Between Outcomes and Processes: Revisiting the Discourse on Corporate Social Responsibility Impacts

For so long the corporate social responsibility agenda has centrally focused on impacts and outcomes at the expense of CSR processes. This paper argues for a discourse and practice of CSR that brings into clearer focus CSR processes. The central aim is to understand how CSR processes inform, direct and shape CSR outcomes within a community development context. The study was carried out in Mhondoro-Ngezi, Zimbabwe which is in a rural setting. The study employed a triangulated design, with data collected using a mini survey, focus groups and in-depth interviews. The key findings are that the Zimbabwean mining giant, Zimplats, dominates and controls all CSR processes such as decision making, stakeholder engagement such that it limits the involvement of community members in CSR projects. This paper acknowledges the need for a radical approach in the analysis of CSR by diverting from an "outcomes oriented CSR agenda" to a "process led CSR agenda". The analysis of CSR processes in Mhondoro-Ngezi showed that, power is a decorated asset in which stakeholders use to control the CSR processes to achieve certain outcomes.