Influence of the Community's Values and Perceived Needs on Organizations' Social Responsibility Image in San Jose, Costa Rica

Literature on the community's perceptions influencing the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs' image has been scarce. The aim of the study was to determine how the community's values and needs influence the environmental, social, and financial-based CSR program's image of large Costa Rican banking institutions. A mixed method approach was implemented to study the influence of the community's perceptions on the social responsibility (SR) image of organizations' CSR programs in San Jose, Costa Rica. In the qualitative phase, convenience sampling approach was used to interview 25 (13 male and 12 female) university students. In the quantitative phase, 100 (38 male and 62 female) UCR student participants were asked to answer a series of short questionnaires. Results showed that community values in Costa Rica did not influence the SR image. However, results indicated that perceived community needs had a positive relation with the SR image of CSR programs. Students perceived CSR programs to be beneficial and helpful towards the growth of the community. In addition, participants believed Costa Rican organizations lacked the ability to effectively communicate with its community about their CSR programs. Furthermore, respondents indicated greater support toward organizations with a long-term commitment to the CSR program in comparison to short-term CSR programs. This study contributes to Du et al.'s call for research and supports the legitimacy, congruence, and stakeholder theories.