CSR Maturity in Polish Listed Companies: A Qualitative Diagnosis Based on a Progression Model

Abstract

Transformation from a centrally planned economy to a market economy in 1989 created new challenges for the enterprises in Poland. Free market brought economic liberty, but also the need to take responsibility for the business’ impact on the environment. The last 20 years have brought intensive development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Polish conditions: The institutional context supporting CSR has improved and so did the implementation of the CSR by the business. Intensive growth of CSR practices demands a reflection on the effectiveness of the implementation. This study’s contribution is a comprehensive diagnosis of CSR maturity of the enterprises in Poland using a conceptual CSR maturity model. The model is comprised of three perspectives: CSR process maturity, CSR formal maturity and CSR developmental maturity. CSR practices of 93 listed companies from nine industries were studied in 2016–2017. A qualitative content analysis of the enterprises websites was used as the method of study. The main finding was that the level of CSR practices of the enterprises in Poland is still rather low. Forty-seven percent of the enterprises implement incidental CSR, 30% tactical CSR and 23% apply strategic CSR. CSR maturity level is company size- and industry-dependent.

Assessing the Benefits of the Sustainability Reporting Practices in the Top Romanian Companies

“…Additionally, our findings confirmed the studies by [45][46][47][48], who support the view that organizations must focus on monitoring and reporting their sustainability goals. According to Table A2, the different attitudes of the companies with turnovers between RON 1 billion and 10 billion versus companies with turnovers between RON 500 million and 1 billion is due to the fact that companies with a profitability ranging from RON 500 million to 1 billion gave priority to the "To communicate a more comprehensive and transparent image of a company's value" objective, unlike most of the companies in the sample, which preferred the "To attract and retain staff based on trust and reputation."…”

Corporate social responsibility practices incomes and outcomes: Stakeholders' pressure, culture, employee commitment, corporate reputation, and brand performance. A Polish–German cross‐country study

“…The maturity and effectiveness of German institutions are a result of a more effective transformation than it is in Poland. Witek‐Crabb's () general studies of Polish CSR maturity, based on multisector sample, confirm that the level of CSR practices of the enterprises in Poland is still somewhat low. El‐Bassiouny and El‐Bassiouny (), on the other hand, determined German CSR maturity level as rather high.…”

“…also implied that companies' engagement in CSR activities is mostly affected by country institutional conditions. The maturity and effectiveness of German institutions are a result of a more effective transformation than it is in Poland Witek-Crabb's (2019). general studies of Polish CSR maturity, based on multisector sample, confirm that the level of CSR practices of the enterprises in Poland is still somewhat low.…”

CSR in mission statements of Polish chemical industry companies (content analysis results)

“…There are, however, grounds to argue that a smaller share of Polish chemical companies communicates CSR in mission statements, although the obtained results can be relativized. Let us note that in Poland -as cross-sectoral studies (including chemical companies) of Witek-Crabb (2019) showed that the level of CSR practices of the enterprises is still rather low -23% of them apply strategic CSR.…”