Influence of community outreach as a CSR strategy for organizational performance: a review of selected public universities in Kenya

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility has been regarded as one of the pillars of economic growth for any business. One of its major goals is to aid an organization's mission as well as serve as a guide to what the company represents for its consumers. Those who vouch for it have argued that it increases long-term profits by operating with a CSR perspective, while critics argue that CSR distracts from businesses' economic role. The public sector is largely a service provider yet it also participates in various CSR activities whose benefits may or may not be measured. This study set out to establish whether one of the CSR strategies, going out to engage with communities on gainful activities for both parties, reaps any kind of benefits for such organizations. The study hypothesized that community outreach programs did not significantly influence performance of Public Universities in Kenya. The results showed that indeed, it contributed to their performance. Therefore, the study noted that increasing community outreach programs would significantly increase the performance of public Universities. It therefore, recommended that the Public sector should aggressively invest in CSR programs and regularly assess the extent to which these can contribute to the attainment of their goals.