Defining the total CSR z-score : a methodological approach using regulations, standards and guidelines through application to the Greek market

Abstract

Corporate responsibility is a complex and multidimensional concept, and this is what makes it difficult to quantify. The main purpose of this article is to construct a composite, but easily applicable and interpretable index for measuring the corporate social responsibility of companies. By combining existing legislation, reporting and measurement standards, as well as reward criteria, we have created 44 variables which cover all dimensions of CSR, including sustainability, and apply to the whole range of business activities. In order to collect values for the remaining qualitative variables, a prototype questionnaire was drawn up and completed by the 100 largest companies operating in Greece for a period of 3 fiscal years. Through the categorical principal components analysis procedure, we converted the above variables from the increasing categorical type to quantitative. We then performed the elbow technique to find the optimal number of clusters in which the companies and organizations in the sample could be integrated, and then we applied a hierarchical cluster. The above is a necessary procedure to be able to perform discriminant analysis, and through it, to calculate the Total CSR (ESG and Internal CSR) z-score for each new company. The equation generated by the discriminant analysis to calculate the z-score can calculate the “Total CSR Z-Score” for the companies. The contribution of our work is to establish the variables that shape corporate social responsibility and, through them, to determine a comprehensive summary index for its calculation. The practical value of the article is that it proposes a quantitative measurement of the level of corporate responsibility of each company, allowing comparisons between companies.