Drivers of Business Social Responsibity in Lesotho SMMEs: Evidence from Small Manufacturing Firms in the Thetsane Industrial Estate in Maseru
Keywords:
Business Social Responsibility, SMMEs, BSR drivers, stakeholder theory, charity theory and philanthropic theory
Abstract
Given the significant role played by small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in socio-economic development, this paper seeks to gain an insight into their business social responsibility (BSR) practices. The objective of this paper is to examine why SMMEs in Lesotho engage in BSR activities. The concept of BSR is still new to Lesotho SMMEs, probably because of the dearth of empirical research on the subject. Furthermore, the neglect of SMMEs BSR practices in not justified considering the important role they play in economies. This study examined the reasons why SMMEs in Thetsane industrial estate in Maseru, Lesotho engage in social responsibility practices. The study focused on 10 textile manufacturing SMMEs in Thetsane industrial estate in the Maseru District of Lesotho. By using qualitative approach, the questionnaire based interview tested reasons why SMMEs engage in BSR. The results revealed that the quest to achieve good company image, increased satisfied customers as well as motivated and satisfied employees (which may lead to increased productivity) are the dominant drivers of small businesses engagement in BSR. These findings and implications are discussed in this study.
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References
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Williamson, D. Lync-Wood, G. and Ramsay, J. (2006). Drivers of Environmental Behaviour in Manufacturing SMEs and the Implications for CSR, Journal of Business Ethics, 67, pp. 317-330.
Zikmund, W.G. and Babin, B.J. (2010). Essentials of Marketing Research, 4th Ed., Cengage Learning, Cambridge.
Aardt, I. V. Aardt, C.V. Bank, J.V.D. Bendeman, H. Bezuidenhout, S. Hewitt, M. Naidoo, P. Rensburg, L. J. V. & Visser, T. 2011. Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management. 4th Edition. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
Alhojailan, M. I. (2012). Thematic Analysis: A Critical Review of its Process and Evaluation. West East Journal of Social Sciences, 1(1), pp. 39-47.
Andy, L. and Mustapha, M. (2013). CSR in small and medium enterprises: evidence from Malaysia, in 2nd international conference on management, economics and finance proceedings, 28-29 October 2013, Sabah, Malaysia.
Botha, C.J. and Visagie, J.C. (1998). Contextual and empirical approach to social change and social responsibility, Journal of Management Decision, 36(10), pp. 694–705.
Brown, M.R. Janney, J. J. Muralidhar, K. Paul, K. and Ruf, B.M. (2001). An empirical investigation of the relationship between change in corporate social performance and financial performance: a stakeholder theory perspective, Journal of Business Ethics, 23(2), pp. 92–113.
Carroll, A.B. (1999). Corporate social responsibility: evolution of definitional concept, Business and Society, 38(3), pp. 268–295.
Crane, A. Matten, D. and Spencer, L.J. (2008). Corporate Social Responsibility: Readings and Cases in a Global Context, Routledge, London.
Crowther, D. (2008). Corporate Social Responsibility, Guler Aras & Ventus Publishing Germany.
Davis, D. (2008). Business Research for Decision Making, 5th Ed. South-Western, USA
Davis, K. (1967). Understanding the social responsibility puzzle: what do businessmen owe to society? Business Horizon, 10(4), pp. 45–50.
Dzansi, D.Y. and Pretorius, M. (2009). The development and structural confirmation of an instrument for measuring the social responsibility of small and macro business in the African context. Social Responsibility Journal, 5(2), pp. 450–463.
Dzansi, D.Y. (2011). Social responsibility of small businesses in typical rural African setting: some insights from a South African study, African Journal of Business Management, 5(14), pp. 5710–5723.
Dzansi, D. Y. and Okyere, F. (2015). Attitude of South African businesses towards business social responsibility (BSR): an exploratory study. Problems and Perspective in Management, 3(2), pp. 469-480.
European Commission (EC). 2005. Practical examples to foster SMEs competitiveness. Available online: http//:www.csr.in-smes-eu/index-php?tab=5. (Date accessed: 23rd March 2018).
European Union (EU). 2001. Promoting a European framework for Corporate Social Responsibility. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities. Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2001/com2001_0366en01.pdf (Date accessed: 15th October 2018).
Frederick, W.C. Post, J.E. and Davis, K. (1992). Business and Society: Corporate Strategy, Public Policy, Ethics. McGraw-Hill, Washington, DC.
Inyang, B.J. (2013). Defining the role engagement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in corporate social responsibility (CSR), International Business Research, 6(5), pp. 123–132.
Ismail, M. 2009. Corporate Social Responsibility and Its Role in Community Development: An International Perspective. Journal of International Social Research, 2(9): 202-209.
Jenkins, H. (2009). A ‘business opportunity’ model of corporate social responsibility for small- and medium-sized enterprises, Business Ethics: A European Review, 18(1), pp. 21-36.
Kehbila, A. G., Ertel, J. and Brent, A. C. 2009. Strategic Corporate Environmental Management within the South African Automotive Industry: Motivations, Benefits, Hurdles. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 16, pp. 310-323.
Lepoutre, J. and Heene, A. (2006). Investigating the impact of firm size on small business social responsibility: A critical review, Journal of Business Ethics, 67, pp. 257-273.
Ligthelm, A.A. and Cant, M.C. (2002). Business Success Factors of SMEs in Gauteng, University of South Africa, Pretoria.
Ma, J. (2012). A Study on the Models for Corporate Social Responsibility of Small and Medium Enterprises, Physics Procedia, 25(2012), pp. 435 – 442. Available at: www.sciencedirect.com (accessed June 13, 2015).
Mangaung Local Municipality (2009). Integrated development plan. Available at: http://www.bloemfontein.za/page_overview.php?subd_id=33 (accessed March 12, 2011).
Ministry of Trade and Industry, Cooperative and Marketing (MTICM). (2008). The State of Small Enterprise in Lesotho. Maseru: Government Printers.
Moorthy, M. K., Yacob, P., Chellidah, M. K. and Arokiasamy, L. 2013. Drivers for Malaysian SMEs to Go Green. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(9), pp. 74-86.
Munasinghe, M.A.T.K. and Malkumari, A.P. (2012). Corporate social responsibility in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka, Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies, 3(2), pp. 168–172.
Olawale, F. and Garwe, D. (2010). Obstacles of the growth of new SMEs in South Africa: a principal component analysis approach, African Journal of Business Management, 4(5), pp. 730–7.
Okyere, F. 2012. Social Responsibility in the SMMEs of the Botshabelo Industrial Estate. Master’s Dissertation, Unpublished. Free State, South Africa. Central University of Technology.
Okyere, F. (2016). Comparative analysis of environmental issues as a social responsibility concern for selected SMMEs in two African countries: South Africa and Lesotho. Doctoral thesis. Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Parker, C.M. Zutshi, M. and Franholz, B. (2010). Online corporate social responsibility communication by Australian SMEs: a framework for website analysis, presented at the 23rd Bled e-Conference on e-Trust: implications for the industrial enterprise and society, June 20–23rd, Bled, Slovenia.
Parmar, B.L. Freeman, R.E. Harrison, J.S. Wicks, A.C. de Colle, S. and Purnell, L. (2010). Stakeholder theory: the state of the art. Available at: http://www.academia.edu/1091029/Stakeholder_theory_The_State_of_the_art (accessed March 6, 2014).
Shama, A. and Kiran, R. (2013). Corporate social responsibility: driving forces and challenges, International Journal of Business Research and Development, 2(1), pp. 8–27. Statistics South Africa (STATSA) (2001). Census 2001. Government Publishers, Pretoria.
Thomas, G. and Nowak, M. (2006). Corporate social responsibility: a definition, Graduate School of Business working paper No. 62, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, pp. 1–16.
Tralac. (2017). Lesotho’s textile, apparel and footwear manufacturing industry. Available online at: https://www.tralac.org/news/article/11501-lesotho-s-textiles-apparel-and-footwear-manufacturing-industry.html (Accessed: 16 September 2019).
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). 2002. Corporate Social Responsibility: Implications for Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries. Vienna. Available at: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADFA_enZA497ZA501&q=United+Nations+Industrial+Development+Organization+%28UNIDO%29.+2002.+Corporate+Social+Responsibility%3a+Implications+for+Small+and+Medium+Enterprises+in+Developing+Countries. (Date accessed 25 March 2018).
Vo, L. C. (2011). Corporate social responsibility and SMEs: a literature review and agenda for future research, Problems and Perspective in Management, 9(4), pp. 89-79.
Williamson, D. Lync-Wood, G. and Ramsay, J. (2006). Drivers of Environmental Behaviour in Manufacturing SMEs and the Implications for CSR, Journal of Business Ethics, 67, pp. 317-330.
Zikmund, W.G. and Babin, B.J. (2010). Essentials of Marketing Research, 4th Ed., Cengage Learning, Cambridge.
Published
2019-10-03
How to Cite
Dr Francis Okyere. (2019). Drivers of Business Social Responsibity in Lesotho SMMEs: Evidence from Small Manufacturing Firms in the Thetsane Industrial Estate in Maseru. IJRDO - Journal of Business Management, 5(9), 431-444. https://doi.org/10.53555/bm.v5i9.3248
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Articles
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