Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Ghanaian Gold Mining Industry: Does Leadership Matter?

ABSTRACT

This study examined the leadership styles of the CSR managers of selected multinational gold mining companies and their CSR activities in Ghana. Thirty-five respondents were interviewed and purposively selected from GoldFields Ghana Ltd, AngloGold Ashanti, Chirano Gold Mine and Golden Star Resources Ltd. The study showed that leadership is very essential for the effective implementation of CSR initiatives. The study identified transformational leadership style as the most appropriate in the context of the mining industry as it enhanced the development of the CSR concept and helped to mitigate the impact of mining activities on the communities. The study showed that transactional leadership style contributed potentially to CSR initiatives, however, it was not as effective and efficient as transformational leadership style which was the dominant leadership style employed by CSR managers. The study also revealed that there has been high awareness of CSR among the managers in the Ghanaian gold mining industry. The awareness and conceptualization of CSR in the gold mining industry was however skewed towards issues of acquisition and retention of social licence, community development and community engagement. Again, the study revealed that the mining companies sought win-win CSR outcomes in their relationship with the mining communities by largely employing transformational leadership style. Additionally, the study identified that most mining companies have established leadership structures and CSR funding formulae which promoted CSR initiatives, ensured trust, respect, accountability, transparency and democratic interaction between the companies and stakeholders. While the CSR policies were formulated by the company boards, the contents of the policies were fed by the CSR managers and the mining communities through research. The study further showed that though there were many motivating or promotional factors for carrying out CSR in the mining industry, there were also hindering factors. The promoting factors include regulatory bodies and their legal requirements, security and social legitimacy, geographical locations and cultural values, mitigation, shared value propositions, legacy and De facto governance. The hindering factors however include speculative activities, ‘galamsey’ and ‘politics of the mine’, illiteracy and laziness, bureaucracy, perceptions of mistrust. More so, the study showed that CSR initiatives of most gold mining companies were underpinned by the legitimacy theory, social exchange theory and social contract theory. The study recommends that the HR departments of mining companies train CSR managers and officers in the practice of transformational leadership and, in the the practice of legitimacy, social contract and social exchange theories to help the companies optimise their CSR activities. Again, the study proposes that the government partner with mining companies with specific developmental ninitiatives for the mining communities. The findings make significant addition to existing knowledge on the dynamics of leadership on CSR practice in mining firms in Ghana and Africa.