Author: Faisal Abdullah
Abdullah, Faisal, 2021 Early career job seekers' perceptions of corporate social responsibility and organizational attractiveness of Islamic and non-Islamic banks in Indonesia, Flinders University, College of Business, Government and Law
Terms of Use: This electronic version is (or will be) made publicly available by Flinders University in accordance with its open access policy for student theses. Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. You may use this material for uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968. If you are the owner of any included third party copyright material and/or you believe that any material has been made available without permission of the copyright owner please contact copyright@flinders.edu.au with the details.
This thesis explored and examined early career job seekers’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility and organizational attractiveness in Islamic and non-Islamic banks in Indonesia. This thesis is important particularly for early career job seekers seeking employment in banking institutions through the perception of corporate social responsibility. Furthermore, it is also important for banking institutions in Indonesia (both Islamic and non-Islamic banks) to promote socially responsible activities as a medium to attract future potential employees and not just use the bank’s financial performances. This issue has not been investigated in Indonesia.
This thesis comprises two studies. Study One examined selected variables influencing early job seekers’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility, organizational attractiveness, and the intention to apply. Study Two explored early career job seekers’ perception of corporate social responsibility conducted by Islamic and non-Islamic banks and whether their perception leads to their attraction and intention to apply for jobs in Islamic and non-Islamic banks in Indonesia. This thesis proposed four research questions and ten hypotheses in Study One. It also provided a set of questionnaires on four job advertisements as a tool of measurement. In Study Two, an open-ended question for focus group interviews was set up. This thesis used mixed-methods research to collect and analyse both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings from Study One partly supported the hypotheses proposed in this thesis. The results indicated that the independent variables tested against dependent variables through all four job advertisements as the measurement tool provided in this thesis are partly related. In other words, some early career job seekers perceived the corporate social responsibility of Islamic and non-Islamic banks in Indonesia as a positive aspect that may influence their attraction and intention to apply for a job when seeking employment, but some did not.
In Study Two, the findings from focus group interviews revealed that both male and female early career job seekers from Islamic and non-Islamic universities in Indonesia perceived no difference in the level of corporate social responsibility of Islamic and non-Islamic banks. However, the majority of early career job seekers were attracted to apply for jobs in banking institutions regardless of whether the banks are socially responsible or not. The majority of early career job seekers perceived salary and career prospects were the most influential factor motivating them to apply for jobs when seeking employment. Salary and career prospects were not part of the variables tested in Study Two, so these findings enrich thesis's purpose.
This thesis contributes to the literature of corporate social responsibility by addressing the call for more studies on corporate social responsibility at the individual level (early career job seekers) rather than institutional or organizational level, particularly in the Indonesian context. Furthermore, this thesis also contributes its methodology by combining a quantitative study (survey-questionnaire and job advertisements) with a qualitative study (focus group interviews with template analysis). In addition, this thesis offers a new perspective for human resource management practices of Islamic and non-Islamic banks in Indonesia by considering the importance of corporate social responsibility as a medium to attract and retain potential employees. Both Islamic and non-Islamic banks could use their socially responsible activities to attract future potential employees who may have better motivation and commitment to work for the organizations and are not merely motivated by materialistic considerations. This thesis has some limitations, and future research areas are identified and proposed.
Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, Islamic bank, non-Islamic bank, Organizational attractiveness and Intention to apply.
Subject: Population and Human Resources thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2021
School: College of Business, Government and Law
Supervisor: Associate Professor Greg Fisher