Corporate social responsibility and socio-environmental reporting practices: Evidence from an exploratory study in the Greek context

Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) and socio-environmental reporting (SER) are well-established practices among Greek companies nowadays, research into them within the Greek context is scarce, and little do we know about how they emerged and developed throughout the years, especially during a very unstable and turbulent socio-economic and business environment. The present study has been designed to address this gap, by adopting an exploratory design and a qualitative research approach. Participants were managers/BoD(N=32)and employees(N=427)of six listed firms –nationals and subsidiaries of multinationals. Data were collected through an online questionnaire for employees, in-depth interviews with managers/BoD and employees, observations of meetings focusing on CSR and SER, field notes and social reports. The data were analysed based on the stakeholder, legitimacy and emotional labour theories and thematically mostly through qualitative coding. Content analysis was applied to the social reports. The findings revealed various factors that drove the emergence and early development of CSR and SER, some of which were common for nationals and subsidiaries, such as the role of parent companies and managers. With respect to the impact of socio-economic instabilities on CSR and SER, the differences that might have existed prior to them between nationals and subsidiaries substantially disappeared as CSR and SER were already incorporated into their business strategy/philosophy. Additionally, following the socio-economic instabilities,CSR primarily centred on social needs and meeting the expectations of specific stakeholder groups, while the transparency of SER increased. Finally, managers’ and employees’ views on how CSR actions and the internal environment were depicted in reports diverged, thus potentially hinting at obfuscation and emotional challenges. The findings, which are discussed with relation to previous research,further add to the existing literatureand offer novel insights that extend understandings of CSR and SER. Limitations are acknowledged and suggestions for further research are also made.