Social Responsible Business and Development: A study of how a social responsible business can be perceived as legitimate in a development context

Abstract

This bachelor thesis is based on the empirical result of a Minor Field Study that was conducted in the small village of Paje, East coast Zanzibar, Tanzania during April-May 2012. The object of the research is Seaweed Center, a foreign initiated social responsible business, and the group of local seaweed farming women that are part owners and working for the company. With qualitative methods such as interviews and participatory observations this study sought to find out how a social responsible business with the aim to create development can be perceived legitimate in a development context. Taking off in the employees point of view we discuss the perspective and expectations of social responsible business and development and analyze it in relation to how legitimacy can be understood using the theoretical tools from organizational theory. To further understand the social responsible business’s legitimacy in its wider development context we are also relating our empirical data to, from the development discourse borrowed concept of local ownership. Applying these two corresponding but still different perspectives on the employees view and expectations of social responsible business, we have found that the legitimacy is high, even though the employees’ do not relate to the concept of social responsible business. Moreover, that the employees do not perceive themselves as part of the business development objective but instead as being the development actors, which we argue indicates that the local ownership is high. With this paper we hope to contribute to a wider understanding of what makes it possible and legitimate for an initiative coming from outside to operate in a complex development context.