A multidimensional approach for CSR assessment: The importance of the stakeholder perception

‘‘If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’’ and, paraphrasing the proverbial philosophy question, if a company has a strong CSR commitment but nobody recognizes it, does it produce any benefits? Business returns from corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, such as customers loyalty and company reputation, depend heavily on how stakeholders perceive the company social behavior, making the measure of stakeholder perception a key issue in the process of CSR assessment. In this paper the analysis of CSR activities, as perceived by stakeholders, is realized utilizing global reporting initiative (GRI) indicators structured under balanced scorecard (BSC) perspectives and sustainability dimensions. We utilize a multi-criteria approach combined with fuzzy linguistic variables, in the variation of the 2-tuple, creating a hierarchy of CSR components with the purpose of integrating financial and non-financial sustainability dimensions and strategic perspectives. The hierarchy provides a multidimensional model that allows to evaluate the multifaceted social behavior of a company: the same company can be perceived simultaneously as responsible or irresponsible depending on the considered dimension and perspective. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.