A comparative literature review survey of employee HIV and AIDS-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs) in Zimbabwe and South Africa

Abstract

This article reviews employee HIV and AIDS-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices by small business in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The article aims to present a comparative snapshot of how SMMEs are responding to the epidemic as a basis for developing a CSR framework that could be implemented by SMMEs in both countries. The article applies an exploratory literature review methodology to extract data from secondary sources. Research findings show that HIV and AIDS-related CSR in Zimbabwe appear disengaged from the direct influence of corporate business, the opposite of what South African SMMEs experience. In South Africa, SMME CSR practices experience pressure from large firms. However, differences in economic status between the two countries show no effect on the CSR behaviors of SMMEs in both countries when compared with each other. In both countries, findings reveal that SMMEs hardly establish HIV and AIDS policies and therefore rely on informal CSR practices to assist employees to deal with the pandemic in the workplace. Thus, the article submits that while HIV and AIDS practices are not formalized in both countries, SMMEs fulfil their epidemic-related CSR obligations towards employees’ corresponding with their smallness. In conclusion, the study recommends an empirical examination of the research question to establish a grounded recommendation for the development of a SMMEs CSR framework that could be implemented by SMMEs in both countries.

Beyond COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review of the Role of Global Health in the Evolution and Practice of Corporate Social Responsibility

“…This study is necessitated by the wide range of changes its eventual priority in CSR activities by MNCs. This explains the numerous related programs the individual organisations have incorporated in their CSR programs [10]. The studies show that a driving factor for CSR for HIV-AIDS agenda was the impact of the pandemic on the quality of labour force.…”

Beyond COVID-19 Pandemic: An Integrative Review of Global Health Crisis Influencing the Evolution and Practice of Corporate Social Responsibility

“…Faced with these objectives, and guiding principles, it becomes difficult for one to clearly accept the previously held notion that patients and affected communities are more important in the quest to fight HIV-AIDS than the personal interest of the companies. The analyzed studies also present specific MNC interventions in HIV-AIDS through corporate social responsibility but the twin-face of an organization as using such platforms to promote their interest is also evidently shown [ 67 ].…”

“…To support the claim that businesses that get involved with HIV-AID-related CSR were more interested in protecting their interest rather than society, Makwara et al [ 67 ] again highlight the case of Daimler Chrysler, De Beers, Nestle, Johnson and Johnson, Coca-Cola and Unilever, Proctor and Gamble who were among the companies that first started HIV-AIDS-related CSR in Kenya and South Africa [ 68 ]. These companies only conducted research on the association between HIV-AID- related CSR (prevention and treatment of HIV-AIDS) and the company’s balance sheet [ 69 ].…”