Corporate Social Responsibility in Zambia’s Mining Host Communities: Measurable Local Development Outcomes or Primarily Reputational Value?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is widely promoted in Zambia’s mining sector as a pathway to shared value for mine host communities, yet it remains contested whether CSR produces measurable local development outcomes or functions mainly as reputational and risk management. This PRISMA-informed systematic review synthesises evidence published between 2015 and 2025 and assesses two outcome pathways: (1) observable local development changes (for example, health, livelihoods, infrastructure, and service access) and (2) reputational value (for example, legitimacy, social licence, disclosure performance, and conflict management). Across the reviewed literature, CSR is frequently framed and operationalised as a tool for managing operational and reputational risks, which can narrow the development ambition of CSR activities and bias benefits toward risk hotspots rather than greatest need (Frederiksen, 2018; Phiri et al., 2019) [9, 16]. Quantitative studies from a large-scale copper mining area in Northwestern Zambia provide evidence of improvements in selected health and household wealth indicators over time, but attribution to CSR alone is typically indirect because mine-area effects operate through multiple channels (Knoblauch et al., 2020; Zabré et al., 2021; Farnham et al., 2022) [12, 17, 7]. Evidence on reputational returns is more explicit, including work linking CSR disclosure to reputation and performance outcomes (Ndemena, 2023) [14]. Overall, the literature suggests mixed and context-dependent development results, with stronger and more consistent support for CSR’s legitimacy and conflict-mitigation functions than for sustained, independently verified local development impact. The review concludes with practical recommendations for outcome-based CSR governance and a Zambia-specific research agenda to strengthen attribution and transparency.