*2.1. Islamic Ethics and Individual Responsibility*

Islamic ethics address the human being as an individual and makes it clear that every human being is accountable for his actions and will be penalised or rewarded for what he did [25]. Islamic Law (Shari'ah Law) gives Muslims crucial personal character traits in which they may get a common, correct vision of themselves and everything around them and the right manner and behaviour. This Islamic Law covers every aspect of life: ethical, physical, economic, etc., [26]. Based on the Islamic teachings, we, as God's creatures, are obligated to make a vigorous effort to protect and take care of his living and non-living creatures. Thus, every Muslim, has three main responsibilities toward his people (i.e., the community), the environment, and other creations [25]. The first responsibility is the responsibility toward other human beings. Therefore, they have a social character which is based on the interaction and communication with other human beings and the community in which they live. To live in harmony and to work together with his people, God placed rules and laws (on every aspect of life) to assist human beings in their interactions with each other. These rules precisely govern the responsibilities and rights of every human being according to his position, status, and total of his characters. In Islam, all human beings are equal in the sight of God; the most honoured one is the best one in behaviour [25]. In Islam, a human being is valued and appreciated just because he is a human being, and therefore, human rights have a very high position in Islam. Disrespecting those rights means showing unwillingness to accept the laws and rules of God, and being unjust to people.

The second responsibility is responsibility toward the environment (i.e., nature and its resources). The environment is defined as the features of the world surrounding us, and the place where we live [25]. Everything in the universe is standardised and well-adjusted. Meanwhile, human beings (The Vicegerent) have acquired authority and control in some domains to a certain level, so they should accomplish them properly and fairly for the sake of their God. Islamic Law prohibits environmental degradation, pollution, destruction, the clearing of trees and plants, abuse, exhaustion of resources, and every kind of corruption on the earth [25]. Therefore, the appropriate use of environmental goods and everything around us is of great importance concerning our welfare, advantage, and richness. Lastly, the third responsibility is the human responsibility toward other God's creations such as animals, birds, plants, etc., [25]. They are creations of God brought under the control of man. Most of these creations are considered respectable creatures, and therefore, Islam considers their rights and has set up a specified protocol regarding them [26]. People must show kindness to them and should not hurt them by burning, beating, grieving, distressing, or loading onto them more than they can bear. To conclude, Islam wants everyone to take responsibility for his or her actions and to begin to identify adverse situations by seeing how he or she has fallen short in meeting the conditions overall. Fulfilling these individual ethical responsibilities can lead to the formulation of a well-established person, family, company, and ultimately a community with good attitudes and behaviour toward CSR support.

### *2.2. Theory of Planned Behaviour*

The TPB identifies that attitude toward behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control, together shape a person's behavioural purposes and behaviours [27]. According to TPB, individual action is guided by three aspects: (a) behavioural beliefs, (b) normative beliefs, and (c) control beliefs, see also [28,29]. These three aspects are central in the circumstances/programs/schemes when changing the behaviour of individuals. However, not all individuals respond or act in the same way, even under the same conditions. There are several determinants at play, and these are what psychologists and philosophers have attempted to study and make sense of in the past few decades. One of these determinants is religion and its impact on human prosocial behaviour. For example, studies indicate that the relationship between religious beliefs and prosocial behaviour is complicated in two ways. *Firstly,* the findings of these studies have shown that individuals' religious beliefs affect their prosocial attitudes. McNichols and Zimmerer [30] and Kennedy and Lawton [23] discovered the substantial influence of religious beliefs on negative attitudes toward certain undesirable behaviour. Similarly, Rice [11] found that religious teachings and religion were related to the pro-environmental behaviour of Egyptian citizens. Vitell et al. [17] observed that religious beliefs and personal attitudes were significant determinants of consumer ethical behaviour. *Secondly,* although religious beliefs are significantly related to ethical attitudes, the relationship between religion and prosocial behaviour is much weaker. For instance, although religious persons report positive planned helping behaviour, these reports seem unrelated to unplanned helping behaviours. Religiosity shows a great discrepancy between altruistic beliefs and actual altruistic behaviour [31].

The attitude toward a behaviour is a condition of fundamental behavioural beliefs. Behavioural beliefs, therefore, are a person's beliefs about the implications of certain behaviour. So, the individual's religiosity and values are shaping these beliefs [28,29]. Therefore, this study will follow this principle when developing the measures of CSR attitudes and behaviours [9]. Based on the above discussion, the relationship between religious beliefs and values, personal attitudes and behaviours, and CSR support can be explained by the TPB [27,29].

#### *2.3. Managers' Religiosity and CSR Attitudes*

Managers' religious beliefs may affect their attitudes toward CSR in two ways. *First,* religiosity is a key source of individual values [10,32]. These values serve as the basis for the formation of individuals' attitudes, see for example [28]. *Second,* religiosity denotes believers with principles by which to live [32]. Religious attitudes may prove a strong association with actual personal behaviour [29]. According to the TPB, managers' attitudes toward CSR may stimulate their CSR behaviour [22].

Accordingly, this study will investigate whether managers' CSR attitudes affect their CSR behaviour. As stated by the TPB, religiosity may thus influence managers' CSR behaviour indirectly through CSR attitudes. Though religiosity may also affect individual behaviour directly because it also involves specific reinforcements and penalties to enhance ethical behaviour [32]. Religion comprises instructions relating to economic activities and sustainability agendas that inspire directors to perform in a socially responsible manner [16]. Because these instructions stimulate executives' attitudes to CSR, there may also be a direct effect of managers' religiosity on their CSR behaviour, without interference by managers' attitudes.

In their study, Mazereeuw-van der Duijn Schouten et al. [9] state that the cognitive component of religion is about what someone believes. The notion of God and his creatures and the view on the key responsibilities of creatures in a religious system have major moral consequences. This individual attitude reveals the degree to which human beings are dedicated to their religious teachings [33]. Religious literature defines two non-mutually exclusive types of religious motivation. *Firstly,* people are fundamentally oriented toward their religion, and this means that their religion is a meaning-endowing framework in terms of which all of their life is understood. *Secondly,* an extrinsic religious orientation where faithfulness is informed by societal agreement and well-being, a self-serving instrumental method shaped to suit oneself [9]. As a result, if a religious person is intrinsically motivated (i.e., treats religious belief as an end in itself), religious convictions and norms are more likely to be translated into his behaviour and actions. The power of religious behaviour supports the influence of religious belief on business behaviour [10].

In conclusion, this study aims to analyse the impact of the religiosity of managers on their personal attitudes toward CSR and CSR behaviour. Their behavioural attitudes may also affect companies' CSR practices as managers design and develop their corporate CSR strategy and policy [10,25]. Based on the above discussion, the core research questions of this study are:

**RQ1.** *How do various aspects of Egyptian Managers' religiosity influence their attitudes toward CSR?*

**RQ2.** *How do Egyptian Managers' attitudes toward CSR influence their CSR behaviour?*

**RQ3.** *Do Egyptian Managers' attitudes strengthen the influence of various aspects of their religiosity on CSR behaviour?*

#### **3. Methodology**

#### *3.1. Sample and Procedure*

Our investigation to answer the above research questions was based on data collected by a self-administered questionnaire used in other relevant research covering the different aspects of religiosity and CSR [21,34,35]. Considering Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales's [36] concerns that cross-country research about religion and business ethics gets confused by differences in other institutional factors, this research is limited to Egyptian Muslim Managers, thereby minimizing cultural and institutional differences. Egypt, the largest country in the Arab world with over 100 million citizens, most of them are Muslims (95%), was a suitable site for conducting this research [10]. Since the original survey was developed in English, it was translated into Arabic and piloted using three bilinguals. After getting approval, fifteen Egyptian Muslim Managers were randomly chosen from different sectors for the pilot study to ensure that the pilot testers had the same features as those involved in the main research. To collect data, a self-administrated questionnaire was used. The questionnaire was attached with a cover letter explaining the purpose of the study and assuring complete confidentiality. The study employed a snowball sampling technique to reach potential participants.

Of the 500 distributed questionnaires, 274 were completed and returned, resulting in a response rate of 55%. Comery and Lee [37] recommended that the adequate size of a research sample should be 200 or more. Therefore, the 274 collected questionnaires are considered an adequate sample size to answer the research questions and to generalise the findings, at least, in an Egyptian context. The average age of the managers was 41 years; 70% of the respondents were male; and 43% have 1 to 15 years of work experience. The respondents represented five different industrial sectors: manufacturing (15%), construction (13%), trade (15%), financial services (15%), and other services (42%). Many respondents held senior positions in their organisations: 12% were Director-Owners, 29% were CEOs, and 59% held other senior positions (e.g., Head of Department, Production and Operations Manager). Finally, we tested the non-response bias by comparing "early" respondents (*n* = 160) with "late" respondents (*n* = 114), as a surrogate for those who had not responded to the questionnaire and found no significant variance between "early" and "late" respondents [38]. Different procedures were followed to control the response bias such as explaining that responses would remain confidential [39] and conducting a confirmatory factor analysis [40–42].
