Corporate social responsibility during COVID-19 pandemic

• Published in: Journal of open innovation Vol. 6; no. 4; pp. 1 - 21
• Main Authors: García-Sánchez, Isabel-María, García-Sánchez, Alejandra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI 01.12.2020; Elsevier Ltd; Elsevier Limited; the authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd; Elsevier
• Subjects: Altruism; CEO; Coronaviruses; corporate social responsibility; COVID-19; crisis; Economic activity; GDP; Gross Domestic Product; International organizations; Medical equipment; Medical supplies; Pandemics; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Social responsibility; Society; stakeholder engagement; Viral diseases; Spain; COVID-19; corporate social responsibility; crisis; CEO; altruism; stakeholder engagement
• ISSN: 2199-8531; 2199-8531
• DOI: 10.3390/joitmc6040126

The health, economic, and social consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have highlighted the need for collaboration among all agents to face a scenario that we have not before seen. The aims of this paper are to analyze the involvement that large Spanish companies have shown during the toughest moments of the epidemic and to determine the objectives these companies have pursued with them. The results show that several firms have shown a great commitment with society, developing actions that alleviate the consequences of the COVID-19 like others have developed several strategies with different objectives. More concretely, three clusters of responsibility have been identified: (i) protecting only the interests of shareholders and investors; (ii) favoring the wellbeing of the Spanish society in general and vulnerable groups in particular; and (iii) combining the previous altruistic actions with commercial interests.