IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v25y2018i5p866-879.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Soccer fields? What for? Effectiveness of corporate social responsibility initiatives in the mining industry

Author

Listed:
  • Veronica Devenin
  • Constanza Bianchi

Abstract

While there is significant research regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in the mining industry, there is a lack of understanding in terms of the actual effectiveness of CSR initiatives disclosed by these companies. This paper aims to examine the perceptions of stakeholders in the mining industry regarding the intended results of CSR initiatives. Results show three ineffective situations that emerged from empirical contrasts of CSR initiatives declared by mining companies in sustainability reports and the actual impact on beneficiaries in communities: (1) failure of the CSR initiatives to contribute to real community beneficiary needs; (2) failure of the CSR initiatives to adjust to the socio‐cultural characteristics of the beneficiary group; and (3) failure of the CSR initiatives to ensure sustainability in the long run. This study contributes to the literature on CSR initiative effectiveness and provides suggestions for mining managers, government, and policymakers.

Suggested Citation

  • Veronica Devenin & Constanza Bianchi, 2018. "Soccer fields? What for? Effectiveness of corporate social responsibility initiatives in the mining industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5), pages 866-879, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:25:y:2018:i:5:p:866-879
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1503
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1503
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.1503?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kemp, Deanna & Owen, John R., 2013. "Community relations and mining: Core to business but not “core business”," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 523-531.
    2. Dima Jamali & Tamar Keshishian, 2009. "Uneasy Alliances: Lessons Learned from Partnerships Between Businesses and NGOs in the context of CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(2), pages 277-295, January.
    3. Lisa Calvano, 2008. "Multinational Corporations and Local Communities: A Critical Analysis of Conflict," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 82(4), pages 793-805, November.
    4. Mehdi Taghian & Clare D’Souza & Michael Polonsky, 2015. "A stakeholder approach to corporate social responsibility, reputation and business performance," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(2), pages 340-363, June.
    5. Anthony Bebbington & Leonith Hinojosa & Denise Humphreys Bebbington & Maria Luisa Burneo & Ximena Warnaars, 2008. "Contention and Ambiguity: Mining and the Possibilities of Development," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 5708, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    6. Kevin P. Kepore & Benedict Y. Imbun, 2011. "Mining and stakeholder engagement discourse in a Papua New Guinea mine," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 220-233, July.
    7. Deanna Kemp, 2010. "Community relations in the global mining industry: exploring the internal dimensions of externally orientated work," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 1-14, January.
    8. Viveros, Hector, 2017. "Unpacking stakeholder mechanisms to influence corporate social responsibility in the mining sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-12.
    9. Jody Emel & Madoshi H. Makene & Esther Wangari, 2012. "Problems with Reporting and Evaluating Mining Industry Community Development Projects: A Case Study from Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-21, February.
    10. S. Prakash Sethi & Terrence F. Martell & Mert Demir, 2017. "Enhancing the Role and Effectiveness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reports: The Missing Element of Content Verification and Integrity Assurance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 59-82, August.
    11. Anthea Wesley & Martin Brueckner & Christof Pforr & Diana MacCallum, 2013. "Corporate Social Responsibility: A Governable Space," CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance, in: John O. Okpara & Samuel O. Idowu (ed.), Corporate Social Responsibility, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 35-50, Springer.
    12. Esteves, A.M., 2008. "Mining and social development: Refocusing community investment using multi-criteria decision analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 39-47, March.
    13. Slack, Keith, 2012. "Mission impossible?: Adopting a CSR-based business model for extractive industries in developing countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 179-184.
    14. Hector Viveros, 2016. "Examining Stakeholders' Perceptions of Mining Impacts and Corporate Social Responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(1), pages 50-64, January.
    15. Campbell, Bonnie, 2012. "Corporate Social Responsibility and development in Africa: Redefining the roles and responsibilities of public and private actors in the mining sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 138-143.
    16. Maria Seitanidi & Andrew Crane, 2009. "Implementing CSR Through Partnerships: Understanding the Selection, Design and Institutionalisation of Nonprofit-Business Partnerships," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 413-429, April.
    17. Delyse Springett & Timothy W. Luke, 2013. "Corporate Social Responsibility: An Uneasy Merger of Sustainability and Development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 83-91, March.
    18. Andrew Ngawenja Mzembe, 2016. "Doing Stakeholder Engagement Their own Way: Experience from the Malawian Mining Industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(1), pages 1-14, January.
    19. Lafferty, Barbara A. & Goldsmith, Ronald E., 2005. "Cause-brand alliances: does the cause help the brand or does the brand help the cause?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 423-429, April.
    20. Thomas Dyllick & Kai Hockerts, 2002. "Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 130-141, March.
    21. Farrell, Leanne A. & Hamann, Ralph & Mackres, Eric, 2012. "A clash of cultures (and lawyers): Anglo Platinum and mine-affected communities in Limpopo Province, South Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 194-204.
    22. Spiggle, Susan, 1994. "Analysis and Interpretation of Qualitative Data in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(3), pages 491-503, December.
    23. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12666 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Glenn Banks & Regina Scheyvens & Sharon McLennan & Anthony Bebbington, 2016. "Conceptualising corporate community development," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 245-263, February.
    25. Gabriel Eweje & Nitha Palakshappa, 2009. "Business partnerships with nonprofits: working to solve mutual problems in New Zealand," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(6), pages 337-351, November.
    26. Matthew Murphy & Daniel Arenas & Joan Batista, 2015. "Value Creation in Cross-Sector Collaborations: The Roles of Experience and Alignment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 145-162, August.
    27. Andrew Ngawenja Mzembe & Julia Meaton, 2014. "Driving Corporate Social Responsibility in the Malawian Mining Industry: A Stakeholder Perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(4), pages 189-201, July.
    28. Guido Palazzo & Andreas Scherer, 2006. "Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation: A Communicative Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 66(1), pages 71-88, June.
    29. O’Connell, Lenahan L. & Stephens, Carroll U. & Betz, Michael & Shepard, Jon M. & Hendry, Jamie R., 2005. "An Organizational Field Approach to Corporate Rationality: The Role of Stakeholder Activism," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 93-111, January.
    30. Jose Ventura & Cesar Sandro Saenz, 2015. "Beyond corporate social responsibility. Towards a model for managing sustainable mining operations. Qualitative research based upon best practices," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(3), pages 605-621, August.
    31. Patten, Dennis M., 2002. "The relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: a research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 763-773, November.
    32. Alexander Dahlsrud, 2008. "How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, January.
    33. Shuili Du & Edward Vieira, 2012. "Striving for Legitimacy Through Corporate Social Responsibility: Insights from Oil Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(4), pages 413-427, November.
    34. S. Prakash Sethi & Terrence F. Martell & Mert Demir, 2017. "Erratum to: Enhancing the Role and Effectiveness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reports: The Missing Element of Content Verification and Integrity Assurance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 83-84, August.
    35. Heledd Jenkins, 2004. "Corporate social responsibility and the mining industry: conflicts and constructs," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 23-34, March.
    36. Dominic Stead, 2014. "The Rise of Territorial Governance in European Policy," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(7), pages 1368-1383, July.
    37. Mutti, Diana & Yakovleva, Natalia & Vazquez-Brust, Diego & Di Marco, Martín H., 2012. "Corporate social responsibility in the mining industry: Perspectives from stakeholder groups in Argentina," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 212-222.
    38. José M. Agudo‐Valiente & Concepción Garcés‐Ayerbe & Manuel Salvador‐Figueras, 2015. "Corporate Social Performance and Stakeholder Dialogue Management," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(1), pages 13-31, January.
    39. AvcI, Duygu & Adaman, Fikret & Özkaynak, Begüm, 2010. "Valuation languages in environmental conflicts: How stakeholders oppose or support gold mining at Mount Ida, Turkey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 228-238, December.
    40. Geert Demuijnck & Björn Fasterling, 2016. "The Social License to Operate," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(4), pages 675-685, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Devenin, Veronica & Bianchi, Constanza, 2019. "Characterizing a mining space: Analysis from case studies in Chile and Australia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Pouresmaieli, Mahdi & Ataei, Mohammad & Nouri Qarahasanlou, Ali & Barabadi, Abbas, 2024. "Corporate social responsibility in complex systems based on sustainable development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    3. Pablo Rodrigo & Ignacio J. Duran, 2021. "Why Does Context Really Matter? Understanding Companies’ Dialogue with Fringe Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-26, January.
    4. Paolo Esposito & Paolo Ricci, 2021. "Cultural organizations, digital Corporate Social Responsibility and stakeholder engagement in virtual museums: a multiple case study. How digitization is influencing the attitude toward CSR," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 953-964, March.
    5. Wilson, Sigismond A., 2022. "Measuring the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility initiatives in diamond mining areas of Sierra Leone," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Lesnikov, Phyllis & Kunz, Nadja C. & Harris, Leila M., 2023. "Gender and sustainability reporting – Critical analysis of gender approaches in mining," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Diletta Acuti & Marco Bellucci & Giacomo Manetti, 2024. "Preventive and Remedial Actions in Corporate Reporting Among “Addiction Industries”: Legitimacy, Effectiveness and Hypocrisy Perception," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(3), pages 603-623, January.
    8. Marc‐Antonin Hennebert & Isabelle Roberge‐Maltais & Urwana Coiquaud, 2023. "The effectiveness of international framework agreements as a tool for the protection of workers' rights: A metasynthesis," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 242-260, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Devenin, Verónica, 2021. "Collaborative community development in mining regions: The Calama Plus and Creo Antofagasta programs in Chile," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    2. Abdul–Wadood Moomen & Ashraf Dewan, 2017. "Probing the Perspectives of Stakeholder Engagement and Resistance Against Large‐Scale Surface Mining in Developing Countries," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(2), pages 85-95, March.
    3. Hector Viveros, 2016. "Examining Stakeholders' Perceptions of Mining Impacts and Corporate Social Responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(1), pages 50-64, January.
    4. Olivier Boiral & Iñaki Heras‐Saizarbitoria & Marie‐Christine Brotherton, 2023. "Sustainability management and social license to operate in the extractive industry: The cross‐cultural gap with Indigenous communities," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 125-137, February.
    5. Enrico Fontana, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility as Stakeholder Engagement: Firm–NGO Collaboration in Sweden," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 327-338, July.
    6. Lauwo, Sarah & Kyriacou, Orthodoxia & Julius Otusanya, Olatunde, 2020. "When sorry is not an option: CSR reporting and ‘face work’ in a stigmatised industry – A case study of Barrick (Acacia) gold mine in Tanzania," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Pouresmaieli, Mahdi & Ataei, Mohammad & Nouri Qarahasanlou, Ali & Barabadi, Abbas, 2024. "Corporate social responsibility in complex systems based on sustainable development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    8. Sharon McLennan & Glenn Banks, 2019. "Reversing the lens: Why corporate social responsibility is not community development," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 117-126, January.
    9. Wilson, Sigismond A., 2022. "Measuring the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility initiatives in diamond mining areas of Sierra Leone," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Frederiksen, Tomas, 2018. "Corporate social responsibility, risk and development in the mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 495-505.
    11. Laura Bini & Marco Bellucci & Francesco Giunta, 2016. "Put Your Money where Your Mouth is: The Difference between Real Commitment to Sustainability and Mere Rhetoric," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 5-31.
    12. Lin, Philip T. & Li, Bin & Bu, Danlu, 2015. "The relationship between corporate governance and community engagement: Evidence from the Australian mining companies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 28-39.
    13. van der Ploeg, Lidewij & Vanclay, Frank, 2018. "Challenges in implementing the corporate responsibility to respect human rights in the context of project-induced displacement and resettlement," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 210-222.
    14. Wang, Jian & Huang, Xu & Hu, Ke & Li, Xin, 2018. "Evaluation on community development programs in mining industry: A case study of small and medium enterprise in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 516-524.
    15. Angela R. Dobele & Kate Westberg & Marion Steel & Kris Flowers, 2014. "An Examination of Corporate Social Responsibility Implementation and Stakeholder Engagement: A Case Study in the Australian Mining Industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 145-159, March.
    16. Wirth, Herbert & Kulczycka, Joanna & Hausner, Jerzy & Koński, Maciej, 2016. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Communication about social and environmental disclosure by large and small copper mining companies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 53-60.
    17. Bezzola, Selina & Günther, Isabel & Brugger, Fritz & Lefoll, Erwin, 2022. "CSR and local conflicts in African mining communities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    18. Kowalska, Izabela Jonek, 2014. "Risk management in the hard coal mining industry: Social and environmental aspects of collieries’ liquidation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 124-134.
    19. Salla Laasonen & Martin Fougère & Arno Kourula, 2012. "Dominant Articulations in Academic Business and Society Discourse on NGO–Business Relations: A Critical Assessment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(4), pages 521-545, September.
    20. Lorenzo Dal Maso & Giovanni Liberatore & Francesco Mazzi, 2017. "Value Relevance of Stakeholder Engagement: The Influence of National Culture," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 44-56, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:25:y:2018:i:5:p:866-879. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.