| Abstract [eng] |
In a modern economy, corporate social responsibility is an inevitable part of every branch of business, affecting not only the people involved but also the environment around the business. The rapidly changing business environment obliges companies to value social action, and companies around the world, driven by consumers and a new generation of executives, make social responsibility a priority. The study of the impact of corporate social responsibility on the financial results of companies in Sweden in 2015-2020 was carried out. In the first part it was found that statistics on social responsibility show that there is a high level of manifestation of the need for social responsibility in the workplace, and that statistics on gender and age discrimination and the pay gap between women and men show that relations with employees are important and are one of the main components of responsible activity. The issue of whether corporate social responsibility has a significant impact on the financial performance of companies, which are expressed in terms of financial indicators, has been highlighted. In the second part, it was found that most of the research on the relationship between social responsibility and financial performance is based on regression analysis, and social responsibility is assessed by social responsibility scores. The financial information of companies is measured using financial indicators such as ROA, ROE and other indicators that disclose the financial results of companies. The third part discussed the methodology under which the study was conducted. The analysis was performed using information of 76 Swedish companies - corporate social responsibility scores and financial information. Regression analysis models were developed. The study identified 6 hypotheses stating that six social responsibility scores - ESG, E, S, G, number of women on the board and the size of an independent board have a statistically significant impact on the return on assets, return on equity, net profitability, return on sales, current ratio and the Tobin Q ratio of Swedish companies. In the fourth part, the results of the study were presented, which showed that two out of six hypotheses were accepted - corporate social responsibility had a significant statistical impact on the return on sales and the Tobin Q ratio. Return on sales were significantly impacted by three of the six CSR indicators - the ESG score, the E rating, and the S rating, while the Tobin Q (corporate value) rating was significantly impacted by the ESG score, the E rating, the S rating, the G rating, and the number of women on the board - five out of six CSR indicators. Other hypotheses were rejected because only the G score had a significant effect on the return on assets and only the E score on the current ratio, and none of the social responsibility scores had a significant effect on the return on equity and net profitability. The analysis also revealed that the significance level of the generated regression analysis models is not high – only three model groups were more significant than 20% - the models of return on assets, return on sales and Tobin Q indicator. The other models developed, in which the dependent variables were return on capital, net profitability and current ratio, were not significant, as the coefficient of determination was less than 20%. |
