R E S E A R CH AR T I C L E The state of corporate social responsibility research in Ghana: A synthesis of literature Obi Berko Obeng Damoah1 | Augustine Awuah Peprah2 | Georgina Maku Cobla1 1University of Ghana Business School, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana 2Department of Business Administration, University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana Correspondence Augustine Awuah Peprah, Department of Business Administration, University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana. Email: augustine.peprah@upsamail.edu.gh Abstract There are recent calls to pay attention to the institutional requirement or the config- urations of the national business system because it eventually results in the different manifestation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in different contexts. This has led to several contestations against the suitability of transferring developed countries' CSR frameworks and ideas to developing countries. Yet literature reviews about CSR in developing countries and in Africa, in particular, are limited. This paper, therefore, contributes to this gap by systematically reviewing and synthesizing 113 CSR's stud- ies from Ghana between 2006 and 2018. Altogether, this paper structures CSR research in Ghana into salient themes to provide the current state of knowledge and help scholars scope the field and explore value‐adding avenues to further our understanding about CSR research in developing countries. Based on the findings, implication on theory, public policy, and practice are suggested. KEYWORDS corporate social responsibility, developing countries, Ghana, literature review 1 | INTRODUCTION The increasing attention of corporate social responsibility (CSR) among scholars and practitioners (Greenfield, 2004; Maignan & Ralston, 2002; McWilliams, Siegel, & Wright, 2006; Pearce & Doh, 2005) seems to have reflected in the managerial and theoretical debates that contend that “not only is doing good the right thing to do, but it also leads to doing better” (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2004, p. 9; Kotler & Lee, 2005). Consequently, CSR has developed from being a philosophy to reality and has been considered as a critical factor when defining an organization's roles in society and how they apply and comply with social and ethical standards in their business opera- tions (Lichtenstein, Drumwright, & Braig, 2004). The literature on CSR is primarily growing and becoming more complex and multiface- ted (Jamali & Karam, 2018). Various research on CSR scholarship including reviews has been done over the last decade. Some of these reviews are general reviews (e.g., Aguinis & Glavas, 2012) whereas others are narrower reviews of dedicated areas (see Carroll & Shabana, 2010; Frynas & Stephens, 2015). Although these scholars have contributed significantly to the mapping of “what we know and don't know about CSR” (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012, p. 932), majority of these studies have focused on CSR in developed economies. Hence, more studies on CSR are warranted to analyze how CSR manifests itself in economies outside the developed core (Egri & Ralston, 2008; Kolk & Lenfant, 2010; Kolk & Van Tulder, 2010). Specifically, the question of how CSR works in the context of developing econo- mies needs to be understood. In recent years, the need to explore the context requirement of CSR has been emphasized by the recent calls to pay attention to the institutional requirement or the configurations of the national business system of developing economies, which may eventually result in the different manifestation of CSR (Jamali & Neville, 2011; Okoye, 2012). For example, authors (Jamali & Neville, 2011; Visser, 2008) observed that the distinctive components of CSR in developing coun- tries are commonly considered as less formalized and more philan- thropic in nature. Further, strengthening the need to focus on CSR research in developing countries are the several contestations against the suitability of transferring developed countries' CSR frameworks Received: 30 January 2019 Revised: 31 March 2019 Accepted: 31 March 2019 DOI: 10.1002/bsd2.63 Bus Strat Dev. 2019;1–12. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environmentwileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/bsd2 1 and ideas to developing countries (Blowfield & Frynas, 2005; Idemudia, 2011; Luetkenhorst, 2004; Moon & Shen, 2010). This is evi- dent in the north–south divide in CSR practices (Gugler & Shi, 2009), hence emphasizing the necessity to understand and appreciate the content and objectives of CSR in context appropriately (Okoye, 2012; Prieto‐Carrón, Lund‐Thomsen, Chan, Muro, & Bhushan, 2006). Despite this increasing attention of CSR in developing countries, there are limited studies reviewing the state of knowledge (see Jamali & Karam, 2018). CSR is currently a growing issue in Africa, evidence of this include, but not limited to the massive support of the CSR initia- tive from the African Peer Review Mechanism (Corrigan, 2014). Con- ceptualizing the concept of CSR in Africa, authors contend that the concept is of Western orientation (Visser & Tolhurst, 2010) and is more tuned to the North (Western societies) than the South (Blowfield, 2005; Fox, 2004; Frynas, 2005; Utting & Abrahams, 2003). According to Newell (2005), CSR conditions described in main- stream CSR are nonexistent in developing countries. Hence, the impact of CSR in developing countries is often overlooked in support of Western‐driven goals (Margolis & Walsh, 2003). This led to the for- mation of the south‐centered agenda with a focus on determining the potentials of CSR and the limiting factors that affect the practice in the global South (Lund‐Thomsen, 2005). Although ongoing discussions have commended the south‐centered CSR to be instrumental to CSR maturity on the continent of Africa, authors argue that the concept is yet to reach its full potential because of the haphazard focus of anal- ysis, which creates a lack of emphasis on the relationship between CSR and its outcomes (context, development, and practices) in the prevailing literature (Idemudia, 2011). Consequently, there is a strong call for the inclusion of southern perspective into the concept of CSR to stipulate how the concept can contribute to sustainable devel- opment in Africa. To contribute to this gap, this paper seeks to zoom into a specific developing country context (in this case Ghana) to understand the state of knowledge about CSR. This, therefore, war- rants the present review to consolidate what has been done so far in Ghana to contribute to CSR development in Africa in as a whole. Besides, no systematic literature review on CSR has been conducted so far in Ghana. Hence, this systematic review focuses on publications discussing CSR in Ghana from 2006 to 2018 and presents the state of knowledge in the field. Specifically, the motivation of this paper is to situate the findings in the context prior synthesis of global CSR's literature, which contains limited literature in Africa, especially sub‐Saharan Africa (see Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Lee, 2008; Malik, 2015). To address the issue, three basic questions inform our study. That is, from the Ghanaian context, which topics are over or under‐researched? Which methods drive existing studies in Ghana? Which sectors have received the most of CSR research attention? Our paper makes three significant contributions. First, we develop a comprehensive review of the specific body of literature on CSR in the context of Ghana and for that matter a developing country and situate our analysis within the broader CSR and man- agement literature. Second, based on this review, we identify key themes and insights about what has been done in Ghana to date in terms of themes, methods, key findings, and sectors to provide an avenue for scholars to reflect on questions that appear critical yet have not received research attention to enhance public policy, education, and practice. Third, in the final section, we consolidate the main themes, identify lingering gaps, and provide relevant guid- ance for future research. To address the research questions behind the study, the rest of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 deals with method, whereas Sections 3 and 4 deal with the findings and discussions, respectively. Sections 5 deals with the implications of the study. 2 | METHODOLOGY This systematic review focuses on publications discussing CSR in Ghana from 2006 to 2018 and presents the state of knowledge in the field. All the studies included in this paper were assembled as fol- lows: First, we started our article search using a combination of major online databases: Business Source Complete (EBSCO), ABI/INFORM, Scopus, Web of Science, JSTOR, and Google Scholar databases. We chose these databases for their comprehensive coverage and indexing of important business, management, and economics journals. Second, relying on key words and article titles, we made search strings to find articles. We identified relevant articles using key terms such as “corporate social responsibility in developing countries,” “CSR in developing countries,” “corporate social responsibility in Ghana,” “CSR in Ghana,” “corporate social responsibility in Africa,” and “CSR in Africa.” As a result of the fact that formal search techniques keying the index terms or key words in electronic databases may overlook relevant studies, we also relied on the snowball search technique (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005) by searching the bibliographies of our studies for additional work of relevance. Also, because the paper focuses on Ghana, databases of universities were searched for specific relate papers. Overall, the search procedure produced a total of 147 papers, but a total of 113 papers published between 2006 and 2018 (marked with asterisks (*) in the reference list) were eligible for inclusion in this review (see Figure 1 for the distribution of the number of papers pub- lished per year). These papers had to meet the following criteria: (a) the paper must directly analyze the issue of CSR in the context of Ghana, b) the study must be in English, c) the study must show the method used, d) must report data analysis and findings and e) the paper must mention the sector used. Finally, following literature (see Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Lunenberg et al., 2008), we content analyzed each study for key findings, methods, and sectors. In terms of the nature of variables, basing on Aguinis and Glavas (2012), the study adopted typology consisting of four key variables, namely, moderators, predictor (determinants and antecedents), mediators, and outcomes. Finally, following Aguinis and Glavas (2012) and Lunenberg et al. (2008), we content analyzed each study for key findings, methods, and sectors. The results were organized using frequency tables and charts to establish the scope and the direction of CSR's work on Ghana within the selected time horizon. 2 DAMOAH ET AL. 3 | RESULTS This subsection presents the findings of our systematic literature review as they emerged. First, we present and discuss the main thematic issues explored in the CSR literature in Ghana. Second, we discuss the sectors CSR researchers in Ghana have focused on. Third, we highlight the methodological approach adopted for CSR research in Ghana. Fourth, we show the level of CSR authors' collaboration and their affiliated institutions, and finally, we zoom in to examine the level of analysis employed in CSR research in Ghana. 3.1 | Issues and areas explored Different from the principal preoccupation with concerns of con- sumers, employees, shareholders, and managers in the main domain of CSR literature in developed countries (Jamali & Karam, 2018), our analysis shows that CSR research in Ghana has focused on a broader range of stakeholders and issues. These issues include challenges of CSR, CSR and waste management, CSR activities, practices and imple- mentation, CSR and community development, CSR and performance, CSR and perspective of stakeholders, CSR and communication, CSR and compliance with the law and policy regulations, CSR awareness, CSR and women empowerment, CSR and financial resource availabil- ity, and CSR and labor practices. Figure 2 gives a detailed presentation of these issues and areas of CSR research in Ghana. In entirety, our analysis of the 113 CSR papers centered on 14 broad issues. Articles that could not be aligned to any of the issues were flagged as “other issues.” In all, CSR research in Ghana revolved around the issue of CSR activities, practices, and implementation (as it constituted 20.4% of the sample). Issues such as CSR and community development (10.6%), CSR and performance (11.5%), and CSR and perspective of stakeholders (10.6%) moderately dominate CSR research. One inter- esting finding of our study is that although there is a sustained research attention on human capital development in developing coun- tries, research on issues such as CSR and women empowerment (0.9%), CSR and financial resource availability (0.9%), and CSR and labor practices (0.9) have marginally been examined in Ghana. These issues and areas of focus in Ghana are pertinent and more locally dis- tinguished and contextualized than the main research focus emerging from the mainstream CSR literature (e.g., wealth maximization and agency problems, firm reputation, financial performance, firm capabil- ities, operational efficiencies, and market outcomes; Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Revelli & Viviani, 2015). 3.2 | Sectors of CSR researches The analysis of the reviewed papers indicate that CSR research in Ghana has been conducted in nine main sectors. These sectors include FIGURE 1 Number of publications per year FIGURE 2 Issues explored DAMOAH ET AL. 3 banking, mining, telecommunication, forestry, oil industry, tourism, hos- pitality, and construction sectors. Among these sectors, the mining and banking sectors have witnessed significant CSR research (correspond- ingly make up 31.9% and 15% of the papers reviewed, respectively). Again, the review shows that majority of papers analyzed examined CSR in Ghana in multiple sectors (this accounted for 33.6% of the total papers). Additionally, telecommunication sector, forestry sector, and the oil industry constituted approximately 13.3%, 1.8%, and 1.8%, respectively, and tourism, hospitality, and construction sectors consti- tuted 0.9% each of the studies examined. Figure 3 below gives a graph- ical presentation of the sectors CSR research has focused on Ghana. 3.3 | Methodological approaches Our analysis of the methodological approaches used in CSR studies in Ghana shows that various methods have been adopted to explore the issues of CSR in Ghana. Interestingly, methodologies applied in CSR research in Ghana are consistent with the results of prior reviews (see Aguinis & Glavas, 2012), which indicates that qualitative method- ologies are less often employed. Our analysis shows that majority of the papers adopted quantitative methodology such as correlation analysis, factor and exploratory analysis, analysis of variance, and regression analysis. Case study and content analysis techniques were some of the few qualitative methodologies used in CSR research in Ghana. Details of these methodologies and their proportions are pre- sented in Table 1. 3.4 | Nature of author collaboration The nature of collaboration that exists among authors of the reviewed studies is summarized in Table 2. It is revealed that single‐person authorship accounted for 33.6% of the papers understudied. Two and three‐person authorship constitutes 33.6% and 17.7%, respec- tively. Whereas four and five‐person authorship together make up 6.2% of the sampled studies, six and seven‐person authorship orderly pool 1.7% and 0.8% of the papers considered for this study. In conclu- sion, single and two authorship dominated CSR's research in Ghana. FIGURE 3 Distribution of sectors researched TABLE 1 Distribution of analytical methods used Type of analysis Frequency Percentage Exploratory analysis 43 27.92 Descriptive analysis 27 17.53 Regression analysis 13 8.44 Correlation 12 7.79 Case study analysis 11 7.14 Content analysis 6 3.90 Factor analysis 5 3.25 Chi‐Square analysis 4 2.60 Comparative analysis 4 2.60 ANOVA 3 1.95 Interpretive analysis 3 1.95 Sample t test 3 1.95 Hierarchical logistic regression 2 1.30 SEM 2 1.30 Action‐participatory based research 1 0.65 Bivariate analysis 1 0.65 Causal studies 1 0.65 Classical experimental method 1 0.65 Conditional LCAPM model 1 0.65 Cost estimation model 1 0.65 Data environment analysis 1 0.65 Dynamic panel model approach 1 0.65 Epistemological 1 0.65 Ethnographic approach 1 0.65 Fixed effect model 1 0.65 Inferential statistics 1 0.65 Interactive model 1 0.65 Literature review‐based approach 1 0.65 MANOVA 1 0.65 Partial least square 1 0.65 Total 154 100.00 Abbreviations: ANOVA, analysis of variance; MANOVA, multivariate anal- ysis of variance, SEM, Structural Equation Modeling; LCAPM, Liquidity‐ adjusted Capital Asset Pricing Model 4 DAMOAH ET AL. 3.5 | Author institutions Although the study is based on CSR papers on Ghana, yet authors collaborate from different institutions in different countries. Of the 113 papers, authors that are based on the University of Ghana dominated the sample constituting 21.4%, followed by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology 8.2%, and University of Education, Winneba, coming third with 4.5%. Table 3 represents the author's institution. 3.6 | Level of analysis Here, we examine the level of analysis for CSR research in Ghana. We classified the level of analysis into institutional and organizational levels. At the institutional level, we paid attention to whether the CSR research explores macrolevel, national, and/or supranational issues such as governance and financial system, and national business climate and operations, societal values and customs, and local ecosys- tems (Jamali & Karam, 2018). On the side of organizational level, we focused on whether the paper explores how CSR activities shape organizational level factors such as ownership, structure, or gover- nance; identity and organizational culture, mission, trade orientation, and business strategy motives; and primary stakeholders (Jamali & Karam, 2018). Our analysis shows that greater portion of the reviewed articles focused on organizational level (i.e., 95% of articles) using CSR as a predictor or outcome variable of an organizational activity. Our analysis further indicated that very few papers (i.e., 4.4% of articles) explored CSR in Ghana at institutional level either as a predictor or outcome variable. Details of this analysis are presented in Table 4. 4 | DISCUSSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS In terms of which themes have been over and/or under‐researched— research question 1—the results show that CSR practices in organiza- tions dominated, CSR and organization related performance, and CSR and management followed. Although themes such as CSR and eco‐ tourism and assurance were among the least researched issues, in Ghana, topic such as CSR tourism‐related issues appears popular in TABLE 2 Nature of collaboration among authors Nature of collaboration Frequency Percentage Single authorship 38 33.6 Two authorship 38 33.6 Three authorship 20 17.7 Four authorship 7 6.2 Five authorship 7 6.2 Six authorship 2 1.7 Seven authorship 1 0.8 Total 113 100 TABLE 3 Authors' institutions of affiliation Name of school Frequency Percentage University of Ghana 52 21.4 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology 20 8.2 University of Education, Winneba 11 4.5 Jiangsu University 10 4.1 University of Cape Coast 10 4.1 Central University College, Accra 9 3.7 University of Professional Studies 7 2.9 University of Electronic Science and Technology of China 6 2.5 Birmingham City University 4 1.6 Cardiff University 4 1.6 Northumbria University 4 1.6 University College of Management Studies 4 1.6 Christian Service University 3 1.2 Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration 3 1.2 Lund University 3 1.2 Queen's University 3 1.2 University of Mines and Technology 3 1.2 University of Colorado 3 1.2 University of Leicester 3 1.2 Accra Polytechnic 2 0.8 Aston University 2 0.8 Bournemouth University 2 0.8 Kumasi Polytechnic 2 0.8 Leeds Beckett University 2 0.8 Newmont Ghana Gold Ltd 2 0.8 Sichuan Agricultural University 2 0.8 Tomas Bata University 2 0.8 University of Alberta 2 0.8 University of Dundee 2 0.8 University of Free State Business School 2 0.8 University of Ilorin 2 0.8 University of Reading 2 0.8 University of Technology, Sydney 2 0.8 University of Western Ontario 2 0.8 Aalborg University 1 0.4 Abu Dhabi University 1 0.4 Adventist Senior High School 1 0.4 African University College of Communications 1 0.4 Agricultural Development Bank 1 0.4 Anglia Ruskin University 1 0.4 Ashesi University College 1 0.4 (Continues) DAMOAH ET AL. 5 extant literature due to the globalization processes (see Adlwarth, 2010, 2011). An implication of this is that, unlike countries in East Africa, such as Kenya and Uganda, tourism in Ghana is at its infant stage, explaining why tourism CSR related activities are the least. Also, individual level themes such as CSR and leadership, among others are currently emerging but are not being addressed in Ghana (Strand, 2011). Consistent with the state of the Ghanaian economy, Ghana is driven by the service sector. So it is not surprising that the banking sub‐sector has been one of the most researched sub‐sectors as regards CSR's issues although this confirms extant trends in the literature, for exam- ple, CSR and the sector in the United States (see Murawski, 2018; Soana, 2011). One of the arguments that can be advanced is that although other sub‐sectors (e.g., agriculture sector) are the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy, yet with regard to skilled labor employment, it is the service sector that is driving the economy, especially the finan- cial institutions. Consequently, these sectors have received more research attention because they have organized structures and so most researchers have acquaintances in these firms (e.g., former or past stu- dents) who help them to obtain data, which makes it researchable. However, among the current growing sub‐sectors of the economy of Ghana is the telecommunication and the construction (real estate) sub‐sectors, yet in this review, they are among the under‐researched sectors. Lack of adequate research funding support to academics in Ghana compared with their counterparts in the developing economies might account for uneven attention to sectors with regard to the state of CSR research in Ghana. In terms of methods, exploratory and descriptive analysis dominates. There is a low level of advanced statistical techniques such as structural equation modelling, logit, and probit regression on CSR's studies on Ghana. Extant studies have also focused solely on cross‐ sectional data. With regard to the level of analysis, unlike Aguinis and Glavas (2012) and Lunenberg et al. (2008), there is a significant gap in individ- ual and institutional level CSR's analysis in Ghana. Both predictors, outcome studies, and moderation and mediation of CSR's outcome relationship studies are lacking in CSR's studies on Ghana. TABLE 3 (Continued) Name of school Frequency Percentage Brock University 1 0.4 Cape Coast Polytechnic 1 0.4 Central University of Technology 1 0.4 Christ Apostolic University College 1 0.4 Durban University of Technology 1 0.4 Ejisuman Senior High 1 0.4 Forestry Research Institute of Ghana 1 0.4 Ghana Baptists University College 1 0.4 Ghana Nature Today 1 0.4 Heritage Christian College 1 0.4 Ho Polytechnic 1 0.4 Koforidua Technical University 1 0.4 London School of Economics and Political Science 1 0.4 Monash University 1 0.4 Pennsylvania State University 1 0.4 Royal Holloway University 1 0.4 Saginaw Valley State University 1 0.4 Saint Mary's University 1 0.4 Southern University 1 0.4 Spiritan University College 1 0.4 Sunyani Polytechnic 1 0.4 Swansea University 1 0.4 Takoradi Polytechnic 1 0.4 Universiti Putra Malaysia 1 0.4 University for Development Studies 1 0.4 University of Agder 1 0.4 University of Bayreuth 1 0.4 University of Bologna 1 0.4 University of Bonn 1 0.4 University of California 1 0.4 University of Connecticut 1 0.4 University of Copenhagen 1 0.4 University of Delaware 1 0.4 University of Erlangen 1 0.4 University of Manchester 1 0.4 University of Pretoria 1 0.4 University of Sharjah 1 0.4 University of Warwick 1 0.4 University of Wollongong 1 0.4 Vaasa University of Applied Science 1 0.4 Wageningen University 1 0.4 Walden University 1 0.4 Water Research Institute 1 0.4 (Continues) TABLE 3 (Continued) Name of school Frequency Percentage Wayne State University 1 0.4 Total 243 100 TABLE 4 A tabulation of level of researches and nature of variables Level of research Type of variables Frequency Percentage Organizational Outcome 46 40.7 Organizational Predictor 62 54.9 Institutional Outcome 2 2.6 Institutional Predictor 3 1.8 Total 113 100 6 DAMOAH ET AL. Of the institution of author collaborations, scholars from the Uni- versity of Ghana lead the studies. This confirms many characteristics about the University of Ghana. First, the University of Ghana is the premier university in Ghana. Second, the University of Ghana is the largest University in Ghana. By ranking, the University of Ghana is the leading among universities in Ghana. The results show that organizational level CSR performance related topics, including CSR and management as well as CSR practices, have received much research attention. Overall how CSR is organized in the advanced countries (e.g., the United States and the United Kingdom) is not the same in Africa. The results from the review show that public policy, academic, and practical interests in CSR on Ghana are being enhanced. This collabo- rates with similar heightened interest in the topic in Africa in general. According to Cheruiyot and Maru (2012), the sustainable development agenda by the United Nations across the world, including Africa, is one of the key factors contributing to the enhanced interest in CSR in Africa. Following Idemudia (2014) research contributions from differ- ent disciplines (e.g., geography, sociology, and political science) to CSR in Africa is another contributory factor. Although the results in the study shows that CSR's studies from Ghana is being advanced, yet it is identified that in Africa in general, South Africa dominates CSR's studies (see Idemudia, 2014; Muthuri, 2013; Visser, 2008). In terms of issues explored from the Ghanaian studies, the findings reflect both CSR debates in Africa and to a lesser extent globally. In Africa in general, the following debates are identified: CSR and public policy in sub‐Saharan Africa (Samy, Ogiri, & Bampton, 2015), CSR's agenda of multinational enterprises' in Africa (Gruber & Schlegelmilch, 2015); CSR and sustainable development in sub‐Saharan Africa (Vig, 2016); CSR disclosure in the developed and the developing countries (Ali, Frynas, & Mahmood, 2017); CSR's processes, concepts, and issues (Hinson & Ndhlovu, 2011); CSR and human rights issues in corporate bodies (Cheruiyot & Maru, 2014) (Kimeli Cheruiyot & Chemngetich Maru, 2014); antecedents of CSR (GTZ, 2009); and CSR and develop- ment (Idemudia, 2014). Following Figure 2, issues such as CSR and compliance of law, which emerged from the Ghanaian reviews, collab- orate with Cheruiyot and Maru (2014) in Africa. In addition, CSR's practices and activities, which emerged from the issues explored on Ghana, also collaborate with Hinson and Ndhlovu (2011) in Africa. Though studies such as CSR disclosure in the developed and the developing countries are connected to both Africa and the global com- munity, (Ali et al., 2017), yet new debates such as CSR and corporate citizenship, CSR and business ethics, and CSR and corporate social performance, which are being explored globally, are yet to receive research attention in Ghana. Some important gaps identified through this review, which set the tune for further studies, include first the lacuna in the institutional level analysis of CSR. At the institutional level (i.e., CSR research at macrolevel, national, and/or supranational levels), further research is warranted, for example, to flash out how CSR activities interplays with different institutional configurations (e.g., local ecosystem) or intersect with specific cultural traditions and norms at the macrolevel, national, and/or supranational levels (Blasco & Zølner, 2010; Jamali & Neville, 2011; Mitra, 2012). Second, there is a gap in theory and conceptual framework concerning CSR activities in Ghana. Third, CSR's studies that integrate different disciplines (e.g., marketing, management infor- mation systems, operations, and strategic management) are currently lacking. Consequently, a fuller understanding of CSR is lacking regard- ing issues in Ghana. 5 | CONCLUSION Although sectoral and individual level analysis seems so crucial in the field, current studies on Ghana deal with more of organizational level analysis to the neglect of the other two. Although hospitality is booming in Ghana because of the globalization process, few papers have focused on tourism CSR and CSR and the telecommunication companies. From a scholarly viewpoint, current studies on CSR look too descriptive, and therefore, future studies must seek to employ advanced statistics to validate existing findings. 5.1 | Contribution of the paper The current review complements and builds on extant literature with regard to the CSR's review on countries in Africa. The paper makes three contributions. First, although CSR's review papers continues to flourish (see Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Lunenberg et al., 2008), extant review has overlooked related reviews from countries in Africa, espe- cially, Ghana, one of the countries in Africa being described as the beacon of Africa's democracy. Consequently, a full understanding of various CSR's studies that offer a comprehensive state of knowledge in the field is currently a challenge. The present review, therefore, in part fills a significant gap in the extant literature on the topic. Second, by developing a comprehensive review of the specific body of literature on CSR in the context of Ghana and for that matter, a developing country and situating the study within the broader CSR and management literature create a significant opportunity for researchers interested in African issues to work with this review in the light of future studies. Finally, by exploring the topic from the per- spective of Ghana, the findings have enhanced our understanding from one of the understudied and under‐researched geographical context. 5.2 | Policy implications With most other sectors of Ghana presently growing (e.g., construc- tion and the real‐estate sub‐sectors), central governments in sub‐Saharan Africa, especially Ghana, must collaborate with the universities to deepen CSR's studies across industries. This can be made possible by making funds available for research and tying specific funds to CSR's specific sector research. 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