Abstract
The study aimed to identify the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on improving the economic sustainability of enterprises in the agricultural sector based on the stakeholder theory. The development of the recommendations and the analysis was based on a study of the non-financial statements of Ukrainian agricultural holdings. The study determined that social responsibility measures have a direct impact on the economic sustainability of agricultural businesses through actions aimed mainly at different groups of stakeholders. The study found that eight out of 10 leading agricultural holdings in the Ukrainian market publish non-financial information, of which 50% publish information in an arbitrary form rather than in the format of internationally and nationally defined reports. The study determined that out of seven possible dimensions of corporate social responsibility (competitors, suppliers, consumers, producers, employees, community and environment), Ukrainian agroholdings focus their efforts mainly on consumers (23.33%), community (20%) and employees (20%), neglecting the opportunity to diversify social responsibility measures and ensure economic sustainability in the near future. The most appropriate changes in corporate social responsibility for Ukrainian agricultural holdings are to increase efforts to implement environmental measures, namely, to reduce carbon emissions, and improve resource efficiency and energy saving. The study determined that enterprises with a higher level of social responsibility demonstrate higher economic sustainability and the ability to adapt to the challenges of sustainable development. The analysis of empirical data confirmed the positive impact of socially responsible approaches on financial stability, innovation and competitiveness. The results of the study can be used to increase the economic sustainability of agricultural businesses by implementing socially and environmentally responsible solutions that reduce risks and increase partner trust and long-term development of the enterprise
Keywords
non-financial reporting, areas of social responsibility, stakeholders, resource efficiency, energy saving
References
- Agroprosperis. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from https://www.agroprosperis.com/en/about-us.html.
- Agrovista. (n.d.). Trade activity. Retrieved from https://agrovista.com.ua/en/trade-activity/.
- Alishli, A., Alili, A., Teymurova, V., & Huseynov, R. (2024). Labour market regulation of individual countries under an applied interpretation of Keynes and Friedman’s theories. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 29(1), 24-42. doi: 10.17512/pjms.2024.29.1.02.
- Astarta Holding. (2024). Annual report. Retrieved from https://astartaholding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2024-annual-report.pdf.
- Ayub, H., & Nawaz, H. (2022). Do the financial slacks improve the performance of agribusiness? A mediating role of corporate social responsibility activities. Journal of Finance and Accounting Research, 4(2), 76-98.
- Bekpayeva, Zh., Nikiforova, N., Zhanbyrbayeva, S., & Zhakypbek, L. (2025). Corporate governance in agricultural holdings: Ensuring transparency and efficiency in management decisions. Scientific Horizons, 28(3), 133-145. doi: 10.48077/scihor3.2025.133.
- Biró, K., & Csete, M.S. (2020). Corporate social responsibility in agribusiness: Climate-related empirical findings from Hungary. Environment Development and Sustainability, 23(4), 5674-5694. doi: 10.1007/s10668-020-00838-3.
- Braun, A. (2020). Sustainable investing: Higher returns with ecological, ethical and social investments. München: Münchner Verlagsgruppe GmbH.
- Brenner, B., & Hartl, B. (2021). The perceived relationship between digitalization and ecological, economic, and social sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 315, article number 128128. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128128.
- Bruch, H., & Walter, F. (2005). The keys to rethinking corporate philanthropy. MIT Sloan Management Review, 47(1), 49-55.
- Carvalho, M., de Santana Freire, R., & de Brito, A.M.V.G. (2016). Promotion of sustainability by quantifying and reducing the carbon footprint: New practices for organizations. In P. Grammelis (Ed.), Energy, transportation and global warming (pp. 61-72). Cham: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-30127-3_6.
- Chang, W., Yin, S., Yu, M., Teymurova, V., & Balabeyova, N. (2023). Impact of innovation on Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from China. Economic Analysis and Policy, 78, 1185-1194. doi: 10.1016/j.eap.2023.04.018.
- Chorna, O., Khrystenko, L., & Suslov, O. (2023). Study of the peculiarities, causes and consequences of the impact of corporate social responsibility of an agricultural holding on its economic security. Kyiv Economic Scientific Journal, (3), 158-169. doi: 10.32782/2786-765X/2023-3-23.
- Continental Farmers Group. (n.d.). Corporate social responsibility map. Retrieved from https://map.cfg.com.ua/.
- Coppola, A., Ianuario, S., Romano, S., & Viccaro, M. (2020). Corporate social responsibility in agri-food firms: The relationship between CSR actions and firm’s performance. AIMS Environmental Science, 7(6), 542-558. doi: 10.3934/environsci.2020034.
- Cristea, M., Noja, G.G., Thalassinos, E., Cîrciumaru, D., Ponea, C.Ș., & Durău, C.C. (2022). Environmental, social and governance credentials of agricultural companies – the interplay with company size. Resources, 11(3), article number 30. doi: 10.3390/resources11030030.
- Diaz-Iglesias, S., Blanco-Gonzalez, A., & Orden-Cruz, C. (2021). Theoretical framework for sustainability, corporate social responsibility and change management. Journal of Sustainability Science and Management, 16(6), 315-332. doi: 10.46754/jssm.2021.08.025.
- EpicentrAGRO. (n.d.). Technologies. Retrieved from https://epicentr-agro.com/directions/tehnologiyi/.
- European Commission. (2022). Corporate sustainability and responsibility. Retrieved from https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/industry/sustainability/corporate-sustainability-and-responsibility_en.
- Falciola, J., Jansen, M., & Rollo, V. (2020). Defining firm competitiveness: A multidimensional framework. World Development, 129, article number 104857. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104857.
- Fan, F. (2023). Brand, quality, and CSR: Which management strategy achieves high financial performance for agricultural small-medium enterprises? SAGE Open, 13(4). doi: 10.1177/21582440231219911.
- Fet, A.M., & Knudson, H. (2023). Systems engineering. In A.M. Fet (Ed.), Business transitions: A path to sustainability: The CapSEM model (pp. 127-136). Cham: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-22245-0_12.
- Fortunati, S., Morea, D., & Mosconi, E.M. (2020). Circular economy and corporate social responsibility in the agricultural system: Cases study of the Italian agri-food industry. Agricultural Economics, 66(11), 489-498. doi: 10.17221/343/2020-agricecon.
- Fosu, E., Fosu, F., Akyina, N., & Asiedu, D. (2023). Do environmental CSR practices promote corporate social performance? The mediating role of green innovation and corporate image. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption, 12, article number 100155. doi: 10.1016/j.clrc.2023.100155.
- Freeman, R.E. (2023). The politics of stakeholder theory: Some future directions. In S.D. Dmytriyev, & R.E. Freeman (Eds.), R. Edward Freeman’s selected works on stakeholder theory and business ethics (pp. 119-132). Cham: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-04564-6_5.
- Galan, S. (2025). Population – statistics & facts. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/topics/776/population/#topicOverview.
- Geursen, E. (2022). Sustainable human resource management as a key factor for successful business: A linguistic discourse analysis of selected corporate texts and print media. Berlin, Heidelberg: J.B. Metzler. doi: 10.1007/978-3-662-64738-7.
- ISO 26000:2010. (2010). Guidance on social responsibility. Retrieved from https://www.iso.org/standard/42546.html.
- Kernel Holding. (2024). Annual report for the year ended 30 June 2024. Retrieved from https://www.kernel.ua/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/FY2024_Kernel_Annual_Report_.pdf.
- Khumarova, N., & Mahats, N. (2023). Implementation of the conceptual principles of business social responsibility in ensuring rational water use. Economic Forum, 13(1), 8-17. doi: 10.36910/6775-2308-8559-2023-1-2.
- Konstantynovskyi, L., & Zmicerevska, D. (2023). Methods for assessing corporate social responsibility in the retail business. Development Management, 22(4), 37-44. doi: 10.57111/devt/4.2023.37.
- Li, T., Hao, L., Kubiczek, J., & Pietrzyk, A. (2022). Corporate social responsibility of sports club in the era of coronavirus pandemic. Zagłębie Sosnowiec case study. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istrazivanja, 35(1), 2073-2092. doi: 10.1080/1331677X.2021.1932547.
- LZN Group. (n.d.). Agro. Retrieved from https://www.lnz.com.ua/agro.
- Mahajan, R., Lim, W.M., Sareen, M., Kumar, S., & Panwar, R. (2023). Stakeholder theory. Journal of Business Research, 166, article number 114104. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114104.
- Martos-Pedrero, A., Cortés-García, F.J., & Jiménez-Castillo, D. (2019). The relationship between social responsibility and business performance: An analysis of the agri-food sector of Southeast Spain. Sustainability, 11(22), article number 6390. doi: 10.3390/su11226390.
- Mefford, R.N. (2011). The economic value of a sustainable supply chain. Business and Society Review, 116(1), 109-143. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8594.2011.00379.x.
- MHP. (2021). Sustainability report. Retrieved from https://api.next.mhp.com.ua/images/20ad4/51d31/6d9598761.pdf.
- Muscio, A., & Sisto, R. (2020). Are agri-food systems really switching to a circular economy model? Implications for European research and innovation policy. Sustainability, 12(14), article number 5554. doi: 10.3390/su12145554.
- Muster, V., & Schrader, U. (2009). Promoting sustainable consumption among employees. Ecological Management – Journal, 24(2), 12-13. doi: 10.14512/oew.v24i2.622.
- Nibulon. (2021). Sustainable development. Retrieved from https://old-version.nibulon.com/uploads/files/4e58a3a243db340fd08e95f9b47070d5e4d553e4.pdf.
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2023). OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises on responsible business conduct. Paris: OECD Publishing. doi: 10.1787/81f92357-en.
- Pechrová, M.Š., & Šimpach, O. (2024). Corporate social responsibility and the relationship to stakeholders in large agricultural holdings in the Czech Republic. Agricultural Economics, 70(4), 155-164. doi: 10.17221/369/2023-agricecon.
- Shrivastava, P., Smith, M.S., O’Brien, K., & Zsolnai, L. (2020). Transforming sustainability science to generate positive social and environmental change globally. One Earth, 2(4), 329-340. doi: 10.1016/j.oneear.2020.04.010.
- Singh, A.K., Jyoti, B., Kumar, S., & Lenka, S.K. (2021). Assessment of global sustainable development, environmental sustainability, economic development and social development index in selected economies. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 16(1), 123-138. doi: 10.18280/ijsdp.160113.
- Statista. (2024). Consumer attitudes towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) worldwide as of November 2022, by type of societal issue. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1372794/consumer-attitudes-corporate-social-responsibility-worldwide/.
- Ukrainian Business Award. (2024). Top-15 agricultural holdings Ukraine 2024. Retrieved from https://uba.top/agricultural-holdings-of-ukraine/.
- UkrLandFarming. (2024). Sustainable development. Retrieved from https://www.ulf.com.ua/en/sustainability/growth/.
- United Nations. (2024). Report of the Secretary-General “Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals”. Retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/report/2024/SG-SDG-Progress-Report-2024-advanced-unedited-version.pdf.
- United Nations. (n.d.a.). Sustainability. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/sustainability.
- United Nations. (n.d.b.). The 17 goals. Retrieved from https://sdgs.un.org/goals.
- Xuan, V.N., Thu, N.T.P., & Anh, N.T. (2019). Factors affecting the business performance of enterprises: Evidence at Vietnam small and medium-sized enterprises. Management Science Letters, 10(4), 865-870. doi: 10.5267/j.msl.2019.10.010.
- Yasinska, T. (2024). Research of the influence of corporate social responsibility on the enterprises activity results. Economy and Society, 67. doi: 10.32782/2524-0072/2024-67-82.
- Younis, F., & Chaudhary, M.A. (2017). Sustainable development: Economic, social, and environmental sustainability in Asian economies. Retrieved from https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/100551/1/MPRA_paper_100551.pdf.
- Zamula, І., & Ishchenko, А. (2021). Non-financial reporting of agricultural enterprises of Ukraine. Economics, Management and Administration, (2(96), 54-60. doi: 10.26642/ema-2021-2(96)-54-60.
- Zhou, Z., Jia, H., & Yang, Q. (2022). The influence of corporate social responsibility on business performance: Evidence from agricultural enterprises in China. Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 9(3), 83-94. doi: 10.13106/JAFEB.2022.VOL9.NO3.0083.