Building Legitimacy for CSR in Banking through Marketing Communications: Enlightenment from Sub-Saharan Africa: An Abstract

Abstract

Interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the role of marketing in developing CSR strategies grows apace but further work in other contexts is needed. Societies and cultures have developed market systems that tend to reflect their institutions, ethics and social relations, so there will be differences in how firms pursue their social responsibilities Firm activities are often developed with the aim of gaining a degree of legitimacy for their business with their stakeholders with marketing communications frequently used in support. Legitimacy theory therefore provides a robust theoretical lens for this study. Legitimacy theory is concerned with the social acceptance of actions so that if the actions of a firm are desirable, proper or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, then it is acting legitimately (Suchman 1995). Gaining of legitimacy is highly valued but problematic, so managers seek to legitimate the firm through practices such as communications directed at co-creating norms with particular actors (Basu and Palazzo 2008). Firms can achieve this through corporate social reporting, which aims to enhance the firm’s reputation through the creation of a positive image (Hooghiemstra 2000). Marketing communications absorbs these reports into a coherent strategy dedicated to engaging its stakeholders with CSR practices (Jahdi and Acikdilli 2009). This study aims to uncover how firms in sub-Saharan Africa build legitimacy with stakeholders through their marketing communications strategies. Ghanaian banks play a key role in the economy by contributing to economic and social welfare, improvement of living standards and creating employment thus have an interest in achieving legitimacy for their CSR practices. Data gathered from interviews with senior managers revealed two dominant communications approaches for building CSR legitimacy. The first strategy of ‘giving back’ recognised that firms were set-up to make profit but also dependent on their relationships with society (Waddock et al. 2002). The second approach of ‘licence to operate’, revealed that CSR strategies were motivated by a desire to gain stakeholder acceptance (Bowen 2017). The study contributes to CSR theory by investigating practices in sub-Saharan Africa and notes that CSR is shifting from an ad hoc, non-strategic set of activities to a more coherent and structured approach. It provides evidence of firms building legitimacy through communications with their stakeholders centred around two approaches: ‘giving back’, i.e., meeting community expectations based on cultural and societal needs; and through building their image, legitimacy may be achieved through obtaining a ‘licence to operate’.