Perceptions and Expectations of Corporate Social Responsibility in South Korea

Background and Purpose: According to the Korea United Way, 70% of the total donations in 2023, approximately 5 billion USD, came from corporations. Thus, corporations have a significant impact on the social work field, especially in terms of financial support. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to a company’s efforts to have a positive effect on the community, environment, and broader society. There is no fixed definition of CSR; rather, it is a culturally sensitive term related to the corporate role and responsibility in a society (Han, 2023). Therefore, it is critical to understand how citizens perceive and expect in terms of CSR. This study explored the perceptions and expectations of corporate social responsibility among South Koreans.

Methods: CSR expenditure and activity data were collected from the 2022 sustainability reports of the top 100 companies with the largest market capitalization in South Korea. In addition, the research is exploratory, comparative, and quantitative in nature, employing a survey questionnaire distributed to 1,500 conveniently selected Koreans in 2023. The survey comprised two parts: perceptions about CSR and expectations for future CSR. The perception of CSR included questions such as recognition of CSR activities, reasons for engaging in CSR, and benefits of CSR. The expectations for future CSR consisted of various questions focusing on social issues that corporations need to address, the importance of CSR areas, and priorities for addressing social issues. Descriptive statistics were conducted to explore the perceptions and expectations of CSR among South Koreans, as well as general information about CSR expenditure and activities.

Results: The total size of CSR expenditure among the top 100 companies was one trillion USD, which accounted for 0.16% of their total revenues. On average, each company had 18 CSR programs and the total volunteer time by employees was 1.91 million hours. Regarding the perception of CSR, 60% of respondents reported awareness of CSR activities. The most popular CSR activities were employee volunteer activities (18.1%), followed by NGO donations (17.5%) and public campaigns (16.7%). Koreans believed that CSR activities were aimed at increasing company revenue, and that CEO intention is the most critical for CSR programs. Seventy percent of respondents agreed that CSR influences their decision to purchase products, even if they are more expensive, and 76% would recommend products if the corporation provides good CSR programs. In terms of future CSR, people believed that corporations need to address or help handle social issues such as socio-demographic changes (20.9%), the environmental pollution (20.4%), and the labor market (16.8%).

Conclusions and Implications: The findings suggest that Korean citizens have specific ideas and requests for corporations regarding CSR. Therefore, the outcomes of the research are used to support recommendations for corporations to implement CSR strategies and appropriate programs to address and alleviate social problems.