STRATEGIC PHILANTHROPY: THE PERSPECTIVE OF CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY DRIVERS

Purpose: This paper aims to provide evidence of strategic philanthropy practices in the Czech Republic through an empirical study of the drivers of corporate philanthropy and to undermine special features of corporate philanthropy in the Czech Republic. Design/methodology/approach: The target group of Czech private companies engaged in corporate philanthropy was contacted through e-mail with a hyperlink to the online questionnaire. In total, 296 companies participated in this study. Secondary data were collected from the Albertina database, Anopress IT database and 2016-2018 annual reports. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The analysis was conducted for three years 2016-2018. Findings: Slack resources and visibility were found to be statistically significant predictors of the level of corporate philanthropy in 2017. Significant differences between industries were found as well as between the company sizes. The results indicate no statistical significance of the variable age. Research/practical implications: This article provides evidence that philanthropy in the Czech Republic is carried out with a strategic motive by finding relationships between corporate philanthropy and factors demonstrating this strategic motive. Future research might address different approaches to strategic philanthropy. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on strategic philanthropy. Although the strategic philanthropy literature is growing, the literature on philanthropic activity in post-communist economies is very scarce.