Corporate Social Responsibility: Challenges and Prospects of Implementation by Commercial Banks in Enugu Metropolis, Nigeria

DOI:10.21742/IJSWPM.2022.9.1.03

AUTHORS

Hyacinth Ikechukwu Okoye,Department of Business Education, Faculty of Vocational & Technical Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria

Anthonia Uju Uzuagu,Department of Business Education, Faculty of Vocational & Technical Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria

Friday Ekahe Abanyam,Department of Business Education, Faculty of Education, Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria

Francisca Nwamaka Ukwueze,Department of Business Education, Enugu State University of Science & Technology, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The expectations on banks to improve their mutual relationships with society in reconciling their huge profit with the need to give back to society has left the banks with serious challenges of implementing innovative measures to boost and retain the confidence of stakeholders, meet local and international expectations, and enjoy both comparative and competitive advantages. Consequently, this study was designed to explore the challenges commercial banks in the Enugu metropolis face in implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vis-à-vis the prospects. Four research questions and one hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. A questionnaire validated by three experts, subjected to test re-test reliability method and which overall Chronbach Alpha result yielded 0.72 co-efficient, was used to collect data. The population comprised 140 middle-level and operational commercial bank managers spread across the three locations of the metropolitan city. Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and ANOVA. The findings revealed that the banks were facing many challenges ranging from corruption to low reporting of their CSR based on Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) indicators, and were therefore not realizing the desired prospects of CSR. There was no significant difference in the mean ratings of bank managers from the three locations of Enugu city on the challenges and prospects of CSR. It was, therefore, recommended, among others, that more stringent and enforceable regulatory measures should be put in place by both the relevant government agencies and the banks to check corruption; the banks should re-strategize for global reporting of their CSR activities on incremental rate until they cover all the GRI performance indicators. In-house training and sensitization exercises should also be conducted for the bank executives and other levels of managers to arm them to appreciate and take CSR more seriously to reap from the identified prospects.