A dual-theory approach to corporate social responsibility development: upper echelons theory and religiosity-based ethics in Indonesian Muslim entrepreneurship

This study integrates upper echelons theory (UET) with a religiosity (RL)‑based ethics model to explain the determinants of corporate social responsibility (CSR) among Indonesian Muslim small and medium‑sized enterprises. Survey data from N = 285 owner‑managers were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (SmartPLS 3.6). Measurement validity and reliability were assessed via the outer model; structural relations, including multiple mediations, were tested via bootstrapping. RL had no direct effect on CSR or pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) but positively predicted environmental sustainability orientation (ESO). Islamic business ethics (IBE) exerted a direct positive effect on CSR and also increased ESO and PEB. Mediation analyses showed significant indirect paths RL → ESO → CSR, RL → IBE → CSR and IBE → ESO/PEB → CSR. The model explained 67.8% of the variance in CSR (Q2 = 0.429). The study advances UET by demonstrating how RL translates into CSR primarily through ethical codification (IBE) and sustainability‑oriented managerial orientations (ESO/PEB), offering an integrated micro‑foundational account of CSR in an emerging‑market, faith‑salient context.