Corporate Social Responsibility Applied for Rural Development: An Empirical Analysis of Firms from the American Continent

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility has been recognized by policymakers and development specialists as a feasible driver for rural development. The present paper explores both theoretically and empirically how firms involved in CSR provide development opportunities to rural communities. The research first evaluates the applied literature on the implementation of CSR by private firms and policymakers as means to foster sustainable rural development. The empirical research analyses the CSR activities of 100 firms from a variety of industries, sizes, and countries to determine the type of companies who are involved in rural development and the kind of activities they deployed. Results from the empirical research show that although rural development initiatives are not relevant for all types of companies, a significant number of firms from a variety of industries have engaged in CSR programs supporting rural communities. Firms appear to be interested in stimulating rural development and seem to benefit from it. This paper also includes an exploration of the main challenges and constraints that firms encounter when encouraging rural development initiatives.

Training the CSR Sensitive Mind-Set: The Integration of CSR into the Training of Business Administration Professionals

“…On the other hand, del Rosario González-Rodríguez et al [18] point out that the way the consumers perceive corporate social responsibility may be directly affected by the individual benefit structures, the range of which is very extensive. Studies in this area show that CSR provides more flexibility to organizations themselves, when operating in various situations [16,19], such as in dealing with emerging crises [20], contributing to the active development of goodwill [21][22][23], while addressing relevant social and ethical problems not only by means of specific support-as is often perceived-but also by changing the moral and ethical climate in the socio-cultural media in which they operate through their values [24][25][26][27]. This can be compared with the metaphor of a growing snowball, especially if the organizations focus not only on the present, but also on the long-term rebound effect.…”

Corporate Citizenship Behaviour and Rural Livelihoods: A Study on Multinational Corporations in Sri Lanka

“…Acknowledging the studies of Arato et al (2016), Ibañez (2015) and Ng'eni et al (2015), the semi-structured interview questions were designed guaranteeing high level of accuracy, relevancy and measurability aiding the investigation. The interview protocol consisted questions on the knowledge about dairy farming technology, how effective the training received from the MNC was and the practice of training and knowledge been applied in day-to-day routine activities.…”

“…The investigation done by Arato, Speelman, & Huylenbroeck (2016) emphasises that with rural development non-related business firms will also benefit with the advancement along with the MNCs contributions to the host nation. It was concluded through this investigation that in order to become a good corporate citizen following over-regulated processes will hinder social benefits to the local community and therefore CSR projects should be carefully selected and should not be executed as a marketing tool.…”

“…(Garriga and Mele, 2004). Corporate citizenship is the role to be played by the corporate body in the society and the corporate institutions are vested with the responsibilities to act when the government fails to take care of the society (Arato et al, 2016). The corporate citizenship theory focuses on protecting the rights and responsibilities vested for partnering with the company and proposes that business has a responsibility to uplift the local community while improving the livelihoods of the stakeholders partnering with the company.…”

“…The corporate citizenship theory focuses on protecting the rights and responsibilities vested for partnering with the company and proposes that business has a responsibility to uplift the local community while improving the livelihoods of the stakeholders partnering with the company. Arato et al (2016) emphasized that to become a good corporate citizen following over-regulated processes will hinder social benefits to the local community and therefore corporate citizenship projects should be carefully selected and should not be executed as a marketing tool. As Arato insist, establishing an effective communication channel, promoting health and nutrition among the community, effort of proving micro finances, creation of employment opportunities, educating technical and operational aspects of the entity were main corporate citizenship activities.…”