A Demand for Corporate Social Responsibility during COVID-19 Pandemic. The Case of Poland

This thesis aims to describe how CSR adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic within the Polish market. This aim is pursued by taking a closer look at the demand side for CSR initiatives of Polish customers as well as by analyzing how companies communicate their CSR activities in times of crisis and which CSR initiatives they engaged in. The Polish case represents a fascinating and relevant CSR study as for the last 20+ the country has been trying to become more like other European countries in the sphere of sustainability and social initiatives and make up for the period of transformation from the state-controlled market. As such, the study of the Polish market has great relevance and can be duplicated on other former socialist states that also joined European Union. Mixed method research has been implemented in the study to address the research questions. The research of both the perception of CSR by the Polish citizens and companies’ communication strategies has been studied with the help of an online survey, interview, and the analysis of the 21 press releases. The part of the study that focuses on how companies communicated their CSR practices during the time of crisis is based on the case of the Polish company - LPP. LPP is a Polish clothing company that owns five brands – Reserved, Mohito, Sinsay, House, and Cropp. Since 2014 they have been included in the WIG20 index on the Polish stock market, which includes the 20 largest companies in the country. The results show that in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic, customers express the demand for CSR initiatives, and they expect the companies to engage in them. Furthermore, examining LPP’s press releases and interviewing the company’s representatives revealed the types of CSR initiatives the company engaged with during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interview also shed light on the communication channels and strategies used by the company. During the COVID-19 pandemic company mostly used online communication channels to share different CSR messages. The literature review highlighted gaps presented in studies, gaps that this thesis aimed to fill. The thesis delivered new knowledge and based on the findings it also gives direction for future research.