THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, CORPORATE REPUTATION, AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Formerly, it was considered that the main task of the corporate sector is to ensure economic performance. Nowadays, this attitude has changed and the term the bottom line has been replaced by the term the triple bottom line. Accordingly, not only financial performance but also the impact on the environment and society in which the organization operates is taken into consideration when measuring its effectiveness. Today, a corporation is not only expected to operate efficiently but also to be socially responsible. On the other hand, thanks to emphasizing social responsibility in their communication with stakeholders, corporations can have a positive reputation and good business performance. Therefore, the main goal of this article is to investigate how corporate communications managers of successful retail companies in Croatia, based on their practical experience, perceive the relationship between corporate social responsibility, reputation, and business performance. Specifically, the in-depth interview method was used to examine the attitudes of corporate communications managers of successful companies in retail market on the relationship between corporate social responsibility, reputation, and business performance. The results show that the surveyed public relations experts notice a positive relationship between corporate social responsibility and reputation, and also see a positive relationship between corporate social responsibility and business performance.

Keywords

• corporate social responsibility
• public relations
• reputation
• retail
• business performance
• corporate communication