Article Preview
Top1. Introduction
The fast-paced advancement of the contemporary world engenders the development of many issues with economic, political and social consequences on both national and international levels. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of these developing issues, and it is swiftly gaining grounds because of its enrichment of societies globally (Zulfiqar, Sadaf, Popp, Vveinhardt, and Máté, (2019). Despite being a trendy phrase to describe organizational activities aimed at stakeholder interest, there has not been a general agreement about what CSR means among scholars (Adeyanju, 2012, Wettstein, 2012). Some of the terms used to describe CSR are corporate citizenship, corporate accountability, corporate conscience, corporate governance and public policy (Dartey-Baah & Amponsah-Tawiah, 2011). John (2015) and Uchehara, (2019) attributes this to the highly contextual business and social environments in which organizations operate. Nonetheless, this study highlights some noteworthy definitions of CSR. The European Union (EU) in trying to establish a framework in which companies can adopt CSR defines it as companies' voluntary integration of stakeholders' social and ecological concerns into their business activities which requires organizations to invest in human capital and the environment beyond legal obligations. Similarly, the Australian Treasury defines CSR as a company's management of the economic, social and environmental impacts of its activities in a submission to the Joint Parliamentary Inquiry on CSR (Broomhill, 2007). These definitions are in line with Carroll's (1991) theoretical framework on CSR where she listed four dimensions of social responsibility in order of priority: Economic responsibility which highlights the organization's ability to make a profit; Legal responsibility which requires management to obey government laws; Ethical responsibility which stipulates how the organizations embrace the values in a society, and Discretionary responsibility which constitutes the purely voluntary obligations a company assumes. Nevertheless, even with the seemingly noble goals of CSR, some scholars argue against it. Saleem et al. (2016) opine that CSR leads to a reduction of shareholders' profit, which according to Sternberg (2009) amounts to depriving shareholders of their rights because it 'subverts private property by denying that owners have any right to how their properties will be used'. These scholars believe that an organization naturally advances the society through the provision of products or services at a reasonable price. Therefore, it is unnecessary and unwise for organizations to go beyond this generic contract. On the other hand, scholars like Baker (2009) consider CSR to be a process by which organizations manage their relationships with stakeholders who have a real influence on their license to operate. In the research carried out by Amaeshi et al. (2006) to understand the practice of CSR in Nigeria, most of the CEOs they interviewed consider CSR to be a philanthropic activity whereby companies give back to their host communities as a way of saying thank you. In this regard, CSR is adopted by organizations for different reasons ranging from human capital development to environmental protection as hinted by EU's and the Australian Treasury's definitions and from relationship management to a show of gratitude as Baker (2009) and Amaeshi et al. (2006) indicate. However, it goes beyond these. For instance, in Nigeria, multinational oil companies engage in CSR to protect their businesses against hostility from aggrieved host communities (Abiodun, 2012), and the banking industry use it as a marketing strategy to enhance performance (Adegbola, 2014). However, the rapidly changing landscape of different industries due mainly to technological advancement—and recently, the Covid-19 pandemic— demands organizations to go beyond these traditional strategies and engage in other strategic activities such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to gain competitive advantage. With the evident acknowledgement that having a competitive advantage is a significant concern to organizations and that CSR influences organizational performance, this study examines the extent to which CSR is an organizational tool for competitive advantage. The study looks at the practice of CSR in both developed and developing economies with great emphasis on Nigeria where CSR has been gaining attention since the Niger Delta crisis which involved multinational oil companies (Nkisan et al, 2015). Consequently, the following questions are asked: