International Journal of Innovative Research and Development

Herbert Chiheve

Abstract

This study was carried out to assess the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by commercial banks in the city of Gweru in the midlands of the Republic of Zimbabwe. It was inspired by the perceived hostile relationship between business and society. It sought to assess the degree of awareness and appreciation of CSR issues among bank executives and employees as well as the extent to which they adhere to international CSR standards and codes of best practice. Issues in SCR include human rights, labour standards and environmental standards. The study focused on the Sullivan Principles, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines and the Equator Principles. The research study design employed was the descriptive survey design and all nine commercial banks in Gweru made up the population. The sample consisted of three commercial banks selected through stratified random sampling techniques. The respondents were mostly selected using simple random sampling except for bank managers who qualified for the role by virtue of the positions that they occupied. Questionnaires, interviews and content analysis were used to gather data.  The findings showed that banking executives and employees have very little knowledge of CSR standards although their practices are largely compliant with the standards. It was recommended that the banking sector should familiarise themselves with CSR standards and codes of best practice. It was also recommended that they sign up to and implement the Equator Principles, a benchmark of accepted practice in project finance. It was further recommended that the banking sector adopt a more stakeholder-centric approach to their practice of CSR and that they report on their practice of CSR.

Keywords

corporate social responsibility, corporate philanthropy, corporate citizenship, corporate governance, socially responsible/conscious/ethical investment, corporate sustainability, sustainable development, corporate social investment

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Herbert Chiheve

Abstract

This study sets out to investigate the extent to which self-directed learning is used to teach Accounting in polytechnics in Zimbabwe. A survey was conducted in three polytechnics that had been purposefully sampled for convenience of access. Questionnaires were used to collect data from students in the sampled polytechnics whilst interviews were conducted on the lecturers. The responses of both the students and lecturers were used to determine the extent to which self-directed learning was used in accounting education in polytechnics. The data collected was subjected to both quantitative and qualitative interpretation analyses. It was found that the method that is mostly used to teach Accounting at polytechnics is the traditional lecture or exposition. It was also found that both lecturers and students agree that self-directed learning is a viable alternative to the usual chalk and talk method in the teaching and learning of Accounting at a polytechnic level as it engenders learning habits which foster lifelong learning.  From these findings the study recommended that lecturers should use teaching strategies that encourage students to be self-directed learners. Furthermore, learners lecturers should use appropriate tasks and activities that encourage students to study independently in a self-directed learning approach. For their part students should search for information both collaboratively and individually using the Internet and other learning resources.

Keywords

Pedagogy, andragogy, self-directed learning, teacher-centred learning, student-centred learning, lecture method.

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