The Effect of Financial Crisis in Corporate Social Responsibility Performance

Abstract

The aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of financial crisis in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)performance. An empirical analysis is conducted, based on companies that implement Global Report Initiatives(GRI) reporting guidelines modifying the application level in a point score system. Totally, 112 companies areincluded in the GRI report list in 2007, pre-financial crisis, 2008, 2009 and 2010. The Wilcoxon signed rank sumtest is used in order to ascertain whether an economic downturn affects CSR performance. Results indicateincreased CSR performance before and during the financial crisis except for the period 2009-2010. Companiesincrease their performance in order to regain the lost trust in businesses. The study also promotes a discussionwith regards to a financial crisis and CSR performance and reporting.