Investigating the barriers facing corporate social responsibility in the built environment: Ghana’s perspective from a qualitative approach
ISSN: 0263-7472
Article publication date: 11 January 2024
Issue publication date: 22 July 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Several organisations dedicate a portion of their budget and business websites to corporate social responsibility (CSR) events. This illustrates the significance attached to CSR events. In Ghana, a social disconnection may exist between the community and the construction sector. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the benefits of CSR in the construction industry, the implementation challenges and measures to enhance CSR in the Ghanaian built environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative technique was adopted using an extensive review of literature supported by structured interviews and analysed by context analysis. The participants include ministry and municipal directors, contractor associations, unions and institutions of engineers. The study achieved saturation.
Findings
Findings reveal that the construction industry’s CSR impacts the community’s social behaviour and has economic and environmental significance. The absence of government implementation policy and finance constraints were identified as Ghana’s major CSR implementation challenges. Also, besides the government instituting a mandatory policy on CSR in the industry, findings suggest that stakeholders, especially players in the industry and policymakers, should form an integral part of the CSR decisions.
Practical implications
Findings will support and recommend holistic measures to mitigate CSR implementation hindrances and encourage CSR via a central government's mandatory policy in the Ghanaian built environment.
Originality/value
Besides most studies used questionnaires, the contribution deduced shows that construction companies' management could use the knowledge from this study and involve all the relevant stakeholders when undertaking CSR activities. Also, the study would fill the scarcity of relevant materials concerning CSR in Ghanaian construction sector.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the participants for providing knowledgeable contributions to enhance the findings of this paper. Also, the authors appreciate the comments, suggestions, and recommendations provided by the anonymous reviewers, which hone and strengthen the quality of this manuscript during the blind peer-review process. The following author affiliations were omitted: Prof Wellington Didibhuku Thwala is at the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology, Walter Sisulu University, South Africa.
Funding: Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment and CIDB Centre of Excellence (05-35-061890), University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Citation
Aigbavboa, C., Ebekozien, A., Afetorgbor, E.K., Arthur-Aidoo, B.M. and Thwala, W.D. (2024), "Investigating the barriers facing corporate social responsibility in the built environment: Ghana’s perspective from a qualitative approach", Property Management, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 493-506. https://doi.org/10.1108/PM-07-2023-0060
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited