The relationship between corporate social responsibility practices and competitive advantage in Universities in Kenya
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Date
2013Author
Mohamed, O Mohamed
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
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With growing social awareness of corporate social responsibility within the last
decades, companies face increasing pressures to address the objectives of various
stakeholders, beyond those of shareholders and legal requirements and to create
shared value. The increasing adoption of CSR activities is however constrained by the
limited resources and capabilities that firms possess. This raises the question of which
stakeholders and which CSR activities firms should prioritize when designing their
CSR strategy. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between
CSR practices and competitive advantage in Universities in Kenya. This was a
descriptive survey of public and private universities in Kenya. All the 39 universities
were targeted from which 25 took part in the survey. Primary data was collected using
questionnaires which were administered to those in charge of CSR in the universities.
Analysis was done using descriptive, correlation and OLS regression analysis. The
results were presented in tables and charts. The study found that the most significant
CSR initiatives were in environment, society and education. The study revealed that
the sources of competitive advantage for universities were brand name, strong
research agenda, courses offered, and management styles. The study found that there
was a positive and significant relationship between CSR initiatives in environment
and competitive advantage, p < 0.05. The results of the regression analysis also
showed that CSR initiatives among society members have a positive and significant
impact on their competitive advantages, p < .01. It was also found that CSR initiatives
in education had positive and slightly significant effects on the competitive advantage
of universities in Kenya, p < 0.1. The study concludes that universities in Kenya are
focusing more on educational and environmental issues as their corporate social
responsibility initiatives. The study further concludes that there is a positive and
significant effect of CSR initiatives in environment, education, and society on the
competitive advantage of universities in Kenya. The study recommends that
universities should focus on more CSR activities as evidence suggests that such
initiatives lead to better competitive advantage for such institutions. In this regard,
they should focus more on environment, education, and society initiatives.
Citation
A research project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of master of business administration degree, school of business, University of NairobiPublisher
Business Administration, University of Nairobi