THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN ROMANIAN COMPANIES

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been implemented in Romania by adapting the models from developed countries, but also by creating new models that enhance the image and the reputation of the companies, improve the organizational culture and have an overall positive effect on the financial performance of the enterprises. This paper analyses the relationship between the CSR within the enterprises from Romania and their financial performance, by using panel data regression models. There are two methods of quantifying CSR that have been developed based on the annual reports of social actions between 2014 and 2018 and the main pillars underlying the ISO 26000 standard and that identify the CSR elements with significant impact on the financial profitability of enterprises. The results have indicated that corporate social responsibility actions carried out by companies from Romania in accordance with ISO 26000 have had a positive impact on their financial performance and a neutral impact in terms of sponsorship expenses associated with social responsibility.