Analysis of the Dimensions of Corporate Social Responsibility: Study Applied to Co-operativism in Ecuador

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) involves activities carried out by businesses based on the principles of transparency, ethical, moral and environmental values. Despite the growing interest in this area of study, there is no universally recognised definition, which, in turn, affects the measuring of these activities. The aim of this research is to analyse the dimensions of CSR, through a valid and trustworthy measuring scale of co-operativism in Ecuador. The research questionnaire was developed from the theoretical analysis of the construct and it was given to 2042 individuals, among them managers, employees and members of Ecuadorian co-operatives. In order to determine and evaluate the factorial structure, convergent validity and to discriminate the measuring scale, an exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis was conducted with covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM). The results show that the suggested scale is reliable and consistent with the pursued goals. In this sense, and in relation to the viability of the factorial analysis performed, 86.2% of the correlations have a score greater than 0.3. Because of this, it can be confirmed that CSR can be measured in the four dimensions analysed: Economic, Legal, Ethical and Philanthropic.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Concept and Dimensions

“…Nhiều học giả cho rằng khái niệm CSR không được trình bày một cách rõ ràng và đầy đủ, xuất phát từ việc thiếu nền tảng vững chắc [4], và do đó dẫn đến tình trạng thiếu cơ sở cho hành động cụ thể tại các doanh nghiệp [5]. Chính vì những lý do đó, hiện nay vẫn chưa có một khái niệm thống nhất cho CSR [6][7] Lee và cộng sự trong bài nghiên cứu "The impact of CSR on casino employees' organizational trust, job satisfaction and customer orientation: An empirical examination of responsible gambling" đã tiến hành đánh giá tác động của các phương diện trách nhiệm xã hội doanh nghiệp lần lượt lên mức độ tin cậy của doanh nghiệp (organizational trust), sự hài lòng trong công việc (job sastisfaction) và mức độ hướng về khách hàng (customer orientation) [8] [11]. Đối tượng tham gia khảo sát là các bên liên quan nội bộ và bên ngoài của các tập thể doanh nghiệp.…”

“…Kết quả phân tích khái niệm trong đề tài này củng cố kết quả nghiên cứu của Montazeri và cộng sự [10]. Bên cạnh đó, đề tài cũng bổ sung thêm phương diện trách nhiệm môi trường chưa được giới thiệu trong các nghiên cứu trước đây như Lee và cộng sự [8], Kim và cộng sự [9], Cruz và cộng sự [11].…”

Study of Corporate Sustainability Dimensions in the Cooperatives of Ecuador

“…The economic dimension is defined as the creation of competitive value and advantage, given that the businesses are considered a source of material wealth, which allows them to subsist with the passing of time [27,51]. Even though the cooperatives' final goal is not to obtain financial profit, they must be economically sustainable to achieve the principle of equal distribution of surplus [24].…”

“…We also asked about any other additional role (costumer/user or supplier) and the data of the position, where it may be distinguished (e.g., type of contract, workday, department, level of authority, income range). The second global axis of the survey constitutes the foundation of this research due to it being focused on the dimensions of corporate sustainability; we worked with the methodological proposal from [53], used by [24] for the elaboration and validation of the research instruments. This can be summarised in seven steps.…”

“…It is a way of organizing that stands out for economic management with a very social character, globally better known as a "social economy". Among the institutions that make up this sector, we find cooperatives, savings banks and mutual insurance companies (as well as many others) [24]. Cooperatives can be considered powerful sources of sustainable development [23], given that their principles lead to a balance of financial, human and environmental capital, to satisfy the needs of their global stakeholders [25] based on universally-recognised principles and values [26].…”