Systematic Literature Review of CSR in the GCC: Additional Insights From Social Contract Theory

Companies face increasing pressure to address a wider array of social responsibilities beyond legal and environmental obligations. This push prompts them to adopt a more comprehensive approach to their operations. Therefore, the objective of this study is to review the studies on corporate social responsibility (CSR), including empirical and theoretical literature, due to the substantial growth of CSR over the last two decades. This study extracted secondary data regarding CSR published from 2012 to 2023 from the Scopus database within GCC countries. The review revealed the factors that influence CSR overall, mainly in GCC countries, have a limited amount of literature, which thereby suggests further investigation in the region. The practical implications lie in explaining the motivations prompting companies in GCC to adopt CSR, fostering a deeper comprehension of responsible business practices.