Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability: A Model of Integrity. Evidences from the United Arab Emirates

The interest for social responsibility and sustainability is recent but has developed rapidly. Originally, Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] and sustainability were regarded with suspicion by the corporate world as it was assimilated to an extra cost. Only few businesses have made an attempt to practice some aspects of it. Nonetheless, things have changed very quickly. The concepts of CSR and sustainability became widespread and today most businesses have a policy and a strategy for their implementation. Their benefits for the business world came to be seen even enormous. But, this keen interest is related to a new understanding that is ruling progressively academia and the corporate world, according to which, being socially responsible has its payoff when it comes to maximizing shareholder value. Today, there is a rising concern about the commitment of the corporate world towards implementing CSR and sustainability. Corporations are expected to contribute to meeting new priorities, such as conserving human and natural capital. However, the doxic shareholder value maximization [SVM] doctrine inhibits such a shift. In this paper, a new model of integrity is proposed to help promoting socially and environmentally business rationales beyond the SVM doctrine.