Using corporate social responsibility (CSR) to build brands : a case study of Vodafone Ghana Ltd
The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received much attention over several decades. This research aimed at investigating the impact of CSR on organisational brand value. This thesis conceptualises CSR using the stakeholder theory approach as a brand building tool to increase organisational brand value emphasising the strategic importance of CSR and its potential to create mutually beneficial outcomes for organisations and their stakeholders. This thesis proposes that firms can gain increased organisational brand value and enjoy superior performance by incorporating CSR as an integral component of their corporate brand building strategy. A new and empirically tested CSR-brand strength-organisational brand value conceptual framework was developed in this thesis. The data was analysed to identify the significant relationships amongst these three main variables using the structural equation model (SEM) PLS.The first round of data collected were qualitative and was subjected to content analysis. It comprised of responses from the general public, customers, academic and industry practitioners. The results pointed out that most respondents understood what CSR is about and were aware of Vodafone‘s CSR activities in Ghana. They also indicated that culture has an effect on organisational CSR practice and CSR practice is more proactive in the Western world. The purpose of the second round of data analysis was twofold: to perform confirmatory factor analysis for each of the 65 variable in the model; and to use the structural equation model to examine the hypothesised relationships between CSR, brand strength and organisational brand value. By using the discriminant validity correlation matrix table, a positive relationship between all the variables of brand strength and organisational brand value was established. However, no evidence was found to support the mediating effect of brand awareness, on organisational brand value when SEM was used. Importantly, of the seven variables of brand strength only brand awareness did not significantly contribute to organisational brand value. Moreover, brand knowledge was found to make the greatest contribution to organisational brand value. In summary, this thesis argues that the results support the proposition that CSR has a direct and positive impact on organisational brand value, therefore management of firms in the telecommunications industry in Ghana can use CSR to increase organisational brand value if they incorporate CSR activities appropriately into their brand building efforts. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the limitations of the study and provides recommendations for future research.
380 Commerce, communications & transportation, 650 Management & auxiliary services
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