Paper presented in the 2023 CEO congress.

1. Analysis of CSR Practices in the
Tunisian Banking Sector: Navigating
Tunisian Banking Sector: Navigating
Societal Challenges with Responsible
Initiatives
Dr. Mohamed MEJRI Dr. Mehdi GARRAB
University of Manouba , Tunisia University of Jeddah, Saudia Arabia
mohamed.mejri@esct.uma.tn mygarrab@uj.edu.sa
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2. The banking sector role in the Tunisian's economy,
- Approximately 3% to the GDP,
- Over 18,000 direct jobs
- Salary allocation surpassing 100 million Dollars,
- 3.6% of the total payroll,
- Significantly contribution to the state's budgetary
deficit.
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3. The banking sector is accused of
- Financial exclusion,
- Deliberately slow-down of credit allocation to
businesses and individuals in favor of deposit
collection,
- Costliness and quality decrease of banking services,
- Poor asset quality = severe governance issues, and
increasing threat of doubtful debts,
increasing threat of doubtful debts,
- Increasingly adoption of personnel outsourcing
system.
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4. The aim of the study:
To explore CSR initiatives undertaken by Tunisian
banks to address challenges.
Research questions:
• How is corporate social responsibility applied in
Tunisian bank?
And
• What is the degree of alignment between CSR
practices and stakeholder expectations?
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5. The presentation is structured around the following
four sections:
1. The Introduction: Presentation of the research
question.
2. The Literature Review: A brief overview.
3. The research Methodology: Explanation of the
research approach.
4. Results and Discussion: Presentation and
4. Results and Discussion: Presentation and
discussion of key findings.
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6. Literature Review 1/3
Research on CSR in the banking sector has witnessed
considerable attention in recent years.
Many bibliometric analyses dealing with adoption of CSR
by banks (Fusco and Ricci, 2019, Ye et al., 2020, Gao
et al., 2021; Zainuldin and Lui, 2022; Hassan et al.
2022; Galletta et al. 2022).
Zainuldin and Lui (2022):
Zainuldin and Lui (2022):
The publications increase significantly from 2015 to
2019.
Stakeholder, disclosure, financial performance, Islamic
banks, corporate governance and international banks
are among the popular research and collaboration
trends found in the extant literature.
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7. Literature Review 2/3
Hassan et al (2022):
Analysis of 551 articles published between 1993 and
2021,
Publication in the CSR and banking domain has
increased significantly during 2017 and 2021.
Social aspects, board of directors, CSR, environment,
competitions, Islamic banking, sustainability,
disclosure, ethics, legitimacy theory, sustainable
disclosure, ethics, legitimacy theory, sustainable
banking, loyalty, and brand equity are the popular
research trends and collaboration trends identified.
Galletta et al (2022): analysis of 271 publications over
the 1986–2021.
The bibliometric analysis clearly illustrates the different
stages in this field of study
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8. Literature Review 3/3
Another notable research stream delves into CSR
outcomes in the banking sector (Ahmed et al., 2018,
Birindelli et al., 2018, Buallay, 2019, Miralles-Quirós
et al., 2019, Shakil et al., 2019, Di Tommaso and
Thornton, 2020, Paltrinieri et al., 2020).
Goyal et al. (2013): the complementary nature of CSR
and sustainability in achieving better financial
performance.
performance.
Siueia et al. (2019) : positive relationship between CSR
disclosure and financial performance.
Chiaramonte et al. (2021): involvement in CSR practices
was connected to stronger stability (i.e., reduced
default risk) during the Global Financial Crisis.
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9. Research Methodology 1/2
The choice of a qualitative approach is driven by the
inductive and exploratory nature of our research.
The research unfolded in three distinct phases.
1. Conceptual Framework Development
An essential step guiding decisions on data nature,
An essential step guiding decisions on data nature,
collection, and subsequent analysis.
2. Data Collection: Gathering data from CSR reports
and articles in two phases.
3. Thematic Content Analysis: Analyzing the data in
horizontal and vertical branches.
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10. Research Methodology 2/2
Data Collection:
- The first stage focused on CSR practices of banks
from analysis of the latest CSR reports from Tunisian
banks. Out of 32 banks, only 6 produced regular
reports, with three dedicated reports and the rest
integrated into financial annual reports.
- The second stage aimed at analyzing the relationship
between banks and stakeholders. A search on
specialized sites and blogs identified 104 articles
specialized sites and blogs identified 104 articles
describing the bank-stakeholder relationship or
formulating criticisms due to various negative
externalities.
Thematic Content Analysis:
• Choice of the Content Analysis Unit
• Construction of the General Grid:
• Coding Reports and Grid Filling:
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11. Results 1/4
Societal Criticisms Against Tunisian Banks
• Low Financial Inclusion : Limited support to artisans,
liberal professions, and SMEs.
Only 33% of Tunisians having a bank account, and
9% actively using formal financial services.
• Social Exclusion : Especially in rural areas, leading to
higher unemployment rates, particularly affecting
higher unemployment rates, particularly affecting
low-income women.
• Labor and HR Management : Intensified salary-related
claims, leading to the first observed strike in the
Tunisian banking sector in 2021.
• Governmental Criticism : For insufficient contributions
to state budget financing. Public banks facing
challenges in asset quality and governance.
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12. Results 2/4
Credit Allocation Slowdown and Customer
Dissatisfaction: due to reduced financement, poor
financial service quality and low digitalization, and
high tariff costs.
Communication Challenges: Significant gaps with only
14 out of 21 banks active on all social media
platforms, raising concerns about transparency and
engagement.
engagement.
Customer Perception and Service Impact: Because of the
high service costs, perceived indifference to customer
attrition, and inadequate efforts in customer
retention, leading to shareholder concerns in public
banks.
Civil Society Calls for Greater Bank Involvement: Call to
a significant contribution more to societal projects,
yet their current contribution remains notably low.12

13. Results 3/4
Tunisian Banks' CSR Practices
• Only one bank is notably engaging in actions directly
tied to banking competencies.
• Over 72% of CSR actions are concentrated on
community and local development initiatives =>
Community Development Dominance.
• 20.5% of CSR practices involve environmental efforts.
• 20.5% of CSR practices involve environmental efforts.
• Consumer-related issues are acknowledged by only
one bank (Zitouna) representing just 1.2% of CSR
practices.
• Governance-related actions are reported by only one
bank (AMEN BANK) representing 1.2% of CSR
activities.
• Human rights actions are limited to a single bank,
constituting a mere fraction of the overall CSR efforts.
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14. Results 4/4
A complete lack of indications regarding stakeholder
expectations and management across all banks.
None of the banks provide information on CSR
communication, a significant aspect comparable to the
environmental, economic, and social pillars of CSR =>
CSR Communication Gap
Only one bank (AMEN BANK) Engages in all domains:
community development, human rights, environment,
community development, human rights, environment,
and workplace relations.
Zitouna Bank focus on only consumer-related issues.
3 Banks (Attijari, BIAT and BNA) Primarily concentrate
on community development and environmental
initiatives.
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15. Discussion 1/3
Lack of transparency:
• Absence is noted concerning any indication of the CSR
strategy,
• Banks avoid discussing problematic issues in their CSR
reports: They rather tend to divert attention from
their weaknesses and concentrate on non-priority
areas, attempting to deflect stakeholders' attention
from genuine problems.
The cosmetic nature of banks’ CSR initiatives:
Banks seem only motivated to enhance their image in
response to criticisms from various stakeholders.
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16. Discussion 2/3
Most banks, in their CSR reports, neglect their
relationships with stakeholders, including
management and dialogue.
Critical areas such as governance, economic
performance, communication, personnel management,
and consumer rights are largely absent: the cosmetic
nature of banks CSR straegies (focusing on non-
priority areas).
priority areas).
Possible lack of understanding and/or perception of
CSR.
Absence of comprehensive indicators across action
domains hinders banks from effectively steering,
communicating their social performance, and making
temporal and spatial comparisons (benchmarking).
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17. Discussion 3/3
Banks need to reconsider their CSR strategy, without
diverting public attention from the negative
externalities of their activities on environmental
and societal aspects.
Banks should also diversify their CSR actions to
address all primary stakeholders rather than
concentrating solely on secondary stakeholders.
Banks should not exclusively prioritize the
Banks should not exclusively prioritize the
"Community and Local Development" domain.
Instead, they must undertake actions in more
critical domains such as organizational governance,
ethical practices, or consumer rights.
Banks must communicate more frequently and
transparently about their CSR commitment.
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18. Conclusion
This study reveal a predominant emphasis on actions
related to community and local development.
Considering their economic weight, financial
capacities, and the substantial negative
externalities of their activities, the societal and
environmental initiatives of the banks remain
insufficient, lacking diversity, and crucially, they
insufficient, lacking diversity, and crucially, they
often do not address the core business of banks.
This apparent commitment is juxtaposed against the
neglect of critical aspects like governance and CSR
communication, revealing a nuanced narrative
beneath the surface.
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19. Study's Limitations & Future Research
- Study's limitations: Two primary limitations are
noteworthy:
• The study's limited sample size poses a constraint.
• The data collection method, solely relying on
documentary research, might not provide a
comprehensive understanding.
- Future research directions:
To explore the effectiveness of Tunisian banks' CSR
To explore the effectiveness of Tunisian banks' CSR
initiatives by studying their impact on the bank's
image, customer satisfaction, and possibly on bank
employees, delving into their motivations and
involvement.
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20. Thank you for your
attention
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attention