Motivating factors beyond legal obligation: the practice of corporate social responsibility in the transport sector in Uganda

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a business practice that benefits society. The modern CSR is premised on Carroll's pyramid of CSR developed in 1996. CSR implementation presents fears and challenges to companies, especially in developing economies. While many countries have legalized CSR practices globally, Uganda has not legalized CSR practices. Being a relatively unfamiliar concept in Uganda, this paper was intended to examine the factors that motivate companies to embrace CSR practices despite having no legal obligation to fulfill. The results show that the primary CSR approach employed by the companies has been community support pointing to philanthropy, and the main motives included providing benefits to the community and attracting more customers. Although stakeholder theory had been widely adopted to support CSR practices, the philanthropic approach employed without any compelling laws links to the theory of planned behaviour. This finding implies that CSR is ever evolving; the CSR position in developed economies is not comparable to developing economies; philanthropy is seen as the primary approach, and Stakeholder theory widely considered for CSR is relative and not universal.