The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the CSR Practices in the Romanian Banking Sector

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly changed the Romanian banking sector, which was forced to adapt to digital technologies and to provide accessible banking services for all kinds of custsomers. The corporate social responsibility practices evolved during the pandemic, from general causes to more targeted initiatives, the Romanian banks offering innovative solutions to fight against the health crisis. The present paper provides a good insight in the corporate social responsibility practices before the pandemic and during the COVID-19 crisis, exploring the best practices of the most representative banks in terms of total assets. The investigation covers five years, from 2017 to 2021, and was based on a content analysis of the sustainability reports of the banks from the sample. The data was processed through the MAXQDA software, revealing a clear correspondence between the corporate social responsibility practices of the banks and the theoretical concept of sustainability: Profit - People - Planet. The qualitative analysis was completed by a quantitative investigation based on a questionnaire applied on a sample of 344 respondents. The comparative analysis outlines the moral implications of corporate social responsibility in the COVID-19 unique environment, considering the balance between the individual health of clients/employees and the profit dimension of corporate social responsibility. The paper focuses on the recovery stages of the banking sector after the critical point of restriction measures, emphasizing the clients' perceptions and attitudes towards digital banking, as a form of social care during pandemic. The banks responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were examined by using a sequential mixed-methods approach, suggesting an amplified economic dimension of corporate social responsibility during the COVID-19 pandemic through digital banking services.