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Abstract:
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The study of impacts of the corporate social responsibility of EGAT Mae Moh on sustainable community development aims to examine the operational performance of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) project implemented by Mae Moh Power Plant under the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, and also to analyze the impacts of the project on sustainable community development. The questionnaire was used as a tool for gathering households’ perceptions on impacts of the CSR project on sustainable community development in economic, social, natural resources and environment, and technological development and transfer aspects. Five programs under the Mae Moh Power Plant’s CSR project were selected in this study, covering the Egg Bank Program, the Micro-organism Bank of the Bio Way Center of Mae Moh Power Plant Program, the Mobile Health Service Unit Program, the Football Training for the Youth Program, and the Restoring and Preserving Folk Musical Heritage Program. The samples used in this study consist of 274 households with CSR member and 200 households without CSR member. The gathered data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, and Likert scale.
The results showed that the operational performance of Mae Moh Power Plant’s corporate social responsibility project mainly focused on the community and environment aspects. The budget provided on the CSR project under the community and environment aspects was about 91 percent of the overall budget of CSR project. This evidence is consistent with the principle of social responsibility in terms of community participation and community development. Considering socio-economic characteristics of the household samples both with CSR member and without CSR member, the study found that there were many significantly different characteristics between them. The majority of CSR member were older than 60 years old and have worked as a worker. Their average household income were not more than 10,000 baht per month. Also, they have lived in Mae Moh District for over 40 years. On the other hand, the majority of non-CSR member were about 51 to 60 years old and have no main occupation. Their average household income were 10001 to 20000 baht per month. They have made a living in Mae Moh District for 31 to 40 years.
According to impacts of the Mae Moh Power Plant’s CSR projects on sustainable community development, the study revealed that, in the economic aspect, the project created employment which was in relevant to the social responsibility principle in terms of employment generation. However, only 11.68 percent of the households with CSR member were employed. Moreover, 30.26 percent of the households with CSR member earned more income and 25 percent of them could reduce their household expenditure. This evidence represented that the CSR project could contribute to quite low economic impact to community development. Regarding the social impact, all households have the right to participate in all CSR programs, which is consistent with the social responsibility principles in terms of human rights and social and community development. However, only 23.71 percent of the CSR member households participated in more than one program and only 9.85 percent of them have participated in the CSR project for more than two years. Therefore, the CSR project could contribute very low social impact to community development. Considering the natural resources and environment impact, the CSR project has provided knowledge, understanding, and also organized the activities involved with natural resources and environment. The study found that 13.50 to 57.30 percent of the household samples received knowledge and understanding about the natural resources and environment. Moreover, there were 11 to 34 percent of them attended the activities organized by the CSR project. These evidences showed that the CSR project could contribute natural resources and environment impact to community development at moderate level. According to technological development and transfer aspect, the CSR project had implemented various activities in response to the social responsibility principles in terms of community participation and development. However, only 4 to 16 percent of the household samples developed and transferred technology. Therefore, the CSR project could contribute quite low level of technological development and transfer impact to community development.
Keywords: corporate social responsibility, social responsibility, sustainable community development, community development, impacts
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