Paper short abstract:

The paper investigates the corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the unique context of rural and community banks (RCB) in Ghana. We focus on how/ why RCBs practice CSR.

Paper long abstract:

The paper investigates the CSR in the unique context of rural and community banks (RCB) in Ghana. Although, RCBs are organisations that should naturally engage with CSR, other limitations and pressures from external environment exist. As such, this paper investigates CSR motivations and practices in a local, rural or and/or grassroots context, and examine how CSR might be shaped by the underlying social, political and cultural environment in interaction within organisations with unique corporate identity. The paper highlights how CSR is practised in RCBs as part of their organisational identity which is co-created with society. RCBs uses different identity orientations to address the salient stakeholders needs, still this process leads to inevitable conflicts. Overall, the study gives a fresh and deep understanding of the CSR phenomenon and how organisational identity is key to understand the motivations and CSR practices in developing countries.