Developing a strategic communication framework for Islamic cooperatives in Thailand
Keywords:
strategic communication, Islamic cooperatives, stakeholder engagement, Shari’ah governance, trust, sustainabilityAbstract
Islamic cooperatives are socio-economic organizations that operate according to Shari’ah principles. They play a significant role in enhancing the welfare of their members and promoting economic development within the community. However, existing strategic communication frameworks in the literature are primarily based on Western corporate principles and are inadequate in elucidating the mechanisms by which religious legitimacy and trust are established in the context of Islamic cooperatives. This study seeks to fill a theoretical gap by reviewing and synthesizing existing literature on strategic communication, cooperative identity and values, stakeholder engagement, Shariah governance, and organizational storytelling. The goal is to develop a theoretically grounded conceptual framework that explains the role of strategic communication in Islamic cooperatives in Thailand. The study utilizes a structured conceptual literature synthesis approach, employing specific inclusion criteria to identify relevant research that examines communication mechanisms, trust formation, institutional legitimacy, and organizational sustainability. The findings suggest that strategic communication within Islamic cooperatives consists of five key dimensions: 1. strategic communication capability, 2. cooperative identity and value communication, 3. stakeholder engagement communication, 4. Islamic value communication along with Shariah governance credibility signals, and 5. organizational storytelling. Furthermore, the proposed framework conceptualizes trust as a central mediating mechanism that links strategic communication processes to the development of institutional legitimacy and organizational sustainability. This study enhances the strategic communication literature by extending its theoretical framework to include organizations that operate based on religious principles. It also introduces the concept of Shariah governance credibility signals, which serves as a context-specific communication mechanism. This concept helps explain the systematic construction of trust and legitimacy within Islamic cooperatives.
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