Abstract:
The need for institutions to be corporately and socially responsible has risen rapidly over the years. On the university’s platform, this need becomes more paramount as they set the pace for national rebirth. Therefore, this study examines the influence of corporate social responsibility on the corporate image of selected universities in south eastern Nigeria. The study adopted in-depth interview and survey as its research designs. The population consists of people in the towns of three selected south eastern universities, which are Nsukka, Awka and Abakaliki. The sample size of the study is 385 using Cochran as the formula to calculate sample. A multi stage sampling technique was adopted. The findings showed that; few of the interviewees and most of the respondents agreed that the universities do not carry out sufficient CSR. This means that the towns and the communities are paying attention to the way in which the universities operate, and understand that the care and social attention given to them is next to little. Secondly, majority of the respondents representing 77.9% don’t know anyone from their area who benefits from the University by employment or scholarships. It is recommended from the findings of this study that; the universities should always try to take proactive measures in dealing with the communities rather than reactive measures. There are cases where the university only has to involve itself in in taking care of conflicts targeted at them. There is a need for the institution to serve as a peace maker, when there is an inter-community clash.
