Corporate social responsibility in Maltese companies : an analysis

Abstract

This study aims to explore the current situation and development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Malta on the basis of the European Commission 2011 document 'A Renewed EU Strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility'. In Malta the phenomenon is relatively new; nonetheless many organisations earlier on considered it as philanthropy. Today the notion of CSR has expanded on a larger scale including everything from a socio-cultural, environmental and economic perspective. Following an in-depth analysis of the development of CSR in Malta, it has emerged that each stakeholder and company have a different perspective of this phenomenon. On the national scale, corporate social responsibility is developing at a significant rate. The data collection method is based on a qualitative approach through personal interviews with the main stakeholders. These include management of companies, and the stakeholders which include customers and employees) were carried out. Results show that in Malta CSR development is on a good track. A clear distinction emerges between local companies and foreign multinational companies in their perspective and development of CSR. This is due to the fact that multinational companies are more aware of this concept and have more resources than local companies. Stakeholders all believe that CSR in Malta is gaining momentum and is showing good results not visible in the past. The notion of giving something back to society is the basis for all companies. However, more needs to be done since Malta lacks a national policy on CSR and this is reflected in the expectations of the stakeholders. Notwithstanding the fact that the majority of stakeholders know about CSR, enterprises need to engage in additional CSR educational campaigns and informational channels to bring to the attention of customers the importance of these strategies for the well-being of society and a better understanding of the work engaged in by companies.