Features of CSR development in various sectors of the economy: case study from Ukraine based on the analytical-hierarchical method

Abstract

The object of research is the level of development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in various sectors of the economy. The conducted research solves the problem of the lack of a comprehensive assessment of the level of development of CSR in various sectors of the economy. The research method is the construction of an analytical hierarchical model (AHP) for assessing CSR, taking into account economic, social and environmental aspects. The empirical basis of the research is an expert survey of specialists in the field of management and CSR. The research results were processed using the Expert Choice software. The data show that for enterprises in the IT (0.316) and energy (0.323) industries, the most important aspect of CSR is the working environment (0.383). The latter can be explained by the high level of digital culture, the significant importance of human capital and environmental responsibility. Enterprises of the light, food and machine-building industries received lower weight coefficients (0.104; 0.11 and 0.146, respectively), which is due to the low level of investment in employees, lower interest in environmental initiatives or low participation in social projects. In general, the AHP analysis shows that CSR in Ukraine is formed at the expense of social, labor and public aspects, while the market and financial and economic blocks play a less significant role. The applied structured multi-aspect approach to expert assessment will allow to form priorities of components and elements of CSR in different sectors of the economy. The results can be used by enterprises of different sectors of the economy to form corporate social responsibility policies. The use of the AHP model allows to structure the decision-making process, reduce the level of uncertainty and increase the validity of resource allocation regarding corporate social responsibility.