PERCEPTION OF

EMPLOYEES IN SERBIA
ABOUT CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
Anđelka Stojanović, Sanela
Arsić, Ivan Mihajlović,

University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia

Abstract

This paper is a part of a more comprehensive research that is conducted at

Technical faculty in Bor, in cooperation with other states (Macedonia, Bulgaria,
Romania, Russia and Albania). One of the basic goals of research is to
determine the level of awareness toward a new business model which has
Corporative Social Responsibility (CSR) as a key element of sustainable
strategy. Results presented in this paper concerns part of research held in Serbia
with intention to identify perception and attitudes of employees about corporate
social responsibility, as well as to determine influence of some the company’s
activities, which apply this business model, have on employees.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, employees

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility is a business practice that implies the

company in its performance, besides the making profit as a primary motive,
takes into account influence on the environment in which operates. There is no
unique definition of CSR, therefore, numerous authors and institutions have
developed different levels and concepts for understanding and applying CSR.
The European Commission was presented a Green Paper “Promoting a
European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility”, where defines CSR
as “a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns
in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a
voluntary basis.” (European Commission, 2001, page 8)

Dahlsrud (Dahlsrud, 2006,pages 3-4) was studying 37 definitions of CSR

and after qualitative analysis he defined essence through the five dimensions:
the environmental dimension, the social dimension, the economic dimension, the
stakeholder dimension and the voluntariness dimension. The research, that we
are conducting, is taking into account all five dimensions defined by Dahlsrud.

Freeman and Liedtka suggested that employees should be considered “as a

vital part of value creation process’’ (Freeman & Liedtka, 1997,pages 286-296).
Employees are important because they have a double role in CSR practice, those
who implement CSR activities and those who are affected by the
implementation of CSR activities.

Companies introduce CSR in business practice with different intentions.

The CSR activities are investments due to resources that should be expended so
the motivation for managers to implement CSR activities can vary. Some use
CSR activities only for marketing purposes, to gain a better public opinion and
improve reputation. Other companies seek new ways for improving its business
practice trough innovation, upgrading of quality, improving working conditions
and safety, striving to create a balance between work and private life of
employees, taking care of environmental impact and usage of resources, with no
precise intention of acting socially responsible. The third group of companies
has a precisely defined concept to act in the socially responsible manner as part
of their business strategy and sustainable development plans.

Many researchers have been dealing with the relationship between

employees and CSR activities. MC Williams and Siegel have tried to identify
what is an appropriate level of investments in CSR that maximizes profit and at
the same time fulfills demands of stakeholders (McWilliams & Siegel, 2001,
pages 117-127). Also, models with multi-dimensional aspects are developed
(Reverte, Gomez-Melero, & Cegarra-Navarro, 2015, pages 1-15) whose results
show the significant influence of CSR activities on organizational performance.

In according with Maslow’s theory of motivation, Figure 1, managers

invest in human resources because, after fulfilling basic needs of employees it is
necessary to continue the motivation process. This is the method for
empowering workers and developing new capabilities and thus gaining stronger
corporate culture and achieves competitive advantage.

Figure 1: Maslow's hierarchy of needs

(http://www.hf.faa.gov/webtraining/teamperform/TeamImages/Chapman_maslow.gif)
For managers, it is very important communicating of their efforts,
collecting information and audit of feedback. They want to know is there any
effects on engagement, loyalty, and performance of employees and consequently
viewing of the company as a desirable place to get a job.

Research method

In this study, we used questionnaires as a tool for the survey. Questions

were found in surveys with the similar topic (Reverte, Gomez-Melero, &
Cegarra-Navarro, 2015,pages 1-15; Lee, Park, & Lee, 2013, pages 1716-1724)
and adjusted for this questionnaire. Some questions are related to a general
knowledge about CSR and the others are about averments which relate to the
five most important dimensions of CSR. It is used a Likert five-degree scale for
expressing the opinion of the respondents. Collected data were processed with
software package SPSS 18.0. The target group was employees in Serbia and 90
questionnaires were collected.

The research results

On the question do employees have basic knowledge about the existence of

CSR, we obtained following. The 45.6% of respondents know about the concept
and can explain it to someone else. Only 14.4% of respondents have never heard
of CSR practice. Based on above results, we can state that the employees have
certain expectations of the CSR activities in companies. Results show high
degree of agreement with statements about increasing the motivation (Mean
4.0667,Sd 0.88432), gaining better loyalty of consumers (Mean 4.0111, Sd
0.94208), and amelioration of company image (Mean 4.2667, Sd 0.88432).

Concerning five defined CSR dimensions, employees evaluate

environmental dimension as the most important dimension (Mean 4.1000, Sd
1.14214). The economic dimension is following (Mean 4.0333, Sd 1.15584),
then the social dimension (Mean 3.8889, Sd 1.11622), the voluntariness
dimension (Mean 3.4667, Sd 1.27376), and the stakeholder dimension (Mean
3.3000, Sd 1.26713).

Employees find some responsibilities more important than mere making

profit. Respect of employees’ rights employees from Serbia doesn’t find severe
problems in their organizations. As the worst problems they find unfair payment
(Mean 2.7222, Sd 1.60076) and overtime work (Mean 2.5444, Sd 1.51518).
Employees’ safety problems are on the third place (Mean 2.4444, Sd 1.44651).
Employees have also rated efforts of companies on workforce development
(Mean 2.9333, Sd 1.41262) and results show that they have the indifferent
attitude of this kind of activities.

Protection of the environment is the field of CSR that employees are aware
the most. Those activities are visible in companies, therefore, they don’t have
problems to recognize them. Energy saving has the best score (Mean 3.1000, Sd
1.49944) followed with recycling of waste material (Mean 2.8667, Sd 1.58078)
and management of environmental system (Mean 2.8444, Sd 1.26234).

As most important investments in local community, respondents have

marked the sponsorships of sports and cultural events (Mean 2.9000, Sd
1.50691), donating to organizations that are dealing with social activities and
have social influence on different groups (Mean 2.7333, Sd 1.40465), and
partnerships in projects with social involvement (Mean 2.6222, Sd 1.27709).

Some barriers related to CSR implementation are stated as: lack of

financial resources (Mean 3.4556, Sd 1.39953), lack of motivation among
employees (Mean 3.3000, Sd 1.32775), lack of information about CSR (Mean
3.1778, Sd 1.40287), absence of government support (Mean 3.1444, Sd
1.42656), and absence of public support (Mean 3.1333, Sd 1.21044)

Conclusion

Based on obtained results in this research, the employees in Serbia have

basic knowledge about CSR business practice. They perceive the concept as a
marketing tool for gaining market positions and loyalty of consumers as well as
employees themselves. In great number, the respondents as CSR activities
recognized mainly orientation on environment protection, and social
engagements, while other dimensions of CSR are lower ranked. They have
assessed the importance of activities connected with direct influence on work
environment, safety and improvements, mainly neutral. The attitudes of
employees concerning barriers in the implementation of CSR activities are that
mainly external factors have responsibility for a lack of CSR implementation
while their personal engagement they don’t perceive as important.

References
Dahlsrud, A. (2006). How Corporate Social Responsibility is Defined: an
Analysis of 37 Definitions. How Corporate Social Responsibility is .
European Commission. (2001). Green paper: Promoting a European framework
for corporate social responsibility. Brussels: European Commission.
Freeman, E., & Liedtka, J. ( 1997). Stakeholder Capitalism and the Value Chain.
European Management Journa lVo115 No 3 , 286-296.
Lee, E., Park, S.-Y., & Lee, H. (2013). Employee perception of CSR activities:
Its antecedents and consequences. Journal of Business Research 66, 1716–1724.
McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. (2001). Corporate Social Responsibility: a Theory
of the Firm Perspective. The Academy of Management Review 26(1) , 117-127.
Reverte, C., Gomez-Melero, E., & Cegarra-Navarro, J. (2015). The influence of
corporate social responsibility practices on organizational performance:
evidence from Eco-Responsible Spanish firms. Journal of Cleaner Production,
1-15.