Effect of macroeconomic business environment on the development of corporate social responsibility in Baltic Countries and Slovakia

Abstract

Research background: Fluctuations in economic activity forced companies to change the traditional methods of organization and management and to search for new tools, knowledge, resources and competences in order to strengthen their positions. This has particularly intensified debates on corporate social responsibility (CSR) not only between business people, but also between pieces of research, industry leaders and government representatives. The ongoing global ecologic crisis quickened discussions about how the alternation of macroeconomic business environment influences the development of CSR. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to investigate how the changes in macroeconomic business environment influence the development of socially responsible activities in Baltic Countries and Slovakia. Methods: A statistical analysis of secondary data was used in order to reanalyse the data for the purpose of gaining new insights. The objectives of statistical analysis in this paper were twofold: firstly, to identify the challenges in macroeconomic business environment; secondly, to explore the development of socially responsible activities in different countries. The research period covered the years 2006–2016. The choice of this period is determined by data availability. Findings & Value added: The authors found that economic conditions may diversely affect the development of different dimensions of CSR. Even in unfavourable macroeconomic conditions companies continue to be involved in socially responsible actions because of long-run CSR benefits. The analysis is useful at an international level because it justified the development of socially responsible businesses in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, and has provided an opportunity to assess the tendencies of CSR development during the different period of economic cycle.

Keywords

• corporate social responsibility
• macroeconomic business environment
• economic recession
• Baltic countries
• Slovakia