Active and Neutral Governmental Roles in the Context of Implicit Corporate Social Responsibility Model

Abstract

Purpose

The topic of CSR and sustainability has gained great popularity in the past 20 years, especially among companies. While companies already have some experience with various approaches and their respective results, the same have not been assessed on national level. This chapter aims at providing an answer to the question “Which governmental approach to CSR leads to better results – active or neutral?”

Design/methodology/approach

In the chapter, the concepts of “active” and “neutral” governmental approaches are defined and explored. Having defined and distinguished between the approaches of governments, all EU countries have been assessed and assigned an “active” or “neutral” role. As a second dimension of the study, a sustainability ranking is taken, which compares the results of the countries in fields, often addressed by CSR. The ranking of the EU countries was then compared to their role in search of dependencies.

Findings

Clear links between the sustainability results and the government approach to CSR were not established in this study. Some relationships were found between the neutral governmental role and lower sustainability results. Nevertheless, assuming an active approach does not guarantee a top position of the country.

Research implications/limitations

Some of the major limitations of this work were related to the existing sustainability rankings of countries and the limited assessment of the results of governmental actions in the field of CSR. The current rankings and assessment are based on indictors, which sometimes cannot be related to governmental actions or policies, rather to the resources of the country. Additionally, there are hardly any publicly available assessments of the actions or policies of member-state governments.

Practical implications

A comparison of such type can be a useful guideline for governmental decision-making. A more detailed analysis of potential CSR approaches and their effectiveness can be transformed into specific recommendations to public authorities in the EU.

Social implications

The topic of CSR by definition is driven by social needs and opinions. The current study can be a useful tool in public discussions of governmental policies and their potential outcomes.

Originality/value

This is a novel study which assigns roles to EU governments and cross-references them to existing sustainability results in an attempt to draw conclusions about policy effectiveness.

Citation

Blagova, D. and Korkova, P. (2018), "Active and Neutral Governmental Roles in the Context of Implicit Corporate Social Responsibility Model", The Critical State of Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe (Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability, Vol. 12), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 83-100. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2043-905920180000012004