Abstract
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a pivotal pillar in advancing sustainable business practices. In the South African supermarket context, these supermarkets operate in an environment that is unequal, whereby food insecurity and unemployment exist. CSR activity has increased in the retail industry; however limited research has been done. Existing research does not sufficiently examine how social CSR initiatives are conceptualised, structured and aligned with the broader social sustainability goals, in comparison to the global supermarkets.
This study examined the social CSR frameworks of the four major South African supermarkets and compared them to seven leading selected global supermarkets. The focus was on social CSR conceptualisation, the nature and focus of social initiatives, extent of SDG alignment. This was done using a qualitative mono-method multiple case study strategy and secondary data collected from sustainability reports, annual reports and CSR disclosures for the period 2022-2023. The data was thematically analysed using a conceptual framework.
The findings revealed that the South African supermarkets contribute to short-term relief initiatives that are heavily compliance based and therefore limits its ability to achieve transformation. This research contributes to CSR by highlighting institutional contexts and the strategic integration of how social CSR differentiates transactional CSR to transformative CSR.