Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting: A Study of the Views of MNC Subsidiary Managers in an African Context

Abstract

There is a general lack of research which directly seeks the views of MNC subsidiary managers about what internal and external pressures they perceive are imposed on them, and how such pressures, in turn, impact their CSR reporting in developing countries. To fill this gap and improve our understanding of CSR reporting practices of MNC subsidiaries, this study aims to investigate how MNC subsidiaries operationalise CSR reporting practices in an African context–Ghana. This study comprises analysis of CSR reports, websites and other publicly-available reports using qualitative data analysis and 15 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with respondents drawn from 8 MNC subsidiaries using legitimacy theory and institutional theory as lenses. The analysis identifies reporting relationships between MNC subsidiary and parent-company (as internal factors), and the supervisory relationships between MNC subsidiaries and local regulatory institutions (as external factors), as factors that induce/sensitise MNC subsidiaries managers to voluntarily disclose social responsibility information. The adoption of voluntary global standards for CSR such as GRI appeared to influence MNC subsidiaries’ CSR reporting practices. Additionally, locally espoused (or ingrained) values/expectations and norms that frown on actions and/or inactions that are deemed not to be socially acceptable corporate behaviours appeared to inform the CSR initiatives that MNC subsidiaries voluntarily disclose in order to acquire a sense of legitimacy. The results of this study have implications for research and practice. Generally speaking, MNC subsidiaries operating in an African context may require more local knowledge and support in relation to social and environmental responsibility. Limitations of this study include limited data available, particularly interviews, which provides opportunity for future research.