Bridging the governance gap with political CSR

This chapter provides evidence of a political Corporate social responsibility (CSR) where multinational corporations (MNCs) are complementing governments’ roles in bridging the governance gap. It discusses the governance gap thesis and political costs hypothesis provide grounding. The chapter describes the knowledge gap on political CSR and development-oriented CSR by reviewing pioneering works on the subject matter with evidence from selected corporations that have deployed their CSR investments for political developmental purposes. It looks at the theoretical foundation of political CSR. Political cost theory provides an explanation as to why corporations wilfully bear certain social costs in their quest for economic survival through social disclosures and other income-reducing accounting methods designed to protect managerial interests. In essence, political CSR represents a tool for helping the suffering citizens out from under the “bottom of the pyramid”. Furthermore, some studies provide justification for political CSR as a tool for tackling problems of poverty, unemployment, crime, conflict and infrastructural neglect in Nigeria and Tanzania.