CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY COMMUNICATION IN WESTERN BALKANS BANKING INDUSTRY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting activity in the Western Balkans (WB) banking industry. The first aim of the study is to measure the level of CSR reporting activity of banks within Western Balkan Countries (WBC), and the second is to compare the results within WBC and with other countries and regions in the world. We apply the method of content analysis to measure the CSR reporting activity of all licensed banks in WB actively operating until May 2019. Findings indicate that almost half of the banks from WB do not disclose any social responsibility information on their websites. Only a small number of banks prepare independent CSR report, while almost half of the banks who have CSR disclosure, report their CSR initiatives through a web link/heading. One-quarter of the banks report their CSR activities within their financial or annual report. External disclosures are most frequently reported. The category of community involvement is the most frequently reported, while the second most reported CSR activity is under the category of environment. The regression analysis revealed that the size of the banks represented in terms of total assets is a modest predictor of the level of CSR reporting. The paper contributes to the scarce literature of CSR reporting in the banking industry from WB. The results from this study can help academic researchers, business practitioners and policymakers to better understand the phenomenon of CSR communication in the banking industry in the region of WB.