Investigating the impact of responsible leadership on corporate social responsibility within a South African company : the case of Keypak

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a strategic concern that requires companies to accept their responsibility towards society. Within South Africa, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Codes of Good Practice provide a framework for the application of CSR, through the implementation of socio-economic development (SED) projects. The effective implementation of CSR is, however, influenced by the leaders within a company and responsible leadership (RL) has been identified as a new leadership orientation that could promote CSR through a stakeholder perspective. The problem investigated was whether a selected company, Keypak, applies a stakeholder’s perspective of RL in its implementation of CSR through SED-projects, with reference to Keypak itself and a specific community project they are involved in at the Getrudde Shoppe Early Childhood Development Centre (GSECDC) in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBMM). The concepts CSR, B-BBEE, SED and RL were firstly explored theoretically after which they were tested empirically within Keypak through the use of a mixed-method research design. A quantitative four-point Likert-scale was administered to a deliberate sample of twelve Keypak employees and eleven of them were interviewed through the use of a qualitative semi-structured interview guide. A qualitative semi-structured interview was also conducted with the Principal of the GSECDC. The results of the empirical investigation firstly show that a stakeholder perspective of RL has been adopted by the Keypak leaders in their implementation of SED-projects as an application of effective CSR. They portray a positive attitude towards B-BBEE in having aligned their CSR activities with the Codes of Good Practice, to bring about maximum impact through this framework. Their commitment towards CSR is also seen specifically in the consistent support that they provide to numerous community projects, in particular the GSECDC. The results further indicated that Keypak’s leaders do display the five characteristics of RL and the four ways to implement a stakeholder perspective of RL identified by Waldman and Galvin (2008:330, 335). The leaders are said to have strong values and lead-by-example as they focus on the needs of others (internal and external stakeholders) with the intent of getting involved in meeting those needs to improve society. Only a fairly small number of employees, however, are afforded an opportunity to participate in CSR activities and more could be done to empower and enable employees to be a part of Keypak’s positive impact on the lives of people. It is mostly believed that Keypak’s commitment to and implementation of CSR is influenced by its RL. In particular there is a strong sense that the Keypak leaders consider the needs of stakeholders in the implementation of their SED-projects. This stakeholder’s perspective of RL is believed to lead to the successful implementation of the SED-project at GSECDC and a positive impact on the Grade R learners and their parents. Some recommendations have been made at the end of the study on how the Keypak leaders could continue to pursue such a leadership approach in their implementation of CSR.