Social responsibility in micro businesses in an African context: Towards a theoretical understanding

Abstract

Society demands that businesses, including micro, small and medium enterprises, act responsibly towards their stakeholders and operating environments. Size and nationality contexts determine how businesses understand and approach their social responsibilities. Specific to size, evidence from the academic literature shows that small businesses understand the idea of social responsibility (SR) differently from large businesses. Small businesses may engage in SR without knowing it or without referring to their actions as SR (Hsu & Cheng, 2012). In other words, they may act responsibly towards their stakeholders and/or operating environments without labelling

Saving the world through private‐sector efficiency and local empowerment? Discursive legitimacy construction for social entrepreneurship in the Global South

“…While inter‐country differences should not be neglected or downplayed, studies for example root (social) entrepreneurs' motivation in reciprocal community responsibility based on “the indigenous value system of Ubuntu, iv which is prevalent in South Africa and neighbouring countries” (Abubakre et al, 2021, p. 839). In a small business context, the motivation to ‘give back’ to the community and/or society has also been found to be a driving force for social responsibility activities in Nigeria (Uba et al, 2022). In Latin America, collectivistic thinking drives social enterprise development (Bewayo & Portes, 2016; Kerlin, 2010); in Southeast and South Asian countries, solidarity plays a major role in peer‐based and collective strategies for achieving impact (Zhao, 2021).…”