Exploring what drives Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in private healthcare institutions: insights from Dessie City, Ethiopia

Abstract

In today’s forward-thinking business environment, corporations are expected to address societal concerns and act responsibly, a principle long applied in healthcare. While Corporate Social Responsibility, hereafter expressed as CSR, is seen as a survival strategy in global competition, it has been understudied in the health sector but is now gaining recognition in Ethiopia from institutions. This study aimed to identify factors influencing CSR practices in Dessie City. Both explanatory and descriptive research designs were employed, using a quantitative approach. Stratified random sampling was applied in two stages: first, private healthcare institutions were stratified by category (hospitals, specialized clinics, medium and higher clinics, and primary clinics); second, 260 respondents were randomly selected. Data were collected through a self-administered standard questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 20, STATA 13 and R 4.4.2. The regression model explained approximately 56.3% of the variance in CSR practices among private healthcare institutions (R2 = 0.563, Adjusted R2 = 0.553, Std. Error = 0.42308), indicating moderately strong explanatory power. Among the predictor variables, organizational culture (β = 0.435, p < 0.01) and pressure groups (β = 0.409, p < 0.01) had a statistically significant positive influence on CSR practices. Although government policy, competition, employee demand, and customer demand showed positive relationships, their influence was not statistically significant. The findings indicate that all four CSR dimensions legal, economic, ethical, and philanthropic are practiced to a fair extent, as reflected by mean scores falling within the ‘Agree’ range with the highest mean value for legal (3.8885) and the lowest one for philanthropic (3.5254). As the findings indicates although CSR dimensions are fairly practiced, there is a modest emphasis on meeting regulatory obligations. Thus, the study underscores the need to pay due attention to philanthropic and ethical dimensions of CSR, while also calling for the reinforcement of existing regulatory frameworks to ensure more accountable and socially responsive institutional practices.