Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in large manufacturing firms: a qualitative multi-case study from Ethiopia

Abstract

AbstractAssessment of actual practices and initiatives would potentially enhance the implementation of corporate social responsibility. For the same purpose, this work aimed at enumerating specific CSR activities being pursued by large manufacturing businesses and detecting whether there have been observed developmental changes in CSR practices in the industry. To this end, we have devised a multi-case study research design. Because they needed attention of inquiry, large manufacturing firms in the Amhara region of Ethiopia constituted the target units. The recent corporate social responsibility practices of four purposefully selected firms have been judged by functional managers and report analysis. The hybrid of deductive—theory-driven data collection and data analysis—and inductive approaches governed the inquiry. We utilized a stakeholder-based Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) conceptual framework from the existing literature. The results of a stakeholder-based analysis of CSR practices show that: (1) the industry has implemented numerous CSR initiatives and activities for each of the stakeholder groups; (2) developmental changes in CSR performance are observed; and (3) healthy (responsible) business behavior has generally been evident. Notwithstanding its limitations, the study has provided useful insights into both practice and policymaking. Similar studies with tailored designs are encouraged for future research.

Keywords

• Stakeholder theory
• social responsibility
• business ethics
• corporate citizenship
• business and society
• business in society