Corporate Social Responsibility and Employer Attractiveness: Perspectives of Students on the African continent

Abstract

This paper explores the importance that potential employees attach to CSR practices of firms and how their perceptions of CSR may translate into their willingness to work for CSR practicing firms. The paper sought to investigate the effect of students’ CSR perception on their perception of the attractiveness of CSR practicing firms as prospective employers and also explore the possible moderating effects of student’s demographic characteristics on the relationship between their perception of CSR and the employer attractiveness of CSR practicing firms. The study employed correlations, multiple and hierarchical regression analyses to explore data collected from 603 students in the largest university in Ghana. Male respondents had attached significantly higher importance to firms’ engagement in CSR activities than their female counterparts while respondents from the African continent attached higher importance to firms’ engagement in CSR practices than respondents from other continents with the exception of Australia. Additionally, individual’s perception of firms engagement in CSR was found to be positively related to their perceived attraction to CSR practicing firms as prospective employers. Results of the study indicate that CSR can be employed to differentiate job offerings within the African context and as such, CSR can serve as an employer branding tool in Africa. This study represents one of the first attempts to explore the role of demographic characteristics in affecting individuals’ CSR perceptions as well as the role of CSR perceptions in affecting the attractiveness of prospective employers within the African context.