Innovation and corporate social responsibility during the Covid-19 in Ardakan (Iran)

Purpose In developed countries, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an important element for firms, as CSR strategies enhance their competitiveness and corporate reputation, has CSR the same role in the emergent countries? To answer this question, the authors build a conceptual framework and focus their research on Iran's context with the aim to find an answer to the following research question: does CSR influence innovation processes and how much is it increasingly a cultural value in the same level of competitive ones? Therefore the purpose of this research is to study the role of CSR in firms operating in emergent countries Design/methodology/approach In the pandemic era, CSR could be considered not what you do with your money once you have made it but how you make your money safeguarding environmental resources and answering community needs, in collaboration with other social and economic agents. While investigating CSR, we have to take into account the fact that different countries have different priorities and values that shape the way business operates. Findings To reach this aim, the authors carried out the research during the pandemic period, between September 2021 and December 2021, on almost 500 small and medium enterprises operating in Ardakan area in Iran, a simple random sample was surveyed by partial least squares-structural equation modelling. Originality/value Given the lack of empirical studies on the considered country, this research has attempted to determine the impact of CSR practices on innovation and, simultaneously, to check the effect of innovation on CSR practices, in order to test empirically whether there is a bidirectional relationship. Furthermore, the study reveals the importance of integrating social and economic stakeholders' requirements and expectations about environmental and social concerns within a country in which the specific norms' presence is weak.