Purpose

This study aims to demonstrate how banks can align their CSR investment to community needs and citizen preferences. A grounded theory inductive approach is applied to deliver a community-centred process that banks can apply to inform CSR investment decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employed a sequential mixed-method research design to identify areas of need from the perspective of community leaders and members through depth interviews. Following thematic analysis, citizen preferences for eight priority areas were elicited using best-worst scaling (BWS).

Findings

Clear investment preferences emerged with citizens preferring six community investment causes, namely, (1) infrastructure, (2) crisis and prevention support, (3) community groups, (4) youth facilities and activities, (5) initiatives that support the local environment, and (6) physical activity promotion. The forming of community advisory committees emerged as one approach that banks could apply to ensure long-term citizen-centred CSR investment decisions.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to one community and one community bank and a small convenience, cross-sectional data sample.

Social implications

Community-oriented financial institutions should centre investment decisions on community need and citizen preferences ensuring investments made deliver the greatest societal benefit and community support for the banks is garnered.

Originality/value

This paper provides important contributions to improve the effectiveness of CSR initiatives, providing an inductive, methodological approach that financial institutions can follow to better align their CSR investment to community needs and preferences.

中文翻译：

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以公民为中心的银行业企业社会责任方法

目的

本研究旨在展示银行如何根据社区需求和公民偏好调整其企业社会责任投资。应用扎根理论归纳方法来提供以社区为中心的流程，银行可以应用该流程为企业社会责任投资决策提供信息。

设计/方法/方法

本研究采用连续混合方法研究设计，通过深度访谈从社区领导和成员的角度确定需要的领域。在主题分析之后，使用最佳最差比例 (BWS) 得出了公民对八个优先领域的偏好。

发现

出现了明显的投资偏好，公民偏好六项社区投资事业，即 (1) 基础设施，(2) 危机和预防支持，(3) 社区团体，(4) 青年设施和活动，(5) 支持当地环境的举措(6) 促进体育活动。社区咨询委员会的形成是银行可以用来确保长期以公民为中心的企业社会责任投资决策的一种方法。

研究限制/影响

本研究仅限于一个社区和一个社区银行，以及一个小的方便的横断面数据样本。

社会影响

面向社区的金融机构应以社区需求和公民偏好为中心进行投资决策，以确保所进行的投资能够带来最大的社会效益，并获得社区对银行的支持。

原创性/价值

本文为提高 CSR 计划的有效性做出了重要贡献，提供了一种归纳的、方法论的方法，金融机构可以遵循这些方法来更好地将其 CSR 投资与社区需求和偏好保持一致。