Resisting the System: Examining How Activist Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Drive Positive Social Change in Ghana’s Fourth Republic

This chapter offers a 360-degree inquiry into chief executive officer (CEO) activism in Ghana. Several theoretical/conceptual lenses (Afrocentricity and Afrocentric philosophies of sustainability; public relations for social responsibility; and postmodernism) are activated to enrich the literature on CEO activism. Data collection entailed long interviews with 24 men and women activist CEOs. Data analysis followed the qualitative theme-based approach. Findings suggest that CEO activism is motivated by alternative factors, including Afrocentric philosophies such as Caritas, Ubuntu, Ma-atic ideology, Africapitalism, and some postmodern concepts. Various unique campaign issues and causes, strategies and tactics, outcome classes, and safeguards and guidelines for activist CEO campaigns are discussed. The study helps internationalize CEO activism research and deepens global perspectives on corporate activism while contributing to contemporary imaginings and understandings of the political actions of CEOs.