Effective Service Delivery on Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives Within Financial Institutions

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that has taken a new craze in recent times. Many organizations are spending countless amounts of money towards various CSR activities including having media visibility for the same efforts. Even though CSR has largely been embraced by organizations worldwide and dubbed a way of such organizations „giving back to the community‟, such activities have also been a subject of much scrutiny especially by those who feel that such efforts does not go deep enough to address societal issues they are meant to address. This research project was centered around three key objectives; to investigate the impact media coverage on CSR, to examine how participants of Equity Bank „Wings to Fly‟ program have benefitted and to assess whether financial institutions should adopt CSR initiatives. To this end, the target population was education stakeholders such as parents, students, head teachers of secondary schools, alumni of the programme and managers of Equity Bank. A sample size of 300 respondents was deemed to be big enough to get the required data to achieve the objectives of the study. Purposive sampling method was used to pick this sample. This was because this sampling technique ensures that the researcher only includes in the sample those he fills are in a position to give required information. Given that the data to be collected was hugely qualitative, questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. These two tools gave the researchers wider depth of seeking clarification where necessary and therefore best for this kind of research. The data collected was analysed by use of various statistical techniques such as calculation of means, variances, percentages and proportions. The statistical software SPSS was employed to give these values. The key findings of the research were that there is need for the bank to widen its reach by extending its visibility on the various social media platforms. However, the use of traditional media has been effective in reaching wider audience. However, the adoption of CSR activities by institutions keen on reaping financial benefits such as increased market share should be taken with care. This is because despite wider knowledge about the population on the „Wings to Fly‟ scheme, it was found that there was negligible uptake of Equity Banks products by the respondents. Therefore, CSR initiatives should be coupled by increased service to the consumers. This research contains various eye opening points which tends to go against widely held beliefs and therefore adds an important segment to the knowledge in this area. It is hoped that this will increase the understanding of CSR as an activity.