Unintentional social consequences of disorganised marketing of corporate social responsibility: Figurational insights into the oil and gas sector in Africa

Abstract

Since the 1980s, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes have gained in prominence around the world. The international implementation of neoliberalism has ironically contributed to greater expectations that transnational corporations (TNCs) have responsibilities which go beyond economic and legal spheres to include social and environmental impacts. TNCs have often adapted to these changing expectations by reporting on their related CSR approaches as a form of marketing. Considerable resources have been made available with approaches packaged within public relations campaigns. However, the TNCs have often been ill-equipped to address many of the issues they face and are contributing to community resentment. Applying insights from figurational sociology to examples from oil and gas companies, in this chapter it is argued that the poor organisation of CSR approaches generally, and marketing in particular, is contributing to unintended consequences. In particular, TNCs are raising expectations about what they will provide and achieve without possessing the necessary knowledge, commitment, expertise and strategic direction. The consequence has been that corporate attempts to do good are actually contributing to bad PR and rising levels of local anger.