Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of Crisis: Covid-19

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility implies business with concern for ethics, human rights, community needs, and investment in environmental protection. It is especially evident in crisis situations when the expectations of the environment about the application of these principles of the company are higher. The Covid-19 pandemic, as a crisis situation in which companies found themselves, led to changes in business models that had an impact on their stakeholders as well. In this segment, corporate social responsibility can be a useful and effective way to mitigate the potential effects of a pandemic and make it easier to deal with the consequences of a crisis. The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework for the study of corporate social responsibility in crisis situations with special reference to the situation related to Covid-19. For this purpose, the research methodology includes a review of the literature on corporate social responsibility in this situation by classification into external (community, customer, and environment) and internal (employees) dimensions of the application of corporate social responsibility. The paper highlights the problems and challenges associated with corporate social responsibility in the Covid-19 pandemic and suggests further research opportunities in this area.