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Social Responsibility in Ecuadorian Savings and Credit Cooperatives: Perceptions of their managers

Abstract:

Ecuadorian savings and credit cooperatives play a significant role in the country’s financial inclusion and socioeconomic development. In this context, Corporate Social Responsibility has gained increasing importance as a mechanism to strengthen the sector’s transparency, sustainability, and competitiveness; however, its implementation is heterogeneous. This situation necessitates analyzing the dominant dimensions of Corporate Social Responsibility implementation in 19 segment-one cooperatives, according to the perceptions of social responsibility managers. These cooperatives account for approximately 80% of the assets of the national cooperative financial system. The research adopts a quantitative approach, using surveys administered to those responsible for the process, considering six dimensions: Cooperative Governance, Social, Environmental, Economic, Ethics and Transparency, and Technological. Using multiple linear regression analysis and Spearman correlation, significant relationships were identified between them, with the Ethics and Transparency dimension being the strongest, while the Environmental dimension presents the greatest opportunities for improvement. Furthermore, the Social and Economic Dimensions emerge as the main predictors of environmental performance. Determining the perceptions of those responsible for the process is the starting point for an in-depth exploration of this topic.