THE MULTIPLE CRITERA ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract

The assessment of social responsibility (SR) in organizations requires a hierarchy of requisitely holistic factors and indicators. This paper introduces the development of measuring instrument for this multidimensional problem. Differently from using factor analysis based on principal component analysis extraction method, it presents the use of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to develop the multiple criteria model for the assessment of SR. It also discusses several approaches for the weights determination: because considering factor loadings of the indicators obtained via EFA does not tend to differentiate between the levels of importance, the SMARTER method based on ordinal scale was used in criteria weighting. It proposes the solutions for measuring local alternatives’ values with respect to indicators by using value functions. Application possibilities of the results of the multiple criteria assessment of SR are illustrated and discussed via a real-life case of organizations in Slovenia.

Keywords

• Exploratory factor analysis
• Multiple criteria model
• Social responsibility
• Weighting