Unintentional social consequences of disorganised marketing of corporate social responsibility: figurational insights into the oil and gas sector in Africa.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a concept that is widely associated with large transnational corporations (TNCs) and increasingly small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The concept is contentious with wide ranging debates about intent and impact, not least from critics who perceive CSR to ostensibly be a marketing tool. Before examining some of the current flaws within CSR, it is important to establish how the concept is being applied

CSR Disclosure Practices in the Zambia Mining Industry

The main objective of this chapter is to examine the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure practices and the related motivation for (or lack thereof) CSR disclosures in the Zambian mining industry. Key CSR disclosures are examined to identify the trends in disclosure. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with the mining managers to explore the underlying motives for such disclosures (non-disclosures) and the prospects that exist for future development. We find that there is very limited CSR disclosure by mining companies in Zambia, while CSR reporting is directed mainly towards ‘public image building’ and motivated by project financing purposes for those companies with a ‘western’ parent company. We argue that the lack of demand for such reporting from the Zambian citizenry has partly contributed to the low disclosures. Some international voluntary reporting guidelines have been adopted by ‘western’ parent mining companies, while reputation risk management remains a key concern for these companies. The study contributes to understanding the underlying motives for CSR disclosures in a developing country context