The impact of COVID-19 on corporate social responsibility in Malaysia

Abstract

It is undeniable that COVID-19 has resulted in economic deterioration. It was reported in the mass media that about 60% of Malaysian workers would find it very challenging to survive for more than one week. Due to this, the pandemic has prompted businesses to become more community-focused on supporting government action and offering hands to the needy people of almost all echelons of society. The outbreak has witnessed many organisations coming forward and offering their help in many ways to the people, including the patients, frontliners, and the affected people through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The assistance given in various forms includes food supplies, providing personal protective equipment, and monetary help. This CSR has to some extent, helped Malaysians in facing the challenges of COVID-19. Hence, the objective of this study is to analyse the implementation of CSR for the pandemic of COVID-19 and to what extent it helps in addressing the dilemma of the Malaysian needy. This study uses secondary data, which was collected in early 2021 and thus, covers most of the data in the COVID-affected 2020. The data includes annual reports, newspaper coverage, and companies' news on COVID-19 CSR activities from their websites. The findings reveal that CSR not only contributed to the basic necessities such as food, face masks, and hand sanitisers but also catered to individual development. CSR has provided great support to the Ministry of Health in combating the COVID-19 and mitigating the disastrous impacts for society.