below. We conducted a survey of 13 questions, and the target sample was of bank account holders, with different age groups and educational degrees.
The questions :
Do you have a bank account?
The results were 97.3 % Yes and 2.7 % No
Do you have a bank account in a Jordanian commercial bank?
The results were 72.1 % Yes and 27.9 % No
Do social responsibility activities such as donations etc. affect your choice of bank to open a bank account?
The results were 50.8 % Yes and 49.2 % No
Do social responsibility activities (donations and support to various parties) contribute to transferring your bank account to the bank that provides these activities?
The results were 67.8 % Yes and 32.2 % No
Have you benefited from the social responsibility activities provided by banks (courses for university students, support for athletes, etc ...)?
The results were 37.3 % Yes and 82.7 % No
How much do you benefit from the provided activities?
The results were 37.3 % beneficial, 17.2 % unbeneficial and 51.8 % neutral
To what extent do you think that these activities are important to support different sectors of society?
The results were 67.8 % beneficial, 0.4 % unbeneficial and 28.8 % neutral
Do these activities contribute to your loyalty to the bank?
The results were 69% yes, 31% No
Do you think that these activities increase the profitability of the bank?
The results were 79.7% yes, 20.3% No
The sex of the responder
The results were 39 % male, 61% female
Age of the responder
The results were 65 % (18-24), 13.3% (25-34), 7.2% (35-44) 13.3% (45-54), 1.2% (55-64), 0% (+65)
Occupation
58.3% Students, 23.4% Employee, 18.3% freelancer
Conclusion
The banking sector in Jordan faced and continues to face a heavy burden in dealing with the effects of successive economic crises that are destructive to the national economy. In addition, the local community is pressuring the banking sector to implement activities with high levels of corporate social responsibility throughout the Kingdom, because these activities increase the competitiveness of banks in the banking sector and also the range of potential benefits that social responsibility provides to society, whereas increases the profitability of the bank. This study highlighted on some of the social responsibility activities that were held by one of the Jordanian commercial banks, especially in developing and supporting 5 main axes in the local community, and a questionnaire was also conducted to find out the extent of account holders understanding of corporate social responsibility activities. Moreover, the study has proven many facts about corporate social responsibility. Social responsibility for the company does not indicate that the bank should abandon its basic economic mission to generate profits, and also the companies that provide socially responsible earn more profits compared to other less responsible companies. It appears clearly that the banking sector in Jordan has recently and increasingly adopted corporate social responsibility activities as a tool to achieve profits and dominate a larger market share, as well as success in achieving balance for profits against the costs of using these tools. In addition, the questionnaire indicated several main obstacles facing social responsibility. For companies that must be addressed, as they include the lack of awareness of bank account holders regarding corporate social responsibility activities, as well as the lack of a regulatory framework related to conduct of these activities by these banks, as banks adopt the Fazaa` system, and also the lack of participation of governments with the banking sector to establish these initiatives.
Recommendations
Campaigns must be held to raise awareness of social responsibility activities among the local community by expanding the segment that benefits from these activities, in order to contribute to increasing the bank's profitability.
Promoting participation between the government and the banking sector by issuing legislation that stimulates the banking sector to establish these activities more broadly.
Incorporating social responsibility activities within the overall strategy of the bank and dispensing with the Fazaa` system.