La responsabilidad social de las empresas: ¿un nuevo valor para las cooperativas?

Integrating economic, social and environmental dimensions into business dynamics from the stakeholders’ point of view is becoming increasingly important as a strategic business value shared by European institutions. However, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not a challenge for all economic organizations; for cooperatives, CSR represents an integral part of their values and the dynamics with which they operate. In the particular case of financial service cooperatives, this type of company makes it possible to prevent banking exclusion, which still exists in developed countries. This article aims, primarily, to analyze the concept of CSR from the point of view of cooperatives by studying the characteristics of social responsibility reports as instruments of measurement and communication of their behaviour in this aspect. This preliminary phase allows us to then conduct a comparative study of the social, economic and environmental results of 134 cooperative and non-cooperative financial institutions worldwide.credit unions, commercial banking, corporate social responsibility, cooperative identity, financial service cooperatives, triple bottom line, sustainable reports.