Corporate Social Responsibility in Kenya: Blessing, Curse or Necessary Evil?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a fuzzy concept, but is critical in many contextscontexts and situations. In KenyaKenya , CSR is viewed by organizations as a necessary but voluntaryvoluntary commitment. More succinctly, a long-term Curse long-term engagement commitment to sustainable outcomes motivates organizations to consider social, economiceconomic , legal and environmentalenvironmental rights. Despite the nobility of CSR, organizations and wider society variously consider it either a blessing, a curse or a ‘necessary evil’. In challenging and turbulent times, these perspectives become even more significant, since while the pursuit of CSR is considered critical for sustainability, competing needs make it unlikely to be considered a priority. In a Kenyan contextcontext , we have deliberately dubbed such an era as the ‘adolescence age’, which relates to a relatively early and fragile period in a country’s history. Accordingly, Kenyan organizations are undergoing difficult times, and the resources necessary for CSR are diminished or non-existent. Stakeholder Blessing Stakeholder expectations are not commensurate with reality, and societal expectations are rising. In the chapter, we start by considering CSR and its enduring benefitsbenefits in a Kenyan context. We then examine the social, economic, legal, environmental and politicalpolitical challengeschallenges currently faced by corporate organizations who are seeking to pursue CSR in Kenya. Next, we examine the strategies being used by Governments, International Organizations and NGOs to lessen the burden of these challenges. Finally, we discuss how SMEs are attempting to deal with these challenges, and we present some conclusions and implications for theory and research.