Managers’ Approach to CSR and Its Relation with Firm Performance

Managers' attitudes towards CSR are an important factor influencing activities undertaken by enterprises. Managers may view CSR activities from a cost or benefit perspective. In the scientific literature, there is no compromise on the relationship between managers’ motivators and attitudes towards CSR with organization’s performance. The ambiguity of the results presented in the literature indicates the need for further research on the leaders’ concern for responsibility and sustainability and its relationship with organizationally relevant long-term outcomes. The aim of the research is to identify the impact of managers’ attitude towards CSR, their perception of costs and benefits of CSR activities on organization performance, both financial and non-financial. As a research method, a survey on a sample of 241 medium and large companies from fashion, cosmetics and household appliances, and consumer electronics industries operating in Poland was conducted. To analyse results and verify research hypotheses, PLS-SEM method was used. Results show that there is a relation between managers’ approach to CSR concept, depending on whether it is perceived in terms of benefits or costs. This relationship is different in the case of financial and non-financial results. The study contributes to the existing CSR literature, in particular on the relation between managers approach to CSR and company performance during the challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic.