Proceedings of 11th International Business and Social Science Research Conference
8 - 9 January, 2015, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Dubai, UAE. ISBN: 978-1-922069-70-2
Reporting Corporate Social Responsibility in Georgia
Iza Gigauri
Increasingly, not only Corporate Social Responsibility is important for companies but also
reporting about their activities to the society. Proper communication with stakeholders plays a
significant role in implementation of CSR. Annual CSR reports have become equally
obligatory, and in some cases even more demanded, than financial report. United Nations
Global Compact also involves Reporting initiative. All member companies commit to issue an
annual Communication on Progress, a public disclosure to stakeholders on progress made in
implementing UN GC ten principles. Also consumers are demanding that companies report on
their CSR. CSR reporting helps companies to improve their interaction not only with
stakeholders but also with the whole society.
Gradually, awareness about the advantages of CSR is increasing among companies operating
in Georgia. The UN Global Compact Initiative promotes CSR in Georgia. Progressively, some
Georgian companies present their CSR reports or include their CSR practice in their annual
reports. However, it is still a long way off until complete reporting practice that is promoted by
Global Compact. Therefore, this research aims to define demand level for CSR reporting, and
to create awareness among Georgian companies of reporting needs. The research objectives
herein were to ascertain the importance of CSR reporting for Georgian consumers. The core
questions address: how important is CSR reporting for Georgian consumers, and whether
Georgian companies should report on CSR? Which information sources do Georgian
consumers prefer for CSR reporting?
The exploratory descriptive research was conducted in the capital city of Georgia.
Respondents were selected by use of a purposive sampling method. Data were gathered by
means of survey, and the quantitative research method was used. The survey was conducted
through self-administrated questionnaires sending by Email. A five-point Likert scale, a tenpoint Stapel scale, and a seven-point semantic differential scale were used in the
questionnaire. The research results were analyzed using statistic software SPSS 15.0.
Descriptive statistics, Frequency analysis, Cross tabulation, as well as Onaway Anova was
used. Confidence interval is 95%.
The research demonstrates that the majority of respondents believe that Georgian companies
need to report on their CSR activities to the society openly. They consider CSR reporting as a
necessity for companies.
In addition, the research shows which information sources do Georgian consumers select to
receive CSR reporting. The most respondents prefer reports of independent experts to be
informed about CSR practice of Georgian companies. Respondents also consider company
corporate webpages as an important tool for CSR reporting.
Moreover, the research shows that CSR reporting need to be openly available and easily
accessible. Georgian consumers demand more comprehensive reporting which would be
available in the Internet. CSR reporting is a tool also for Georgian comsumers by which a
company can communicate its values and its progress in implementation of CSR goals.
Thus, Georgian consumers believe CSR reporting is obligatory for companies, so that
Georgian companies need to meet this demand in order to gain trust and favorableness of
Georgian consumers, which will lead to success in the market of Georgia.
Field of Research: Marketing
Keywords: CSR Reporting, Georgia, Communication, Stakeholder, Corporate Social
Responsibility, UN Global Compact.
_________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Iza Gigauri St. Andrew the First-Called Georgian University, School of Economics and Business
Administration.www.sangu.edu.ge
Address:53A
Chavchavadze
Ave.,
Tbilisi,
Georgia.
Email:
info@sangu.edu.ge, Phone: +995 32 225 82 43