Corporate Social Responsibility Aspects Within the Publicised Corporate Culture of Bulgarian Companies

In recent years, the notion that business has a broad responsibility to society as a whole has gained significant momentum and is reflected in various academic theories, business practices and regulations. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been interwoven with various academic fields, including strategic management and corporate culture. In order to establish a reputation as a socially responsible business entity, it is necessary for companies to adequately disclose CSR activities and events in the virtual space. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to examine the scope of CSR disclosure on the Internet by organisations from different sectors of the Bulgarian economy and its role in the portfolio of publicised corporate culture. The research methods used to achieve this aim include establishing relative values, comparative analysis and content analysis. The findings of the study demonstrate that there is an ambiguous attitude towards CSR in the companies surveyed, as in certain sectors it has a high degree of disclosure and is leading in rank, while in others it is present on the web pages of a small number of companies and has a rather peripheral role among the other elements in the portfolio of publicised corporate culture. To improve the communication effectiveness of the CSR component within the publicised corporate culture, it is essential that the information, initiatives, and priorities disclosed on the company web page are relevant and consistent with the fundamental aspects of the culture, specifically the mission, vision and values/principles

The specialized committees in the management of public corporations

The focus is on the opportunities to achieve a good management of the public corporations by setting up committees to the corporate boards. The nature of the good corporate management is highlighted, proposing three levels and specifying the place of the corporate board in this process. The necessity of establishing such committees is elucidated, presenting the main types, generated in practice. The requirements for setting up an audit committee in the public corporations in Bulgaria are introduced pursuant to the amendments of the Law on the independent financial Audit from July 2008.

Strategic Transition to Sustainability: A Cybernetic Model

As the importance of the transition to sustainable development is increasingly recognised by individuals, organisations, and society as a whole, there is a growing need to examine its impact at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels. There is an urgent imperative to ensure the sustainability of growing economic inequalities, a degraded environment, and people living in uneven conditions in different societies. The authors, therefore, highlight the strategic role and essential contribution of organisations, and universities/higher education institutions in particular, in achieving sustainable development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Universities/higher education institutions play a key role in fostering entrepreneurship and innovation, and they form the crucial architecture of contemporary practices in national economies and beyond. Policy makers, university/higher education institution governors, managers, and professors shape students and create new social contexts, and these must be oriented towards sustainability. This paper aims to explore the strategic role of organisations, in particular, universities/higher education institutions, as a key link between personal and social responsibility and, thus, as a powerful enabler of sustainable development. The authors examine the strategic transition to sustainability of two higher education institutions, the University of Maribor and the University of Economics—Varna, and conduct a qualitative case study research to develop a cybernetic model of the university’s/higher education institution’s transition to sustainability, which reflects the organisation’s growing commitment to achieving the Sustainability Development Goals. The model includes seven successive stages: pre-awareness, awareness, focusing, implementation, reaching out, transparency and disclosure, and continuous improvement. The study shows that sustainable development, i.e., sustainability governance, management, and operations, are indispensable for implementing the strategic concept of sustainability in an organisation and for achieving the strategic transition to sustainability as explained in the proposed cybernetic model

Students’ mindsets on research integrity—a cross-cultural comparison

Research integrity (RI) has been a focus of society in recent years as a means to create and to keep trust in science. Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a key role in promoting a culture of RI and responsible conduct of research (RCR). The understanding and practice of RI can vary across cultures. This article aims to outline initial insights into university students’ RI mindsets based on five RI facets: understanding, importance, value–action gap, enforcement approaches, and training. A qualitative exploratory cross-cultural study was conducted with participants from Germany and Bulgaria via semi-structured guided group interviews. An explicit transcultural agreement regarding the significance of RI was categorically indicated. Intercultural differences between the two European countries were revealed and discussed in reference to understanding RI, the value–action gap, enforcement approaches, and training preferences. </jats:p

Students’ mindsets on research integrity — a cross-cultural comparison

Research integrity (RI) has been a focus of society in recent years as a means to create and to keep trust in science. Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a key role in promoting a culture of RI and responsible conduct of research (RCR). The understanding and practice of RI can vary across cultures. This article aims to outline initial insights into university students’ RI mindsets based on five RI facets: understanding, importance, value-action gap, enforcement approaches, and training. A qualitative exploratory cross-cultural study was conducted with participants from Germany and Bulgaria via semi-structured guided group interviews. An explicit transcultural agreement regarding the significance of RI was categorically indicated. Intercultural differences between the two European countries were revealed and discussed in reference to understanding RI, the value-action gap, enforcement approaches, and training preferences