Bridging the Gap: An Exploratory Study of Corporate Social Responsibility among SMEs in Singapore

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) among small-medium enterprises (SME) is an overlooked area, despite the latter's emerging prominence as an economic player. To provide a comprehensive analysis of the CSR landscape among Singapore SMEs, a triangulation of 15 in-depth interviews and a self-administered Web survey was conducted among 113 senior executives from top 500 Singapore SMEs (27.2% response). Key findings include (a) moderate awareness but low comprehension of CSR; (b) engagement relevance to immediate stakeholders; (c) individual values, stakeholder relationships, and governmental influences as main drivers; and (d) lack of various resources as key barriers. Implications and future research directions are discussed.