Corporate social responsibility in Africa

Corporate social responsibility in Africa

Robert Ebo Hinson

Corporate social responsibility is increasingly becoming the ideal and approved mode of sustaining good relations between corporate bodies and their surrounding communities. The building of a strong relationship is essential for the simple reason that a corporation’s ability to operate effectively is partly dependent upon the community’s understanding of the corporations’ business activities, their acceptance and the provision of a conducive environment for the corporation to operate (Du and Vieria 2012). However, there seems to be a disconnect between the perceptions of communities’ desire from such social interventions and what has been provided in many documented instances. Eventually, situations have occurred where the desired effects of the initiatives by corporate bodies are almost non-existent in beneficiary communities. This can be attributed to the apparent lack of well-established relationships and trust between corporations and communities. Additionally, according to Kemp (2010), it is conceptualised as a three-dimensional practice that involves: working for the company to understand local community perspectives; bridging community and company perspectives to generate dialogue and mutual understanding; and, facilitating necessary organisational change to improve social performance.

Published Online:

2019

https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.1080/02500167.2019.1698629

English