Corporate social responsibility and sustainability issues of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises

Zvaríková

2021

IJEK

The article aims to find out the perception of human capital issues by entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized enterprises within the V4 countries, who implement the concept of CSR in their managerial praxis. The paper is based on a questionnaire survey with data collection from September 2019 to January 2020 with a total of 1585 respondents. Statistical methods of Pearson's chi-square and z-score were used to test the hypotheses. The results revealed differences between countries in terms of employees' turnover, perception of employees as the most important corporate capital, or the implementation of participatory management style. On average, 93% of respondents consider employees the most important company capital across the countries. There is also a strong consensus on the necessity of evaluating employee performance and motivation to innovate work practices.On the contrary, differences in the opinion on staff turnover were found among researched countries. The highest rate of turnover is among Polish entrepreneurs, and the lowest is in Hungary. With the growing company's size, the turnover of employees is getting higher. A participative management style is mainly implemented in the praxis by Slovak entrepreneurs (90%) and least by Hungarian (68%). However, Hungarian entrepreneurs are highly aware of the fact that their employees try to increase their performance, and healthy competition prevails among them (74%). The results may be interesting for those who promote or implement CSR in the conditions of the researched countries.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

THE PERCEPTION OF COMPANY EMPLOYEES BY SMEs WITH CSR CONCEPT IMPLEMENTATION

Zvaríková

2021

IJEK

“…Much of the success of a progressive business depends on skills, experience, and enterprise management tools. It is important to note that each stage of the firm's activities requires specific skills (Belas et al, 2020b). Thus, the owners could use their knowledge and strengths, or at some stages, delegate the management of the process to managers (employees) who have the necessary experience and skills (Mamabolo and Myres, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The perception of using social media – a comparison of entrepreneurs implementing CSR in managerial practice and other entrepreneurs in selected V4 countries

Belás

Amoah

2021

MMI

Self Cite

The article aims to identify the perception of issues related to the use of social media in the business environment of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. The authors chose the concept of comparing entrepreneurs who implement corporate social responsibility with other interviewed entrepreneurs. An interesting comparison was made from the collected data. The article is based on a questionnaire survey of 1217 respondents. The study was conducted from September 2019 to January 2020. The chi-quadrat test and z-score were used to evaluate statistical hypotheses. The results showed that Czech entrepreneurs implementing corporate social responsibility have more negative answers than the surveyed entrepreneurs in other countries. Thus, less than 28% of Czech corporate social responsibility entrepreneurs agree that social media helps increase corporate growth, while in Poland – up to 49%. As many as 53% of corporate social responsibility entrepreneurs in Hungary and Poland agreed that social media could respond more flexibly to market developments. Czech entrepreneurs were lagging behind 35% of them. The results showed no statistically significant differences in all research questions regarding entrepreneurs without the implemented CSR concept. The article results suggested that Czech CSR entrepreneurs did not see the potential benefits of social media use. Although the study focuses only on 3 central European countries, the results are not generalizable. However, they are useful for those who promote positive impacts on companies through the social networks and organizations that promote corporate social responsibility. One of the tools for transparent communication with customers/suppliers could be by communication via social media. The study's findings could further help other entrepreneurs consider the benefits of social media in doing socially responsible business.

“…This concept enables wealth distribution for stakeholders through ethical systems and sustainable management practices integration (Adda et al, 2016). Nowadays, CSR implementation is also useful to mitigate the negative impact on the environment from business activities (Al-Hadi et al, 2019;Belas et al, 2021;Carroll, 2016). Through CSR, businesses strive for a positive impact on the labour, social and natural environment and thanks to that gaining a competitive advantage in long-term sustainability (Sharma et al, 2021;Stojanovic et al, 2020;Zastempowski & Cyfert, 2021).…”

Section: Theoretical Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to many authors, including Belas et al (2021), Dvorský et al (2020) and Zastempowski & Cyfert (2021) SMEs are unique due to their high share of the economy, which has a positive effect on the country's GDP. The current trend of large companies is to use SMEs as strategic partners to produce selected products or services that SMEs supply to large companies (Rocha, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Perception of Smes Bankruptcy Concerning CSR Implementation

Maroušek

Zvaríková

et al. 2021

IJEK

This study aims to evaluate the perception of bankruptcy by small and medium-sized enterprises from the V4 region. CSR implementation in business activities was selected as the comparison criterion. The research paper is based on a questionnaire survey of 1585 respondents. The data were collected from September 2019 to January 2020. The research hypotheses were evaluated using the χ-quadrat test and Z-score statistical methods. Differences between the enterprises which implemented CSR in business and other companies were found. The research focused on bankruptcy perception as a natural part of the business and as a valuable experience for future company development. Entrepreneur failure and self-confidence showed that V4 SMEs with implemented CSR are less likely to go bankrupt if adverse economic developments occur. However, less than 50% of entrepreneurs consider bankruptcy as a valuable experience for further business. The majority of managers who have experience with CSR implementation positively differed in their opinions versus those without this experience. In general, V4 entrepreneurs who implemented CSR have a more positive perception of bankruptcy questions. The results may be interesting for those who promote or implement CSR in the focused countries. Our findings can be helpful for entrepreneurs to consider the benefits of being socially responsible in the working environment conception.