Corporate social responsibility reporting in the telecommunications sector in Ghana

Many corporations today have come to the realization that there are enormous benefits to be derived from being socially responsible in the societies they operate. Today, the argument is no longer about being a good corporate citizen on the part of businesses but the ability of businesses to communicate their social contributions to stakeholders. A number of mediums can be employed by businesses to report on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to stakeholders: including annual reports; community reports; press releases among others. This study looked at CSR reporting in the telecommunications sector in Ghana, using websites as a disclosure medium. Drawing inspirations from prior studies, this study looked at corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR) in five thematic perspectives: environment; human resource; product and customer; community and ethical aspects. Findings from this study indicate that the telecommunications companies in Ghana poorly articulate their CSR issues online. The community involvement category received much attention in their reportage, which supports earlier studies that most organizations are committed to corporate philanthropy. The findings also show that two telecommunications companies have dedicated department solely for CSR (MTN Ghana and Vodafone Ghana), known as CSR Foundation with separate vision statement, mission statement; objectives; aims as well as independent board different from the mother entities. The study makes relevant contribution in the area of CSRR in the context of Ghana, judging from the fact that the concepts CSR and CSRR are relatively new and also adds literature to a fairly growing area of CSR communications via websites which are fast becoming a medium of corporate communication for corporations in Ghana and beyond.