IMPACT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON FIRM'S CORPORATE IMAGE (A CASE STUDY OF DANGOTE PLC)
Contents Chapter One:............................................................................................................................... 3 Aim and Objectives of Research..................................................................................................3 Research Questions.................................................................................................................... 3 Significance of Research.............................................................................................................4 Organization’s Preview................................................................................................................4 Chapter Two: Literature Review...................................................................................................6 Proposed Model:.......................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter Three: Methodology.......................................................................................................8 The research onion...................................................................................................................... 8 Research Philosophy...................................................................................................................9 Research Methods..................................................................................................................... 10 Data Collection Tools................................................................................................................. 11 Primary Data Collection Tools.................................................................................................11 Secondary Data Collection Tools............................................................................................12 Sampling and Population........................................................................................................... 12 Data Analysis Methods.............................................................................................................. 13 Research Ethics......................................................................................................................... 13 Research Timeline..................................................................................................................... 14 References................................................................................................................................ 15
Chapter One: Aim and Objectives of Research The area selected for the proposed research is corporate social responsibility in perspective of the image of the company. The proposed research will be conducted to answer the several questions regarding the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its influence on the corporate image. The aim of the research is: “To evaluate the influence of the corporate social responsibility on the image of the Dangote Plc” The aim of the proposed study will be evaluated in the light of following objectives:
To analyse the economical, environmental and social dimensions of corporate
social responsibility To analyse the practices by which Dangote Plc has incorporated the economical, environmental and social decisions of corporate social responsibility I its
practices To examine the influence of economical, environmental and social practices of
corporate social responsibility on the image of the Dangote Plc To study the response of customers towards corporate social responsibility
initiatives of the Dangote Plc To propose the managerial implications of the research findings by which Dangote Plc can improve its image by the effective implementation of CSR
Research Questions The research questions have very important role in every study because entire study aims at the research questionings. In this way, development of clear and appropriate research questions is also crucial. If research questions are vague and unclear, the results of the research can also be ineffective and unreliable. The researcher has developed the following research questions for the proposed study:
How the economical, environmental and social perspectives of corporate social
responsibility have been incorporated in the theory? How has the corporate image related with the corporate social responsibility
practices? How has Dangote Plc incorporated economical, social and environmental
perspectives in alignment with the corporate social responsibility initiatives? How do the economical, environmental and social practices of corporate social
responsibility influence the image of the Dangote Plc? How do customers respond towards the corporate social responsibility initiatives
of the Dangote Plc? What are the managerial implications of the corporate social responsibility initiatives of the Dangote Plc to improve its corporate image?
Significance of Research The proposed study will be highly appropriate to evaluate the influence of the economical, environmental and social practices of corporate social responsibility influence the image of the Dangote Plc. The corporate social responsibility stance has been highly important in the current business world because of increasing knowledge of the customers, suppliers and other stakeholders of the organizations. Although, many researchers have evaluated this research area in an effective way, but a large volume of such studies has ignored the African countries. In this way, the proposed study will be significant to evaluate the crucial and under researched area of literature. The findings of the proposed study will be effective to examine the extent by which an African corporation incorporates CSR in its economical, environmental and social practices.
Organization’s Preview The proposed study will be aimed at the Dangote Group which is an important corporation in the West Africa. It has been preferred as one of the most diversified business conglomerates in the Africa. The business focus of the Dangote Group is one the provision of value added products and services to the local people to meet the needs of local population in an effective manner. The company has effectively developed the manufacturing capacity for generating the employment opportunities in
Nigeria. It was established in 1981 as a trading business. Initially, the focus of the company was on the cement (Dangote Group, 2013). However, with the expansion, the company diversified into cement flour, fish and salt industries. By 1990s, the company had grown into the largest trading companies of the Nigeria.
Dangote Group has
effectively incorporated the CSR practices (Dangote Group, 2013). In the proposed study, the researcher will evaluate that how Dangote Group has been benefiting from CSR practices to improve its image.
Chapter Two: Literature Review In the existing literature, corporate social responsibility has been defined and explored by many authors’ ad researchers in different perspectives. Despite of its large scale importance and effectiveness on the organization, not a single agreed definition of corporate social responsibility has been developed (Simmons & Becker‐Olsen, 2006). Hill (2006) has evaluated that the corporate social responsibility is the way by which organizations design their practices to be at good place. On the other hand, Polonsky and Jevons
(2009) Ellen et al (2006) have evaluated that the CSR is the continuing
commitment of the organizations to adopt ethical behavior for making effective contribution in the economical and social development by improving the life of the life of people in the workplace and society at large scale. Since 1950s, the concept of corporate image or reputation has gained high level importance. It has been agreed by the scholars and practitioners that the way by which customers perceive an organization influences the success of the organization (Helm, 2007). However, it is also important to note that the literature lacks the appropriate and common definition of the corporate image. By observing several definitions of corporate image or corporate reputation, Fombrun and van Riel (1997) defined that the corporate image is the representation of the past actions and results of the organizations that enables the organization to deliver multiple stokeholds in an effective manner. Hence, the corporate reputation is an important asset of the organization which needs to be managed effectively. In the existing literature, one of the factors which influence the corporate positive reputation or image is the corporate social responsibility (Helm, 2007). The literature has also discussed the influence of the corporate social responsibility initiatives and practices on the organization’s positive image (Polonsky and Jevons, 2009 and Simmons & Becker‐Olsen, 2006). Barnett (2007) has explored the corporate social responsibility as the discretionary allocation of organizational resources for improving the social welfare in order to enhance the relationships with the key stakeholders in an effective way. In this regard, CSR has been highly important for the organizations to survive in the competitive
environment (Polonsky and Jevons, 2009). Reputation is also explored as the unique and distinctive set of skills for delivering the economic and non-economic benefits to the stakeholders. Researchers have also explored that the corporate reputation may also serve as the motivation for the organizations to engage in the corporate social responsibility initiatives and, in this way, the positive reputation gained by the organization can be considered as the outcome of the corporate social responsibility initiatives (Garberg and Fombrun, 2006). In addition, Rettab et al. (2009) have also explored that the CSR influences the organizational financial performance in a positive way. Moreover, they also explored that the CSR initiatives adopted by the organization have positive association with the corporate reputation even in the emerging economies where it is expected that the CSR practices adopted by the organization will not be effectively communicated to the external stakeholders because of ineffective communication channels. The brief preview of literature suggests that CSR initiatives may have positive influence on the corporate image. This literature will be further exploded deeply in the proposed study to evaluate how the previous researchers have theorized the relationship between corporate image and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Proposed Model: C E S S n o c r R v c o ip n I r a o r n lo m a in t m c i e a a ln I t im a a lv g e e s
Chapter Three: Methodology In this particular chapter the methodology has been proposed for the research. Methodology refers to the overall approach, methods and data collection tools selected for a research. Moreover, it also outlines the ethical considerations and time line of the research. In this chapter, the researcher has outlined all methodological considerations in alignment with the aims and objectives of the proposed study.
The research onion Saunders et al. (2009) has developed the research onion in which the research methodological stances have been explored. This research onion will be followed in the proposed study in an effective way. By using the research onion, the researcher has proposed the philosophy, research approach, research methods and data collection methods. Moreover, the researcher has also devised the appropriate sampling techniques for the proposed stud. The research onion will be followed in the proposed study to create an alignment in the research methodology.
Saunders et al. (2009)
Research Philosophy The proposed research will be conducted through positivism methodology by which research problem has been investigated through facts and figures by using scientific methods (David, 2004).
The researcher will analyse the perspectives of corporate
social responsibility through scientific methods so that factual evidence can be obtained. By using positivism philosophical stance, the researcher will use be able to research the influence of CSR on the corporate image of the Dangote from objective view point without any assumptions. The positive philosophy provides opportunity to the researchers to incorporate qualitative and quantitative methods in the research (Bryman and Bell, 2007). In this regard, the researcher is able to get logical and factual influence of the CSR on the corporate image of the Dangote. Therefore, the proposed philosophy is appropriate for the research to achieve its defined aims and objectives.
Research Methods In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the proposed study, the researcher will select the qualitative and quantitative research methods.
The qualitative research
methods are exploratory in nature because they aim at explaining the research purpose in detail without any empirical evidence (Denscombe and Martyn, 2007). By using the qualitative research methods, the researcher will be able to go deeper in the influence of CSR on the corporate image of Dangote Plc. In this way, the researcher will be able to explore the hidden facts and minor details of the influence of CSR on the Dangote’s image. In order to apply the qualitative research methods I the proposed study, the researcher will have the choices of focus group discussions, interviews, unstructured observations and bulletin boards methods f data collection (Bostock, 2005). However, the researcher will not apply all these methods in the proposed study but will prefer to select any one of these methods which will suit the aims and objectives of the proposed study. The researcher will also use the quantitative research methods in the proposed study to get the empirical evidence of the influence of CSR policies on the corporate image of Dangote. The purpose of applying these methods in the proposed study will be to quantify the relationship between CSR and corporate image.
In addition, the
quantitative methods quantify the research problems over a large population. In order to apply the quantitative research methods, the researcher will have the choices of online, paper or phone survey, click stream and point of purchase (Bostock, 2005). In the proposed study, the researcher will select the appropriate data collection methods which will suit its research aims and objectives. The application of qualitative and quantitative research methods in the proposed study will be appropriate for the achievement of all aims and objectives of the proposed study because both methods will complement the findings of each other. In this way, the results of the proposed study will be factual and logical. Moreover, the implementation of quantitative and qualitative research methods in the proposed study will also be aligned with the positivism philosophy.
Data Collection Tools The data is categorized into two types. These are primary data and secondary data. The primary data is which is collected for the first time and has very low biasness (Hussain and Hussain, 2005). On the other hand, the secondary data is the data which is already available in the earlier records and databases. This type of data has high bias level because of its processed nature. In the proposed study, the primary and secondary data will be applied in an alignment with the mixed methods and positivism philosophy (Luo & Bhattacharya, 2006).
For the collection of primary and secondary data in the
proposed study, the researcher will select the appropriate data collection tools which are suitable and convenient to apply in the proposed study.
Primary Data Collection Tools The primary data will be used in the proposed study for getting empirical and original perspective of the research aims and objectives. The primary data will be collected through survey tool in the proposed study. The survey tool refers to the collection of data through interactive tools from a large population. By using the survey tool, the data can be collected from large population in short duration by using a flexible data tool. The survey tool will also be suitable for the proposed study because it will be convenient and will not involve complications. In the proposed study, the researcher will use the survey
tool for the collection of primary data from customers of the Dangote Plc. In the proposed study, a close end questionnaire will be used for the collection of data. The close end questionnaire will generate the quantitative data for the study.
Self
administered questionnaire survey will be used for the collection of data in the study so that originality can be enhanced. In addition to the survey tool, the researcher will also apply the interview technique for the collection of primary data. However, the interview technique will be used for collection for data from the managers of the Dangote. The purpose of the application of interview technique in the proposed study is to get the deeper insight of the managers about the influence of CSR on the Dangote’s image. In this way, the researcher will able to analyze the influence of CSR on corporate image not only from customers’ perspective but also from the managers’ point of view. The researcher will select the structured interviews for the collection of data from the managers of the Dangote. The structured interviews will be easy to conduct and apply in the proposed study because it will not take much time and effort of the researcher. Moreover, the participants will also be at ease to provide the feedback on questions asked. The sample questions which would be asked from the management respondents will include:
How do they perceive corporate social responsibility for the organization? How the company has incorporated the economical, social and environmental
responsibility in its practices? How effective are the CSR efforts of the company?
Secondary Data Collection Tools The secondary data will be collected from the books, articles and company’s reports. The books will be used for studying the CSR perspectives. In addition, the researcher will also study the research articles and journals to investigate the aims and objectives of the research. In addition, the researcher will also use the reports of the company to investigate the CSR perspectives of the Dangote. In addition, the recent journal articles will also be investigated to evaluate the influence of the CSR perspectives of the Dangote on the corporate image. It is important to note that the researcher will prefer to
collect the secondary data from the recent journal articles and books to evaluate the research purpose and aims in the current scenario.
Sampling and Population For the collection of primary data, the researcher will target the two populations of the Dangote. One will be the customer population of the company and other will be the company’s managers. The target population of the proposed study will be very large. Therefore, the researcher will select the small segment of the entire population. In this stance, the researcher will select the 100 customers and 5 managers of the Dangote by applying convenience sampling technique. The use of convenience sampling will be preferred I the proposed study because it will be easy to implement. In short duration, the researcher will be able to select the sample of the proposed study. It is important to mention that some researchers argue that convenience sampling may generate biasness in the sample. In order to resolve the issue, the researcher will select a large sample to generate diversity and also to reduce the chances of biasness. The selected diverse sample will be appropriate to explore the influence of the CSR on the Dangote’s image.
Data Analysis Methods In the proposed study, the data will be analyzed through simple descriptive technique. The descriptive technique uses the percentage and frequency distribution for the analysis of data. In this regard, the researcher will only focus at the descriptive to evaluate the relationship between CSR activities of the Dangote and the corporate image. To apply the descriptive analysis techniques, the researcher will use the MS Excel. First of all, questionnaire data will be tabulated on the MS Excel and then analysis will be made through application of descriptive techniques. In addition, the researcher will also made discussions on the primary data findings through literature review. In this way, relationship between primary and secondary data findings will be established.
Research Ethics For the conduction of every research, it is highly important to observe ethical and moral principles. In order to conduct the proposed study, the researcher will follow the appropriate
ethical
considerations
in
diverse
perspectives.
Following
ethical
considerations will be selected in the proposed study:
Permission will be taken from the company’s officials before collection of data The customer participants will not be pressurized to take their response on the
questionnaire Fair interpretation of data will be conducted Fair analysis will be made on the primary data The sources of data will be clearly mentioned
Research Timeline Following timeline will be followed in the proposed study to evaluate the influence of the corporate social responsibility practices on the corporate image: Weeks Designing Research √ proposal Approval of Research Proposal
1st Week
2nd Week
3rd Week
4th Week
5th Week
6th Week
7th Week
√
Literature Review √ Designing questionnaire for survey and interview Collection of Primary data through survey and interview Analysis of Primary data Writing Research Report Meeting with supervisor Changes in first
√ √ √
√
√ √
√
√ √ √
√
8th Week
draft of research Second review by supervisor Final Preparation of Research
√ √
References 1. Bostock. (2005). Review of Doing research in the real world by David E. Gray. Nurse Researcher 12:90. 2. Bryman, A. and Bell, E. (2007). Business Research Methods, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. Barnett, M. L. (2007), Stakeholder influence capacity and the variability of financial returns to corporate social responsibility, Academy of Management Review, 32 (3), pp. 794-816. 4. Dangote Group, (2013).
Company’s
History.
Available
at:
http://www.dangote.com/aboutus/history.aspx [Assessed on: 20/07/2013] 5. David E. (2004). Doing research in the real world. London, UK: Sage Publications. 422p. 6. Denscombe and Martyn. (2007). The good research guide for small-scale social research projects. 3rd ed. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press 7. Ellen, P. S., Webb, D. J., & Mohr, L. A. (2006). Building Corporate Associations: Consumer Attributions for Corporate Socially Responsible Programs. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(2), 147‐157. 8. Fombrun, C. J. and van Riel, C. B. M. (1997), The reputational landscape, Corporate Reputation Review, 1 (1/2), pp. 5-13. 9. Garberg, N. A. and Fombrun, C. (2006), Corporate citizenship: Creating intangible assets across institutional environment, Academy of Management Review, 31, pp. 329-346. 10. Helm, S. (2007), The role of corporate reputation in determining investor satisfaction and loyalty, Corporate Reputation Review, 10 (1), pp. 22-37. 11. Hill,I. (2006), “How Finance Can Help Move CSR up the Agenda”, The Cost and Management, ISSN- 1817-5090 Vol 34, No. 6, November – December, PP 5 – 9. 12. Hussain B., and M. Hussain (2005), “Corporate Social Responsibility: Do Customers Get What They Expect?” Journal of Business Studies, Southeast University, ISSN- 1815- 3267 Vol 1 No. 1, July-December, pp 133 – 139. 13. Luo, X., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2006). Corporate social responsibility, customer satisfaction, and market value. Journal of Marketing, 70(4), 1–18. 14. M. Polonsky and C. Jevons, (2009) “Global Branding and Strategic CSR: An Overview of Three Types of Complexity,” International Marketing Review, 26/3 (November 2009): 327-347. 15. Rettab, B., Brik, A. B. and Mellahi, K. (2009), A study of management perceptions of the impact of corporate social responsibility on organizational performance in emerging economies: The case of Dubai, Journal of Business Ethics, 89, pp. 371-390. 16. Simmons, C. J., & Becker‐Olsen, K. L. (2006). Achieving Marketing Objectives Through Social Sponsorships. Journal of Marketing, 70(4), 154‐169.
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