Modern Business Activities and Firms’ Performance: The Case of Corporate Social Responsibility, Evidence from the Greek Listed Firms in the Athens Stock Exchange
The motive for this research was an ongoing debate
over whether firms’ mission is solely to make profits or should contribute to
the social and environmental concerns that accompany the practice of Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR). More and more firms are reporting CSR activities
either because due to the legislative framework or cause of the benefits
derived from the engagement with sustainability goals. Corporate Social
Responsibility constitutes an activity in the modern business environment and
attracts the interest of the stakeholders. It is related to the firms’
activities for the protection of the environment and contributes to the society
since firms offer resources in the society, take care of employees’
improvement, become respectful to their customers and co-operate with suppliers
who are also oriented to the responsibility. Through this research, we
investigate the relationship between CSR activities and Corporate Financial
Performance (CFP) during 2016-2017 in Greece. Our sample consisted of companies,
listed on the Athens Stock Exchange, during the years of capital controls
implementation and before the end of the bailout memorandum with EU (in August
2018). We examine the effect of CSR disclosure on firms’ financial performance
and also if the better financial performing firms tend to issue significantly
more CSR reports. The results reveal that there is no significant correlation
between CSR and Corporate financial performance though a high percentage of the
sample discloses CSR activities.
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