Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility in an Era of Disruption—A Study of Greek Companies Participating in Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI)

Abstract

Greek firms have begun to place a greater emphasis on CSR, and there is a shift away from financial gain and toward organizations showing respect for social issues pertaining to the environment in which they operate. This study looks at the social performance of all 27 firms that have taken part in the CR Index between 2008 and 2020 using the most recent information available about CRI operations in Greece from the time of the country’s economic depression to the present. The results imply that the companies under investigation adjusted to the economic climate by better allocating their CSR-related spending. Even though there was a general decline in the number of companies receiving lower-level distinctions, the companies included as a sample in this research demonstrated stronger CSR engagement, obtaining higher marks in their evaluation by the CRI. The fact that businesses have not adequately informed the public about their CSR efforts has implications for managers because they could do so. The study also adds to the body of literature by starting conversations around CSR communication.

1 Introduction

Modern business units are becoming more and more actively involved in activities with a defining characteristic the existence of responsibility towards society, humans, and the physical environment while their primary goal is the improvement and well-being as they become increasingly aware of the fact that they are inextricably linked to the society in which they operate. The phrase “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) is often used to refer to these efforts. Numerous studies have demonstrated that economic crises may have an impact on CSR initiatives and that there is a decline in CSR activities as a result of corporations acting more cautiously [1,2,3]. Some academics have a different perspective on the effects of the economic crisis on CSR, arguing that rather than being a danger, it might be an opportunity for the organization to improve its reputation, build or increase its trust by customers, employees, shareholders and the local community [4,5,6,7,8]. The rise in social media usage favors this form of communication. The current study intends to evaluate how CSR operations have changed through time, as well as how they have been communicated, from the start of the financial crisis in 2008 to the present. Given that Greece has been severely impacted by the economic crisis and provides a useful example for analysis with regard to CSR, this research examines Greece as a case study.

The most severely impacted countries by the financial and economic crisis are Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain [9]. Additionally, this study looks at Greek corporations’ CSR efforts since it predicts that given the challenging economic climate, they will be more frugal with their donations to charitable causes than the scant literature on the subject shows [9,10,11]. This research investigates the companies taking part in the CR Index, which has been running in Greece since 2008, in order to assess the companies’ CSR communication strategy and have a precise and reliable way of gauging the development of CSR programs in the period investigated.

2 Communicating CSR Activities

CSR communication relates to interested stakeholders and good corporate values [12]. The first activities that a business would cut back on in a recession would likely be CSR communication and advertising. However, it appears to be a crucial component of a successful company. According to one definition of CSR reporting, it is a strategy used by businesses to notify diverse stakeholders about social and environmental issues [13]. Over 90% of the 250 biggest firms in the world today produce CSR reports. The ability of a firm to motivate customers and other stakeholders to choose it over competitors has been claimed by many authors to be the value of CSR communication [14,15,16]. However, other findings have demonstrated that CSR communication initiatives do not necessarily favorably reflect on a business and a strategic plan. The perception of the company’s efforts and honesty can be negatively impacted by CSR [17,18,19]. Consequently, the effects of the economic crisis on CSR communication have been researched.

Through a content study of more than 4000 printed ads, Green and Peloza [20] discovered that rather than CSR communication levels are decreasing during the recession, the likelihood of stumbling into ads and communications containing CSR messaging actually increased. Not the quantity but the content of these advertisements changed, as was seen. The likelihood of CSR messaging being included into “mainstream” advertising was higher in particular. Communicating CSR initiatives to both internal and external constituents can have a significant beneficial impact, evoking positive reactions by establishing or bolstering a reputation that may be crucial during times of crisis [15, 21]. The communication of the CSR is also directly tied to an organization’s reputation [22]. According to Feliciano et al. [23], sharing CSR activities with customers might enhance their loyalty and willingness to “forgive” a firm if required when it supports causes that are similar to their own. Greece has a high rate of household internet connectivity, which increased from 31% in 2008 to 76.5% in 2018. When compared to 2018, this percentage grew 2.6% in 2019, while a 69.2% increase was seen from 2010 to 2019 alone. Social media, or consumer-generated media, enables online information generation and dissemination where consumers can engage and businesses can communicate with them [24]. When it comes to whether or not they feel educated about companies’ CSR operations, there is a significant difference between citizens of Europe and those of other continents. The majority of European individuals do not feel that they need to be educated, in contrast to the USA, where people are interested to hear about the CSR initiatives of the companies [25]. The majority of European residents, according to European study, do not believe they need to be informed on this problem, with only 36% of them feeling well-informed [26], while people in the USA are open to hearing about the CSR efforts of the corporations [25].

3 Materials and Methods

Content analysis is one of the most often used techniques in the study of CSR [27]. Since content analysis offers detailed and rich accounts on a variety of issues, it is frequently utilized in management research [28, 29]. Neuman [30] defined content analysis as a method for acquiring and examining text’s content. The term “content” refers to any communication that can be conveyed by words, meanings, images, symbols, ideas, or themes. In order to determine whether there is a correlation between the trajectory of a company’s economics and its CSR behaviors over the course of the twelve years under consideration, the current study examines all of the companies that have participated in the CR Index between 2008 and 2020, looking at their economic performance overall. The sample for this study spans a well-defined twelve-year period beginning in 2008 with the first CRI applications in Greece and ending in 2020 with all cases, or 27 companies, that have participated in being assessed using the CRI index. The researchers looked for words and phrases that were specific to the thematic codes connected to the CRI’s communication in the corporate websites of the companies, as well as references in the CRI awards that had been given out [32, 33]. Next, we looked at each organization separately to see which social media channels it had access to and whether any mentions of CSR initiatives and the CR index award were made.

4 Results

Companies operating in Greece experienced a decline in revenue during a 6-year period, yet despite this, we see that their CSR performance has been steadily improving. Despite the fact that the participating companies’ economic performance is declining, Fig. 1 shows that over a twelve-year period, their participation in the CRI looks consistent and improved their social performance as measured by the CRI.

Fig. 1

Source Data analysis from the CR Index official website [32, 33]

Number of awards from CRI between the years 2008–2020.

Because they become more effective and offer increasingly higher level, award-winning activities for the benefit of the community where they operate, corporations do not seem to be influenced in their CSR-related conduct, especially during the economic crisis, as shown in Fig. 1. Despite the difficulties of the weakening economy, the number of awards offered rose in 2008 and 2009, rose in 2010 and 2011, and stabilized in 2012 and 2013. In 2013, ten prizes were given in the top two categories, compared to none in 2008 and just two in 2009. It is clear from gathering and analyzing the data in Fig. 2 that company participation grew steadily between 2008 and 2013. However, the number of businesses is declining over time, which may be related to Greece’s severe economic situation. On the other side, there has been a noticeable rise in awards for better places like Gold and Platinum, which will finally result in 2 Diamond awards for the first time in 2020–2021.

Fig. 2

Source Data analysis from the CR index official website [32, 33]

Number of awards from CRI between the years 2008–2020 (with the use of Tableau Public Software).

It is clear from gathering and analyzing the data in Fig. 3 that company participation grew steadily between 2008 and 2013. However, the number of businesses is declining over time, which may be related to Greece’s severe economic situation. On the other side, there has been a noticeable rise in awards for better places like Gold and Platinum, which will finally result in 2 Diamond awards for the first time in 2020–2021.

Fig. 3

Number of companies on social media and no of companies’ communicating CSR activities on social media in 2015 and 2020

Despite a growth in the number of businesses using social media, particularly Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn (the platform with the most interest), and Instagram, the number of businesses communicating CSR remained relatively constant. Although each of these firms has a separate section devoted to corporate social responsibility on their official websites, only two instances of the CRI logo were found in 2015 and three instances in 2020, indicating that there has not been much of an improvement. As for the CRI’s mention on corporate websites (Fig. 4), we can see that this number has dropped from 76 to 50% of organizations because many of them also mention other awards (like “Great Place to Work”).

Fig. 4

CRI’s reference on corporate websites in 2015 (25 companies) and 2020-number of companies (total 27 participating companies in CRI today)

5 Discussion and Conclusions

Legislation that would instruct businesses on how to define and manage CSR does not yet exist in Greece. A national CSR plan is not in place, and there is no legislative framework [31]. The goal of the current study was to determine the association between the economic trajectory and CSR behaviors of all the companies that took part in the CR Index between 2008 and 2012. One key conclusion was that despite the dire financial circumstances brought on by the recent financial crisis and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, CSR efforts have not been curtailed; rather, a more structured and effective CSR action plan has been noticed. This finding concurs with those of [20] and contradicts research [1] through [3].

When we looked at the CRI index, the authors saw for the first time that two Diamond awards had been made to companies that had taken part in CRI since its launch in the market in 2008. There are three possible interpretations for this distinction. First, membership in CRI drives and directs businesses to enhance their CSR strategies. Second, the Greek market and society adopt and mature the CSR concept each year. Third, the Covid-19 pandemic compelled businesses to implement more coordinated CSR measures and actions [1,2,3]. On the other hand, while the CRI logo was barely mentioned, nearly the whole sample of the poll makes reference to CSR on its corporate website. The research presented in this study suggests that businesses’ marketers and advertising might publicize these CSR initiatives and their projects. By extending the limited chronology with twelve years of research conducted after the 2008 recession, the paper contributes to the literature discussions on Corporate Social Responsibility communication and the ways in which these actions are impacted by the financial crisis. It highlights changes regarding the CSR actions and their communication of the chosen organizations from the start of the financial crisis until the present.