Linking corporate social responsibility to financial performance of telecommunication firms in Ghana.

In recent years, interest has heightened among researchers to examine the potential linkage between CSR, corporate image and financial performance. The level of interest has become necessary due to the varied arguments raised in the literature in relation to CSR and its potential value creation or depreciation capabilities. This study examines the mediating role of corporate image in the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and financial performance of Ghanaian firms operating within the telecommunication sector. With the use of a cross-sectional survey design, relevant data for the study were obtained from senior managers of MTN, Airtel-Tigo and Vodafone Ghana Limited; the leading telecommunication companies in Ghana. Convenient sampling technique was used to select 100 participants for the study using a path modeling method known as the Partial Least Squares (PLS), which is a variance-based structural equation model for testing the research hypotheses in order to achieve the objectives of the study. The study established that, the relationship between CSR and financial performance is mediated by the image of companies in the telecommunication industry in Ghana.