Safeguarding Good Intentions: Strategies for Mitigating Corruption Risks in Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes

Authors

  • Everton Tunduwe Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, Harare, Zimbabwe Author
  • Dr. Onesmus Nyaude Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, Harare, Zimbabwe Author
  • Ms Wadzanayi Masunda Harare Institute of Technology University, Harare, Zimbabwe Author

Keywords:

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Corruption, Corporate Governance, Anti-Corruption Strategies, Qualitative Research, Ethical Leadership, Stakeholder Engagement, Accountability

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes are increasingly susceptible to corruption risks that subvert their developmental intent. This qualitative study, set in Zimbabwe, investigates how corruption manifests in CSR and which strategies safeguard programme integrity. Integrating Agency, Stakeholder, and Institutional theories as a deductive coding matrix, the study analysed twenty key informant interviews (CSR managers, compliance officers, NGO leaders, and CSR consultants), two focus group discussions with fourteen community beneficiaries, and twenty CSR documents through six-phase reflexive thematic analysis. Four findings emerged: (1) misaligned incentives and information asymmetry produce an 'agentic gap' in which output reporting displaces genuine impact; (2) fear of reprisal sustains a 'culture of silence' that suppresses whistleblowing;

0 0

Author Biographies

  • Everton Tunduwe, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, Harare, Zimbabwe

    Everton Tunduwe is a Zimbabwean scholar-practitioner whose work sits at the critical intersection of anti-corruption education, public policy, and disciplinary pedagogy. With over nine years of professional experience spanning monitoring and evaluation, strategic information systems, and public-sector accountability. He brings a rare practitioner's rigor to academic inquiry grounding theoretical frameworks in the lived realities of governance, data integrity, and institutional reforms.

    Professionally, Everton currently serves as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, where he designs and implements M&E frameworks aligned with the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and synthesises performance data into policy-level reporting. Prior roles with Zimbabwe Health Interventions and the Ministry of Health and Child Care (Global Fund) equipped him with advanced proficiency in Strategic Information Evaluation, and routine data quality assessment: competencies that sharpened his evidence-based approach to scholarship. 

    His community leadership as Board Secretary General of Bopoma Villages Organization and volunteer work with Africa Matters Initiative further reflect a commitment to grassroots governance and pan-African intellectual exchange.
    Everton writes for academics, policy architects, educators, and integrity practitioners seeking interdisciplinary, evidence-driven pathways to embedding ethical reasoning within formal education systems. His work is peer-review-ready, policy-relevant, and built for cross-disciplinary adoption.

  • Dr. Onesmus Nyaude, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, Harare, Zimbabwe
    Onesmus Nyaude (PhD)

    Manager Monitoring & Evaluation [M & E]

    Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission - ZACC

    Office : +263242369602/5/8 : Cell: 0712 236 893/ 0773264534. 

    • PhD - [Socio-Ed & Anti-Corruption Strategy], UNISA 
    • Bach of Social Science Special Hons in Monitoring & Evaluation (LSU), 2021
    • D Phil in Development Studies [Africa Research University, Republic of Zambia- Specialization: [Crime]: Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy (in Progress)
    • Appointed PhD Co-Supervisor - Mangalayatan University & Noida International University - Republic of India.
  • Ms Wadzanayi Masunda, Harare Institute of Technology University, Harare, Zimbabwe

    Wadzanai Adeline Masunda is a Staff Development Fellow at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), where she contributes to teaching and research in the fields of forensic accounting and auditing. She previously served as an Officer in the Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Unit of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), where she gained practical experience in asset tracing, forfeiture, and anti-corruption enforcement. She holds a Master of Technology (M Tech) in Forensic Accounting and Auditing from HIT and has published her work in peer-reviewed journals. Her research interests lie at the intersection of forensic accounting, financial crime investigation, and asset recovery.

References

1. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.

2. Carroll, A. B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility. Business Horizons, 34(4), 39–48.

3. DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160.

4. Edelman. (2023). Edelman Trust Barometer 2023. Edelman.

5. Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Pitman.

6. Gond, J. P., & Swaen, V. (2016). Corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility: Introduction to a special topic section. Journal of Management Studies, 53(7), 1141–1168.

7. Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough? Field Methods, 18(1), 59–82.

8. Hellman, J. S., Jones, G., & Kaufmann, D. (2000). Seize the state, seize the day (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 2444). World Bank.

9. Hong, B., Li, F., & Minor, D. (2016). Corporate governance and executive compensation for corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 136(1), 199–213.

10. International Finance Corporation (IFC). (2012). Performance standards on environmental and social sustainability. IFC.

11. Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm. Journal of Financial Economics, 3(4), 305–360.

12. KPMG. (2020). The KPMG survey of corporate responsibility reporting 2020. KPMG International.

13. Laufer, W. S. (2003). Social accountability and corporate greenwashing. Journal of Business Ethics, 43(3), 253–261.

14. Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. SAGE.

15. Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (4th ed.). SAGE.

16. Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2006). Strategy and society. Harvard Business Review, 84(12), 78–92.

17. Rose-Ackerman, S. (1999). Corruption and government. Cambridge University Press.

18. Transparency International. (2005). Global corruption report 2005: Focus on construction. Transparency International.

19. Transparency International. (2023). Corruption Perceptions Index 2023.Transparency International.

20. Voegtlin, C., & Scherer, A. G. (2017). Responsible innovation and the innovation of responsibility.

21. Journal of Business Ethics, 143(2), 227–243.

22. World Economic Forum. (2022). The Global Risks Report 2022. WEF.

23. Zadek, S. (2006). The logic of collaborative governance (Working Paper No. 17). Harvard Kennedy School, CSR Initiative.

Downloads

Published

2026-10-05

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2026): September 2026

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Author(s)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Articles published in the Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Studies (JAMS) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), unless otherwise stated. Authors retain copyright of their work and grant JAMS the right of first publication.

How to Cite

Safeguarding Good Intentions: Strategies for Mitigating Corruption Risks in Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes. (2026). Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Studies (JAMS), 1(2), Page 2535-2546. https://jamsjournal.org/JAMS/article/view/661

Similar Articles

41-50 of 278

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.