A study of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become the subject of research for many academias in the field of business studies. Despite increasing attention has been accorded to CSR in developed countries, very few is known of the research of CSR in developing multicultural, multiethnic country like Malaysia. With about 27.5 million people, Malaysia is made up of three main ethnic populations, namely; Malays, Chinese and Indians. The fact that Malaysia has diverging ethnic groups and cultural system, this study addresses an insight analysis of CSR from a different perspective. The study seeks to find out the level of CSR understanding of the Malaysian executives in the financial services sector across different ethnic groups. A total of 376 responses were collected and analysed in this study. The questionnaire was used to measure the perceptions of the respondents towards several CSR issues. The findings across ethnicity of the respondents revealed that in general, there is no homogenous consensus. The finding clearly demonstrates differences of perceptions among Malay, Chinese and Indian respondents. This is potentially a significant finding, since culture gives a significant impact on people attitude, behaviour and perception. � Medwell Journals, 2013.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda has increasingly come under the spotlight over cases of unethical business practices by public and private companies around the world. Shareholders and members of the general public are being confronted with a steady stream of corporate scandal that has an increasingly deteriorating effect on investors' confidence (Miller, 2009). In fact, the importance of CSR commitments and initiatives may have a direct impact on the success of the future business atmosphere as many organisations worldwide have come under pressure to comply with the international CSR standards and practices (Miller, 2009). In order to demonstrate the commitment to achieve economic advancement, Malaysian government is keen to incorporate CSR programmes into companies' agenda to heighten their profile, so that they can gain recognition and increase investors' confidence from the perspective of local and international investors. Therefore, this paper seeks to measure the level of CSR commitment by financial sector in Malaysia. 376 respondents selected from financial executives were asked to indicate their companies' level of commitment towards 17 elements of CSR. Overall, the findings indicate that financial services sector in Malaysia promotes important roles in community and environment, culture and philanthropy.

The objective of this paper is to explore the level of understanding of the Malaysian Muslim managers in financial sector towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues and practices. A total of 243 responses were analysed in different segments of financial institutions in Malaysia. The questionnaire was used to measure the perceptions and awareness of the respondents towards CSR concept and commitment. The results indicate that, in general, Muslim managers demonstrate a growing concern towards CSR practices in Malaysia. However, the result from factor analysis reveals that Muslim managers perceived public maslahah and religious activities as the most important CSR commitment. The findings provide useful implication for the effective and efficient management of CSR across financial services sector in Malaysia.