CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AS A DETERMINANT OF EMPLOYEE LOYALTY AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

The paper presents the results of an international research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) conducted in post-transitional countries in Europe. The aim was to investigate the recognition level of the efforts in companies toward CSR activities by employees and their influence on perception and identification with those activities. It was expected that employees with a higher level of CSR awareness would show a greater level of loyalty and identification with the company and, therefore, perform their activities better. A number of significant issues were investigated, i.e. the purpose of CSR implementation, CSR activities in companies, barriers for CSR implementation, employee loyalty, and the performance of companies, along with how these factors are interconnected. CSR was accessed from the point of view of employees through a questionnaire, after which the proposed conceptual model and hypothesis were tested using SEM methodology. The results point out that a clearly defined purpose of implementing CSR can contribute positively to appropriate CSR activities and overcoming the barriers that can occur during implementation. In addition, statistical evidence was gathered showing that CSR activities significantly influence employee loyalty, thus more commitment from employees to the company. Finally, the findings indicate that the greater the loyalty of employees, the greater the performance and competitiveness of the company. The presented results can be very significant for decision-makers and researchers, as they highlight the specificity of CSR and can be used for creating appropriate business strategies that introduce and implement CSR in business operations in order to increase competitiveness and overall company results.