Corporate Social Responsibility of Retailers: A Review of the European Studies

Introduction

Retail trade activity has social significance, which manifests itself in meeting the population's demand for consumer goods, ensuring their physical accessibility and price affordability. Consolidation processes in retail trade lead to the fact that retailers become the largest employers, taxpayers, participate in the development of infrastructure in the regions of presence. Retail trade networks have resources sufficient not only to perform their direct functions but also to participate in solving global problems of mankind, including those related to health, poverty, environmental situations, etc. Small trade business also makes a significant contribution to the budget and employment [4] (Bragin, Nikishin, Pankina, 2018).

If previously retail trade was considered mainly from a commercial point of view, more and more attention has been paid to its social aspects in recent years. In particular, the social aspects of retail were touched upon by Beletskiy (2012), Ivanov and Orlov (2013), Kurenkova (2013), Karashchuk and Zvereva (2016), Chernukhina and Krasilnikova (2016), Kishko, Malinin, Mayorova (2017), Panasenko et al. (2018) and others [2, 14, 25, 33, 7, 28, 39] (Beletskiy, 2012; Ivanov, Orlov, 2013; Karashchuk, Zvereva, 2016; Kurenkova, 2013; Chernukhina, Krasilnikova, 2016; Kishko, Malinin, Mayorova, 2017; Panasenko, Krasilnikova, Bazhenov, Cheglov, 2018].

It is advisable to turn to European studies while considering the social aspects of retail. A lot of attention is traditionally paid to the social and environmental aspects of doing business in European countries. It is manifested in the implementation of the principles of sustainable development in the strategic documents of the European Union, including the Sustainable Europe 2030 Strategy [1]. Corporate social responsibility is included in reporting by 77% of European companies [2].

The article is devoted to European research in the field of corporate social responsibility of retailers.

The objective is to provide an overview of publications by European authors on the corporate social responsibility of retailers.

Such a review will allow:

1) identifying areas of research in the field of corporate social responsibility of retailers that are of greatest interest to the European scientific community;

2) identifying those areas of research that are relevant and practically significant, but do not receive much attention from European scientists.

The results will help scientists make a more informed choice of research topics. It is also of practical importance to disseminate advanced European experience in countries where corporate social responsibility has been developing for not so long and not so actively, including in Russia.

Data and methodology

The initial data were the publications of the Scopus database as of April 4, 2021. In total, the database indexed 22,960 publications containing the term "corporate social responsibility" in the title, description, or keywords.

The search was carried out on the "TITLE (corporate AND social AND responsibility AND retail*)" query in European countries. The European countries include the member states of the European Union, as well as Great Britain, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Monaco, which are directly integrated into the single European system of socio-economic relations. The search period was not limited. One duplicate publication was excluded from the query results.

The analysis of the found publications of European authors on the corporate social responsibility in retail included three stages:

1) analysis of the dynamics and structure of publications;

2) analysis of keywords, their grouping by topic;

3) analysis of citation, including an extended analysis of the citation of the most cited publications.

Results

In total, the Scopus database includes 3263 articles published by European authors and containing the words "corporate social responsibility" in the title. The first of these articles dates 1974 and focuses on corporate social responsibility planning [6] (Challen, 1974).

Among 3263 articles on corporate social responsibility, only 32 (i.e. about 1%) focus on retail. The corporate social responsibility of retail, namely the grocery one, was addressed directly for the first time only in 2000 [41] (Piacentini, Macfadyen, Eadie, 2000), after which there were no publications for another four years. From that point on, no pronounced tendency to increase the number of publications was found (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Number of publications by European authors on corporate social responsibility of retailers

Source: compiled by the author based on Scopus data (https://www.scopus.com) as of April 5, 2021.

One-third of all articles are published by authors from the UK. Authors from Germany, Italy, and Sweden also show great publication activity (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Structure of publications by country of affiliation of authors

Source: compiled by the author based on Scopus data (https://www.scopus.com) as of April 5, 2021.

Among specific European scientists, Jones and Comfort, currently representing the University of Gloucestershire (Cheltenham, United Kingdom), and Hillier from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, United Kingdom) have made the greatest contributions to the study of corporate social responsibility of retailers. In 2005–2006, they conducted research on the corporate social responsibility of British retailers, primarily grocery ones [23, 17–19] (Jones, Comfort, Hillier, Eastwood, 2005; Jones, Comfort, Hillier, 2005a; Jones, Comfort, Hillier, 2005b; Jones, Comfort, Hillier, 2006). This was followed by studies of the top ten global retailers [20] (Jones, Comfort, Hillier, 2007a) and the relationship between corporate social responsibility and retail marketing [21, 22] (Jones, Comfort, Hillier, 2007b; Jones, Comfort, Hillier, 2008). More recent studies have focused on corporate social responsibility reporting of UK food retailers [24, 16] (Jones, Hillier, Comfort, 2014; Jones, Comfort, 2019).

The University of Gloucestershire (9 publications) and the University of South Wales (8 publications), located in the United Kingdom of Great Britain, are the leaders among the organizations in terms of the number of publications on corporate social responsibility of retailers. The above-mentioned authors Jones, Hillier, and Comfort are affiliated with these organizations. Other organizations (Universitat Trier, Prague University of Economics and Business, etc.) account for 1–2 publications.

No funding source was identified for 90% of the reviewed publications in Scopus. Another 10% of the studies were funded by the University of Edinburgh (UK), the Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation, and the Tore Browaldh Foundation (Sweden), TrygFonden (Denmark).

Most of the works (91%) are published in journals, another 9% – in the form of book chapters. At the same time, 25 publications (78%) are articles, two are reviews, one is a conference paper, and one is a note. Reviews focus on the relationship between retail marketing and corporate social responsibility [21] (Jones, Comfort, Hillier, 2007b) and assurance of corporate social responsibility reports [24] (Jones, Hillier, Comfort, 2014). The conference paper deals with the economics of corporate social responsibility in retailing [3] (Besley, Ghatak, 2007). An exploratory commentary on how storytelling is employed in the corporate social responsibility reporting process by the leading U.K. food retailers [16] (Jones, Comfort, 2019) is presented in a form of a note. The chapters in the books examine the relationship between retailers and suppliers in the context of corporate social responsibility [47, 36] (Stefańska, Stefański, 2015; Musso, Risso, 2017), as well as the use of corporate social responsibility in brand building in the retailing grocery industry [5] (Candelo, Casalegno, Civera, 2014). All publications have been prepared in English, with the exception of one in Croatian, on the perception of corporate social responsibility of food retailers by consumers in Croatia [53] (Zlatar-Vulić, 2020).

Considering the number of articles published by European authors on the corporate social responsibility of retailers, one can note the British Food Journal (3 publications), Business Strategy and the Environment, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, and Journal of Business Ethics (2 publications each) among the journals. Other journals published one work each.

More than 80% of publications are related to the field of business, management, and accounting. Other industries in which European authors conduct research on corporate social responsibility in retail include social sciences; economics, econometrics, and finance; agricultural and biological sciences; environmental science; arts and humanities; energy.

Table 1 presents a grouping of keywords used in articles by European authors on the corporate social responsibility of retailers. If one excludes the "corporate social responsibility" and "retail" groups, which were targeted by the search query, it is popular to indicate the region of study, as well as to study corporate social responsibility in relation to consumers, in the context of management and marketing.

Table 1

Keywords in publications of European authors on corporate social responsibility in retail

The number of citations of publications by European authors on corporate social responsibility of retailers is increasing (Figure 3), which indicates an increase in scientific interest in the topic under consideration. Data for 2020 is expected to be updated. At the same time, as of April 14, 2021, 41 citations for 2021 have already been uploaded to Scopus.

Figure 3. Number of citations of publications by European authors on corporate social responsibility in retail

Source: compiled by the author based on Scopus data (https://www.scopus.com) as of April 5, 2021.

Table 2 presents publications by European authors on corporate social responsibility in retail, ranked in order of decreasing citations. Collectively, they have been cited 1087 times.

Table 2

Citation of publications by European authors on corporate social responsibility in retail

It is noteworthy that more than half (56.6%) of all citations are in the first five publications. The first nine publications were cited 870 times, which is 80% of the total number of citations (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Distribution of publications by the number of citations

Source: compiled by the author based on Scopus data (https://www.scopus.com) as of April 5, 2021.

Among the most cited publications, only the first two show a steady linear increase in the number of citations – by Besley and Ghatak (2007) (Figure 5a) and by Perrini et al. (2010) (Figure 5b). The first publication [3] (Besley, Ghatak, 2007) deals with the public goods and the economics of corporate social responsibility. The second [3] (Besley, Ghatak, 2007) investigates the determinants of consumer attitudes toward organic products marketed by retailers under a private label. The results showed the customers were more likely to trust the private-label organic products sold by a retailer when it is considered socially responsible.

The number of citations of the article by Piacentini et al. (2000) (Figure 5f), first cited in 2002, also increases, but it is incorrect to predict a further increase with a coefficient of determination less than 0.5. This article focuses on the motivations of food retailers to engage in corporate socially responsible activities. The authors found the main motivations are space maximization, profitability, and customer pressure, not philanthropic motivations. The interest of scientists in the article by Lombart and Louis (2014) is increasing (Figure 5g). However, despite the linear growth in the number of her citations in 2015–2020, it is also incorrect to predict a further increase (due to the limited time series). The article investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility policy and its price image on retailer personality, along with consumers' satisfaction, trust, and loyalty.

The number of citations of five more articles from the top 9 varies unevenly, the coefficients of determination are less than 0.3 (Figure 5c, Figure 5d, Figure 5e, Figure 5h, Figure 5i). Representatives of the Netherlands Kolk and van Dolen, together with a Chinese scientist Hong, conducted an analysis of corporate social responsibility of retailers in China [29] (Kolk, Hong, van Dolen, 2010). Anselmsson and Johansson (2010) enhanced the understanding of what consumers place on different aspects of corporate social responsibility when evaluating and purchasing grocery brands and products. Jones et al. (2005b) on the basis of the reports and information posted on the world wide web offered a preliminary exploration of the corporate social responsibility issues being addressed by the UK's top ten retailers. The same authors, together with Eastwood, also published a paper offering a preliminary case study exploration of the corporate social responsibility issues being addressed and reported by the UK's leading food retailers [23] (Jones et al., 2005). Rounding out the top 9 most cited publications is again an article by Jones et al. (2007b). Its purpose was to present an exploratory examination of the ways in which large retailers in the UK are using corporate social responsibility as a means of communicating with customers while they are in the store.

Figure 5. The number of citations of the most cited publications

Source: compiled by the author based on Scopus data (https://www.scopus.com) as of April 14, 2021.

The latest research by European authors in the field of corporate social responsibility in retail is related to consumer behavior and perception [53, 49, 10] (Zlatar-Vulić, 2020; Swaen, Demoulin, Pauwels-Delassus, 2020; Fernández-Ferrín, Castro-González, Bande, 2021). In addition, in 2020, an article on corporate social responsibility of the food retail sector in Vietnam was published, where fair operating practices, food quality and safety, transparency, procurement, labor rights, environmental protection, philanthropy, and sustainable food offerings were the main topics [51] (Vo, Arato, 2020).

Discussion

Despite the great interest of European scientists in corporate social responsibility, its features in retail are rarely considered. Retail provides the population with consumer goods, that is, the very fact of retail trade has a significant social effect. Consolidation processes contribute to the accumulation of resources at retailers, sufficient not only to fulfill immediate tasks but also to participate in solving global problems of mankind. In modern conditions, the corporate social responsibility of retailers is relevant, practically significant, and requires more attention from the scientific community.

Summarizing the information about the publications of European authors on the corporate social responsibility of retailers, one can distinguish the three most popular areas of research in this area.

1. A study of the economic aspects of corporate social responsibility, its impact on the financial performance of retailers.

Justification of the dependence of the financial efficiency and competitiveness of retailers on the level of corporate social responsibility could become a driver of its development. On the other hand, such studies are necessary to increase the economic effect of corporate social responsibility in retail, to improve the strategic tools for managing it.

The problems of the relationship between corporate social responsibility, financial efficiency, and competitiveness are popular among modern scientists and are considered in relation to different industries and regions, but the research results are heterogeneous [35, 8, 37, 12, 31, 38, 48] (McWilliams, Siegel, 2000; Del Mar Miras Rodríguez, 2014; Oh, Park, 2015; Gupta, Muralidharan, 2017; Kooskora, Juottonen, Cundiff, 2019; Okafor, Adusei, Adeleye, 2021; Su, Weng, Yang, 2021).

2. Research of the influence of corporate social responsibility of retailers on consumer behavior.

Consumer perceptions of corporate social responsibility directly affect its economic value to a retailer. Consumers are one of the key groups of stakeholders, meeting their interests and expectations is an important task for a retailer in corporate social responsibility management. Research in this direction is substantiated and relevant.

At the same time, the reviewed studies of European authors pay very little attention to employees, although they are called the key group of stakeholders and the main priority of most companies [52, 30, 32] (Wittenberg, 2012; Komissarova, Mayorova, 2017; Kornilova, Karashchuk, 2017). The labor of retail trade workers, including the trade and operational ones, has its own characteristics, and social responsibility to them requires independent research.

3. Research on corporate social responsibility of retailers in relation to health management.

The increasing popularity of a healthy lifestyle, healthy diet, sports is a well-known trend in modern society [26, 27] (Kazantseva, 2018; Kazantseva, Soldatenkova, 2018). By satisfying the growing demand for healthy food, sports, and active lifestyle products, etc., retailers, on the one hand, contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals, and they meet consumer expectations on the other hand, which ultimately has a positive effect on financial results.

The topic of health is also related to the environmental responsibility of retailers, some aspects of which are addressed in the studies reviewed by European scientists. Retailers have a significant impact on the environment and nature, including due to harmful emissions into the atmosphere during the transportation of goods, significant energy consumption when lighting stores, the use of large volumes of packaging materials, including polyethylene, cardboard, etc. Environmental responsibility issues are of high relevance and require additional research.

The results obtained have limitations related to the data source and the search query.

First, only publications indexed in Scopus were analyzed. Scopus is a world-famous scientometric system that provides high-quality indexed materials. At the same time, scientifically significant publications, which for one reason or another are absent in Scopus, were not considered in the study.

Second, the search for publications by European authors on corporate social responsibility of retailers was carried out for only one request. The abbreviation "CSR" or, for example, the "socially responsible" wording were not considered. Concepts related to corporate social responsibility, including the concept of sustainable development popular in Europe, were also not considered.

As mentioned above, there were 32 publications by European authors on the corporate social responsibility of retailers. The same search query, without specifying the region, revealed 66 publications. Thus, on the one hand, industry publications account for an extremely low share in the total number of publications on corporate social responsibility (about 1%) for European authors. On the other hand, publications by European authors on corporate social responsibility of retailers account for almost half (48.5%) of all publications in this area.

Conclusion

A review of publications by European authors on corporate social responsibility of retailers led to the following results and conclusions.

1. Despite the considerable interest of European scientists in corporate social responsibility, very little attention is paid to its peculiarities in retail. No pronounced tendency to an increase in the number of publications was found. At the same time, publications by European authors make up almost half of publications on corporate social responsibility in retail around the world, which allows calling European science the forefront in this area.

2. The authors Jones, Comfort and Hillier show the greatest publication activity in the field of corporate social responsibility in retail. Given the affiliation of these authors, the University of Gloucestershire and the University of South Wales are leading in terms of the number of publications among universities, with Great Britain leading among countries. Authors from Germany, Italy, and Sweden also show great publication activity. Most studies do not have special funding.

3. There is no clear leader among journals in the number of publications by European authors on corporate social responsibility of retail. Publications are evenly distributed, including in the British Food Journal, Business Strategy and the Environment, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, Journal of Business Ethics, and other journals. More than 80% of publications are related to the business, management, and accounting fields of knowledge.

4. A review of keywords and citations showed three areas of research in the field of corporate social responsibility of retail, which are of greatest interest to the European scientific community:

1) A study of the economic aspects of corporate social responsibility, its impact on the financial performance of retailers.

2) Research on the influence of corporate social responsibility of retailers on consumer behavior.

3) Research on corporate social responsibility of retailers in relation to health management.

5. Relevant and promising, but less studied in European science, are the problems of corporate social responsibility of retailers to personnel and environmental responsibility of retailers. These problems are considered urgent, practically significant, and require more attention from the scientific community.

[1] A Sustainable Europe by 2030. URL: https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/reflection-paper-towards-sustainable-europe-2030_en (access date March 17, 2021).

[2] Reflection paper towards a sustainable Europe by 2030. European Commission COM(2019)22 of 30 January 2019. URL: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/rp_sustainable_europe_30-01_en_web.pdf (access date March 17, 2021).