The study examined how CSR is practiced in Kuwait, a country in an understudied region of the world, and considered the impact of the political and economic structure of a country on CSR practices. Semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of communication executives found strong cooperation between the public and private sectors in Kuwait for CSR projects and for promoting country image, related to the sociocultural context of the country. Kuwaiti corporations associate themselves with the country of Kuwait when engaging in CSR activities in other countries and have a strong sense of corporate citizenship that reflects the collectivistic culture. Understanding CSR in different societal and cultural contexts and how it can affect country image is important for global public relations scholarship as well as for successful business practice.

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) impacts a number of public relations concerns that include corporate reputation, image management, and relationship management (Clark, 2000; Stark & Kruckeberg, 2003). CSR has been studied for decades, but the majority of studies have been conducted in a limited number of countries, and understudied in the context of many parts of the world (Jain, De Moya, & Molleda, 2014). A few studies have looked at CSR practices in countries such as Pakistan (Din, Sohail, & Shahzad, 2008), Kazakhstan (Smirnova, 2012), Thailand (Rajanakorn, 2012), and Romania (White, Vanc, & Coman, 2011), but most CSR studies have been conducted in countries with similar political and economic infrastructures. Even among similar countries, differences have been noted. For example, Freeman and Hasnaoui (2011) conducted a study in four Western countries (Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to explore CSR practices, definitions, and conceptualizations, and found that in each country, CSR was viewed and conceptualized differently. Kim, Amaeshi, Harris, and Suh, (2013) found that CSR practices in South Korea differed from those in the United States and the United Kingdom, and concluded that notions of CSR as practiced in Western societies cannot be applied to South Korean society. More research is needed to identify and explain the differences, which is the necessary first step to theory building about CSR in a global context. Gjølberg (2009) postulated that CSR strategies cannot be separated from contextual considerations such as cultural, political, and economic factors since national environments shape CSR practice (Din et al., 2008; Smirnova, 2012). Thus, a challenge of CSR research in the global environment is not just to describe CSR practice in different countries, but also to explore how the infrastructure of a country (political and economic factors) and societal expectations (culture) may influence it.