The paper aims to clarify the implications of COVID-19 on corporate social responsibility (CSR). The research outlines an important role of CSR during the crisis and examines the pandemic impact on CSR practice of a company. The paper attempts to address the gap in the literature by considering CSR as a response strategy to uncertainties, pandemics, and crises. The study proposes how to adapt to the new normal applying CSR and examines the role of CSR in navigating through ambiguities. The paper analyzes the response to the pandemic crisis in terms of CSR and investigates the CSR approach of companies in Georgia. A semi-structured interview method was applied to collect primary data from companies implementing CSR activities. The novelty of the research results highlights the significance of strategic CSR practice during the pandemic to overcome challenges countries and societies are facing around the world. It contributes to the field of CSR management in times of pandemic and suggests future studies in this area.
Top1. Introduction
The Covid-19 pandemic impact is unprecedentedly devastating on the economy around the globe. The current crisis can be considered as a Black Swan type event, as it affects the operations of all companies, including CSR activities. Imposed restrictions have paused travels, tourism, businesses, and entire industries, while forced community lockdowns, quarantines, home working, and online studying. As a result, some companies went out of business, and some moved online entirely. Furthermore, some enterprises faced a decline in demand, while others experienced a sudden increase in receiving purchase orders. This unpredictable situation has caused unexpected challenges for companies. Consumer behaviors, experiences, and expectations have been altered dramatically as well. The society met the pandemic outbreak unprepared, and hence, it has had drastic economic impacts on all countries around the globe. Consequently, the habitual models may not work as economic, political, psychological, and socio-cultural domains are interwoven (Sigala, 2020). Thus, intense research in every area can be beneficial to explain the current developments and to predict the future.
The concept of CSR expresses the importance of joint efforts and helps companies to protect their reputation during the crisis. Obviously, crisis management begins long before the crisis occurs. In this respect, CSR can improve employee relationships and engagement with stakeholders. As a result of CSR practice, organizations enhance their abilities to restore business continuity, rapid return to the normal, or quickly adapt to the changes. However, it should be taken into consideration that companies could only minimize harms caused by the crisis if they have not implemented CSR before the crisis happened. The pandemic crisis impacts consumer behavior and brand perception, as they tend to make ethical decisions. CSR offers an opportunity for businesses to contribute to tackling urgent social and economic challenges.
In order to respond to the regulations due to the pandemic, companies have moved online. Since employees have worked remotely, they required more support from employers. CSR enables companies to ensure work-life balance and facilitate employees’ health and safety.
Therefore, CSR can be a powerful tool enabling a company to respond to the crisis resulted from the pandemic. In this light, few studies examine the relationship between CSR and the crisis, not to mention the pandemic implications for the CSR strategy of a company. Few of the existing literature investigate CSR as a response strategy to uncertainties and crises.
Thus, the presented paper is devoted to studying the effects of the pandemic crisis on CSR. The research strives to achieve several objectives: (1) to identify the CSR priorities towards community wellbeing during the new coronavirus pandemic; (2) to investigate how companies in Georgia approach their CSR efforts; (3) to assess the response to the pandemic crisis in terms of CSR; (4) to examine the role of CSR in adapting to the new reality.
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Firstly, the literature regarding CSR and crisis is reviewed, with a special emphasis on crisis communication, and relations with employees, consumers, and other stakeholders. Next, CSR in Georgia is discussed in light of the current coronavirus crisis. Then, research procedures are explained followed by the empirical study results and discussions of the findings. The final section concludes the paper and suggests future research avenues.