Purpose – The purpose of this paper was identification and empirical assessment of the differentiation of consumers’ attitudes in Ukraine and Poland to Russian brands and other brands offered on the Russian market after Russia’s aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Design/methodology/approach – The main research methods include a systematic literature review and the authors’ own surveys conducted in November 2022. The research sample comprised 950 consumers – 67%of them were Poles, 30% – Ukrainians and 3% from other countries.
Findings – A respondents’ country (Poland and Ukraine) does not impact attitudes to brands offered on the Russian market after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Moreover, it does not affect and differentiate emotional engagement in the conflict and assistance to war victims. Cluster analysis resulted in identifying two groups on the basis of consumers’ declared emotional reactions to the war. The first group was smaller (N 5 353, 37.2%), referred to as “indifferent consumers”, and was characterized by a greater inclination to purchase brands offered in Russia. The other cluster, referred to as “sensitive consumers” (N 5 597, 62.8%), comprises those engaged in offering assistance to war victims, showing strong emotions in connection with the aggression and military activities and characterized by a clearly negative attitude to Russian and other offered brands and an inclination to boycott these brands.
Research limitations/implications – A short time horizon, the study confined to two countries, difficulties in reaching Ukrainian respondents due to power failures in Ukraine in the period of conducting the survey (November 2022), a non-representative research sample – overrepresentation of people aged 18–25 years. Practical implications – The research study contributes to the knowledge about consumer brand attitudes and preferences under unique social, economic and market conditions. These conditions were created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as well as the international and global character of the war in Ukraine. The significant implications of the study refer to brand communication policies and companies’ CSR-related declarations. A number of consumers’ errors were recorded, resulting from wrong brand retrieval, which were rectified at a later stage as a result of international restrictions imposed on Russia, harsh media criticism and social international embargoes imposed on brands offered in Russia. The marketing communication of contemporary global brands should give consideration to the informative function of CSR activities, and the communication process should be continuous. Critical attitudes and an inclination to boycott brands point to the possible consequences faced by inconsistent and ethically doubtful brand policies. This implication is clearly confirmed by the results of the study.
Social implications – The authors also wish to highlight the implications for practice and society. As mentioned earlier, Polish consumers involved in providing aid to victims of the war also expressed their opposition to the war by boycotting Russian products and international brands remaining in Russia. Popularization of the research results obtained by the authors can be a form of sensitizing the public to the need for long-term relief, awakening global awareness of the essence and importance of sanctions imposed on Russia, as well as the possibility of expressing opposition through individual purchasing decisions and boycotting brands still present in Russia.
Originality/value – The study allowed for identifying consumers’ differentiated brand attitudes in two countries: a country inflicted by war (Ukraine) and a front-line country, strongly supporting Ukraine (Poland). The research contributes to consumer behavior theories and studies of consumer attitudes and preferences from the perspective of international corporations’ CSR activities under the unique conditions of war. Also, it contributes to the knowledge of the mechanism of forming attitudes to Russian and international brands offered in Russia among CEE consumers.

Purpose – Nearly half of the surveyed SMEs in Poland admitted that there is a very strong competition on the market where they operate. Among the neuralgic factors they point to the lack of qualified employees (PARP, 2021). Companies can use CSR policies to attract competent employees and retain valuable ones. Therefore, the purpose of this research paper is to find out whether, according to employees working in SME companies, an active CSR policy influences their employment-related decisions.
Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected through questionnaires received from 618 employees of 29 SMEs in Poland through questionnaires, which were analyzed with the IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0 and Microsoft Excel 2019.
Findings – The survey results provide evidence that CSR activities are an important factor in employees’ decisions about potential employment and/or continued employment. In particular, the results show that almost all areas of CSR, except cooperation with the local communities, are important to employees. The survey also provides a clear answer as to which CSR initiatives benefiting employees of SME companies are the most important for them.
Originality/value – The conducted research fills a gap in CSR related studies on the SME sector in Poland. This is important, given the significant share of SME sector companies in the market in Poland and around the world.

Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to check the potential impact of gamification on communicating CSR issues.
Design/methodology/approach – The examination was conducted concerning the correlations between income/education level and communication effectiveness with and without gamification application. For the need of this study the survey was prepared, containing inter alia narration resting on helping Dwight to deal with the problems with adjusting to work environment, the problem often avoided in corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication research, especially gamified.
Findings – Findings show that gamification can help in this area, but depending on the author’s goal (spreading the news is the most relevant one).
Originality/value – Although the gamification gained substantial interest over the last decade, the results of applying the same into CSR communication are still very rare.

Purpose: The article analyzes the consequences of transformation in governance structures of stock exchanges on their CSR initiatives, in particular relations between their organizational forms and the number and nature of CSR initiatives as well as their influence on stock exchanges’ performance.

Methodology: In our study covering 40 European stock exchanges, we identified 527 sustainability practices implemented between 1992 and 2019. We divided these practices into two categories: internal, applying to the stock exchange itself, and external, targeted at listed companies. Moreover, we proposed a synthetic indicator of stock exchange development to measure its economic performance.

Findings: We found that publicly traded stock exchanges undertake a greater number of CSR initiatives and have a higher proportion of internal practices, than stock exchanges organized as non-public entities. Our study also indicates that a large number of implemented CSR practices positively affects the economic performance of stock exchanges, and furthermore, that internal practices have a greater impact than external ones.

Research limitations: The surveyed European stock exchanges may differ from stock exchanges in other regions regarding their CSR policies.

Originality: Our study proved that the corporatization of stock exchanges affect their CSR practices. It also showed that some types of sustainability activities affect performance in a more significant way than others.

Purpose: The goal of the article is to systematize the literature related to the role of stakeholder engagement in corporate social practices and related disclosures by identifying the main theoretical lenses, research methods, and topics undertaken by authors of articles under scrutiny.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The article systematically reviews and discusses existing studies in the area of management, social and environmental accounting, intellectual capital, ethics, and accounting. We identify and subsequently analyze 68 articles published over the years 2010–2020.

Findings: According to the study findings, stakeholder theory is most often used as a theoretical background. The survey is the most popular research method, while stakeholder engagement in social practices is the most common research problem investigated by the articles’ authors. Corporate stakeholders’ communication on social media is a new topic that emerged in the literature in the studied period.

Research Limitations/Implications: Our analysis is restricted to articles published in journals included in the ABDC Journal Quality List that are ranked B, A, and A* in a 10-years period.

Practical Implications: The article’s findings may be useful for researchers and practitioners who deal with corporate social practices, disclosures, and stakeholders’ roles in these processes.

Originality/Value: The paper offers an up-to-date literature review, identifies the main themes, research gaps, and provides relevant guidance for future research.

Purpose: Assuming a duopoly industry with pollution producing processes, the aim of this work
is to study the firms’ choice to engage in Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (ECSR)
by means of “green” managerial delegation, i.e. hiring managers with preferences for environ mental
concerns to whom owners delegate both sales and decisions to adopt green technology.

Methodology: Depending on the firms’ strategic choices, a two/three-stage game takes place solved
by the backward induction method to obtain sub-game perfect Nash equilibria.

Results: When the market structure is a Cournot duopoly, and the environmental sensitivity of
“green” managers is extremely low, then the engagement in ECSR is the firms’ dominant strategy,
regardless of the efficiency level of the available abatement technology. Nonetheless, firms are cast
into a prisoner’s dilemma. On the other hand, if “green” managers have low-intermediate to intermediate
environmental sensitivity, then either no ECSR, multiple symmetric equilibria, or ECSR
engagement can emerge as a result in equilibrium. Finally, if managers’ environmental sensitivity
is adequately high, then firms do not engage in ECSR. When a market entry game is considered
with the Stackelberg competition in which the incumbent adopts ECSR while the entrant does not,
socially responsible behaviors cause the market to be more contestable. However, the incumbent’s
owners can use ECSR to secure a dominant position in the market, provided that they hire “green”
managers with adequate environmental concerns.
Implications: In the case of entry, non-trivial policy implications arise. Due to increased competition,
the welfare of consumers improves (lower prices for the goods). However, the entry of a polluting
firm increases emissions. Higher emissions damage consumers and lower the overall social welfare
of an environmentally concerned government. Thus, a complete welfare analysis is required prior
to the design of a government’s regulatory intervention.

Originality/Value: This paper is the first that introduces the figure of the “green” manager who
shows, in its utility function, an environmental concern.

Purpose: The goal of this paper is to develop a framework describing the mechanisms which explain how and when CSR engagement affects company’s bottom line, based on a review of the business case for CSR literature.

Approach: This article is conceptual and based on literature review. By using a CSR stage development model, behavioral and stakeholder perspectives, it offers a descriptive multi­dimensional integrative framework of the business case for CSR.

Findings: The fndings show that the relationship between engagement in CSR activities and corporate performance (CP) depends on a CSR development stage, managerial interpretation of CSR issues, stakeholder management model and moderating factors.

Originality: This article integrates disconnected models and conceptualizations in the subject literature and contributes to the theoretical discussion by arguing that type and scale of benefts from CSR activity progress along the stages of organizational CSR development. Moreover, it also shows that the CSR­CP relationship depends on internal and external factors (mediators and moderators). It therefore supports the contingency argument.

Purpose: This study investigates the benefits of being perceived as a socially responsible company. The main purpose of the research was to find out whether company managers consider that certain aspects of company activity may benefit from being perceived as socially responsible. Research limitations: The primary source of data used in this study was a survey of respondents’ views and opinions rather than an analysis of extensive numerical data.

Methodology: The research methods included a literature review and a survey conducted in several Polish companies regarded as socially responsible. The so-called RESPECT Index, including socially responsible companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange Main List, as well as annual rankings of responsible companies were used as a kind of reputation database for choosing survey respondents.

Findings: The most important benefits indicated by the respondents included better frm image/reputation, improved relations with stakeholders, increased employee motivation, better communication inside the company, as well as more effective management and control over new aspects not considered before. Additionally, the identified benefits were analyzed using different criteria, such as the size of the company or its feld of activity.

Originality: The problem analyzed in this study is important, yet it is still not a suffciently examined issue in many emerging markets including Poland. As benefits taken into consideration in the survey are also valid for other financial markets, the results can be used for comparative studies of Poland and other countries.

Purpose: This study attempts to make a contribution to theory by disentangling the concept of creating shared value (CSV) from corporate social responsibility (CSR). In doing so, the study provides a preliminary outline for CSV analysis.

Approach: This study is conceptual in character. It is based on a review of literature on CSR and CSV and adopts the perspective of economic and social value creation.

Findings: The findings show that 1) CSR comes down to sharing the economic value created in order to build social value and 2) CSV is the process of change of the relation between a firm’s outcomes and inputs that generates social value. In other words, it comes down to economic value creation through creating social value.

Originality: This study provides arguments revealing that to understand the differences between the notions of CSV and CSR, it suggests adopting the concepts of economic and social value. The study therefore bridges the gap in theory in this respect and outlines a preliminary conceptual basis for CSV analysis. It is expected that the findings of this study will serve as a reliable basis for further discussion and CSV concept development.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the factors that determine the Japanese approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) to facilitate future empirical research in the Polish conditions.

Methodology: To conduct the research, the available literature concerning CSR, managerial behaviour and stakeholder relations in Japan was studied. The research was conducted onsite in Japan after consultation with local experts, both Japanese and foreigners, specialized in Japanese management and the economy.

Findings: The Japanese approach to CSR is strongly determined by their religious, philosophical, cultural, historical, economic and legal factors. It is proof of the concept of CSR contextuality, which provokes questions about the nature of the business relations of Japanese companies with their foreign counterparts and their style of management while investing abroad.

Research limitations: The methodology was only supposed to gain a general view of the factors infl uencing CSR in Japan. Studying more detailed issues with the use of empirical data was complicated because of the short time available for the research (6 weeks) and the relatively low level of transparency of the Japanese companies.

Value: The study helped in understanding managerial decisions and Japanese business behaviour in the context of corporate responsibility and the ethics of its everyday operations. It was the first research thoroughly analyzing many of the determinants of CSR in Japan, which may be valuable for any counterparts cooperating with the Japanese companies and foreign researchers analyzing Japanese management systems.

Methodology: The paper discusses major issues with references to existing literature and real business cases from S&P500 consumer discretionary sector.

Findings: The main fi nding of this paper is that CSRS could provide the company with a competitive advantage as a growing number of consumers become more sustainable conscious. It could also help to overcome the increasing consumers’ skepticism towards corporate social responsibility practices. Finally, it can also be seen as a step forward in defi ning what types of corporate activities are associated with desirable social and environmental gains.

Research limitations: Our sample was restricted to the U.S. fi rms from the consumer discretionary sector. Therefore, conclusions should not be generalized to other markets. Our study is based on the analysis of environmental and social responsibility statements and assumes that they accurately represent corporate commitment in majority of the cases.

Practical implications: CSRS offers corporations the opportunity to use their unique skills, culture, values, resources, and management capabilities to lead social progress by making sustainability part of its internal corporate logic.

Originality: The paper raises the importance of the different conditions necessary for making sustainable development concept an important part of corporate strategy.