EJIST - European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

Corporate social responsibility is a complex concept and its design integrates economic, social and environmental issues, pointing out the operational effects on a voluntary basis. It is considered a strategic point in the actual evolution of the economy, due to the financial market dynamism, being identified a critical correlation between financial crises and corporate social responsibility. The main purpose of this paper is to synthesize, through a literature review, the multiple dimensions of CSR, with a special emphasis on the theoretical approach. In order to provide a coherent overview on the banking CSR, it will be proposed a division of the CSR theories according to: (1) the ethical approach, (2) the stakeholders approach, and (3) the corporate governance approach. The major aim of this paper is to fill a gap in the theoretical approach of the CSR for the banking system, due to the necessity to unify the CSR reporting elements in order to find a balance between the bank’s organizational structure and their legitimacy to operate on the financial market. Read more

Keywords:
corporate social responsibility, financial market, stakeholders
JEL:
M14, G21

The main purpose of this paper is to define and explore the People-oriented elements in the corporate social responsibility strategies of the banking industry in Romania based on the ‘triple bottom line’ theory. Taking into consideration the particular position of the social issues in the CSR mechanism, this research can provide useful insights in the Romanian banking sector assessment, and thus help the bank managers to better integrate the community needs in their CSR agenda and to report the CSR outputs according to the ‘triple bottom line’ approach. The present paper analyses the CSR visibility in the Romanian banking industry, identifying the main reasons behind the CSR decisions, trying to distinguish between different CSR dimensions through a coding process that will reveal the dominant theme of CSR activity in the mentioned sector. In more specific terms, the majority of the banking institutions from the sample have focused on the social dimension of CSR, suggesting a leading direction for the social responsible actions in the current Romanian banking system, with direct implications on CSR communication, reputation or client’s perceptions. Read more

Keywords:
people, corporate social responsibility, bank
JEL:
M14, G21