Corporate Social Responsibility in SMEs: a shift from philanthropy to institutional works?

Amaeshi, Kenneth; Adegbite, Emmanuel; Ogbechie, Chris; Idemudia, Uwafiokun; Anderson, Konan; Kan, Seny; Issa, Mabumba; Anakwue, Obianuji

Authors

Kenneth Amaeshi

EMMANUEL ADEGBITE EMMANUEL.ADEGBITE@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor in Accounting and Corporate Governance

Chris Ogbechie

Uwafiokun Idemudia

Konan Anderson

Seny Kan

Mabumba Issa

Obianuji Anakwue

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) amongst Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is often characterised in the literature as unstructured, informal, and ad hoc discretionary philanthropic activities. Drawing insights from recent theoretical/analytical frameworks (i.e. Crane, Matten, and Spence, 2013; and Valente and Crane, 2010), and on empirical data collected from both Nigeria and Tanzania, we found that CSR practices in SMEs are much more nuanced than previously presented. In addition, SMEs undertake their CSR practices to varying degrees in multiple spaces – i.e. the workplace, marketplace, community and the ecological environment. These CSR practices go beyond philanthropy and in some instances involve institutional works aimed at addressing some of the institutional gaps in the environments where these SMEs operate. The paper makes a contribution by drawing attention to the multiple spaces of CSR practices amongst SMEs, and the institutional works they do, which are often taken for granted in the extant literature. We provide a unique perspective – by arguing that what is frequently conceptualised as philanthropic CSR in Africa is (or may include) 'institutional works'. Paper Type: Research paper.

Citation

Amaeshi, K., Adegbite, E., Ogbechie, C., Idemudia, U., Anderson, K., Kan, S., …Anakwue, O. (2016). Corporate Social Responsibility in SMEs: a shift from philanthropy to institutional works?. Journal of Business Ethics, 138(2), 385-400

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 21, 2015
Online Publication Date	Mar 31, 2015
Publication Date	Oct 7, 2016
Deposit Date	Dec 5, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Feb 13, 2019
Print ISSN	0167-4544
Publisher	BMC
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	138
Issue	2
Pages	385-400
Keywords	Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); Nigeria; Tanzania; Sub-Saharan Africa; SMEs; Institutional works
Public URL	https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1367370
Publisher URL	https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-015-2633-1