CSR Maturity in Polish Listed Companies: A Qualitative Diagnosis Based on a Progression Model

Transformation from a centrally planned economy to a market economy in 1989 created new challenges for the enterprises in Poland. Free market brought economic liberty, but also the need to take responsibility for the business’ impact on the environment. The last 20 years have brought intensive development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Polish conditions: The institutional context supporting CSR has improved and so did the implementation of the CSR by the business. Intensive growth of CSR practices demands a reflection on the effectiveness of the implementation. This study’s contribution is a comprehensive diagnosis of CSR maturity of the enterprises in Poland using a conceptual CSR maturity model. The model is comprised of three perspectives: CSR process maturity, CSR formal maturity and CSR developmental maturity. CSR practices of 93 listed companies from nine industries were studied in 2016–2017. A qualitative content analysis of the enterprises websites was used as the method of study. The main finding was that the level of CSR practices of the enterprises in Poland is still rather low. Forty-seven percent of the enterprises implement incidental CSR, 30% tactical CSR and 23% apply strategic CSR. CSR maturity level is company size- and industry-dependent