Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
programmes on consumer buying behaviour (CBB) in the Telecommunication Industry in Zimbabwe.
The telecommunication industry in Zimbabwe refers to three service providers, namely, Econet,
Netone and Telecel. These service providers have a well recorded history of engaging in CSR
programmes, such as, cholera campaign initiatives, annual blood donation projects, building of
schools in both urban and rural areas, provision of textbooks in schools, development of ICT centres,
funding the education of gifted students and buying drugs and medical equipment for hospitals.
However, what remains unknown currently is the fact that very little is known about the association
between the consumers’ patronage of mobile telecommunication services, such as, brand name,
quality services, reference groups, promotions, bonuses, and products offered by Econet, Netone and
Telecel and CSR initiatives. This study was guided by a number of independent variables, such as,
economic CSR, legal CSR, Ethical CSR, and philanthropic CSR. The descriptive survey research
method was adopted for this study. To that end a sample size of one hundred and fifty network
subscribers of Econet, Netone and Telecel were selected for the study using the purposive sampling
technique. Thus, the data collected from the respondents were analysed using multiple regression
analysis. After testing the reliability and validity of the data, the five hypotheses were tested using
SEM (Structural Equation Modeling). It was found that all the four hypotheses were supported and
thereby acknowledged the significant influence of CSR related activities performed by
telecommunication companies on consumer buying behaviour. The regression results showed that
CSR programmes adopted by Netone, Econet and Telecel are highly associated with consumer buying
behaviour. CSR should be viewed as part of the code of ethics of any corporate organization also there
should be a national policy from government to set parameters for CSR in Zimbabwe. These findings
will help decision-makers to formulate their promotion activities in such a manner that it aligns with
the value system of the consumers and increase the overall consumer base. |
Keywords:
Corporate Social Responsibility, consumer buying behaviour, telecommunication
industry, Zimbabwe, regression analysis, mobile service providers. |
