Promoting sustainability through corporate social responsibility implementation in the manufacturing industry: An empirical analysis of barriers using the ISM-MICMAC approach

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a useful instrument to promote sustainability in organizations by focusing on their social, economic, and environmental aspects. Despite the growing adoption of CSR in the developed countries, it is at an initial stage of adoption in developing countries owing to the challenges faced by organizations. This study empirically identified the barriers to CSR adoption in a developing country context by taking the Pakistani manufacturing industry as a case. A novel framework was developed to analyze the obstacles by integrating the Delphi method (DM), interpretive structural modeling (ISM), and MICMAC. Initially, CSR obstacles were identified from previous literature; these were later filtered by using the DM. Furthermore, the data collected from experts and the results obtained through the application of ISM and MICMAC indicate that the “lack of resources, ” “lack of regulations and standards, ” and “lack of policy incentives” are the most critical barriers impeding CSR implementation in the Pakistani manufacturing industry. “Lack of concern for reputation” and “customers do not care about CSR” emerged as the least essential barriers to CSR adoption. The government, as the primary stakeholder and implementing agency, can act as the moderator to overcome these barriers and take initiatives for the effective adoption of CSR. This study would support manufacturing industry managers’ effort to understand the main obstacles to CSR adoption and develop an effective implementation policy for CSR adoption.