1. Introduction
Many researchers and firm managers are interested in corporate sustainability management, which describes the managerial objective to achieve sustainability of the firm in the economic, environmental, and societal circumstances that can affect firm behavior [
1]. One of the ways to accept these circumstances is to implement some active management tools [
2], such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Environmental Management System (EMS). Companies often expect to increase their profits through CSR behavior and EMS certification, as noted by Ong at al. [
3]. CSR is a management concept through which companies implement both social and environmental matters in their business operations. Proper implementation of the CSR concept can provide a variety of competitive advantages, such as extended access to capital and markets, increased sales and profits, or cost savings [
4]. CSR is accepted as an indicator of the success of a company as a whole, and as a possible way to achieve sustainable development [
5]. Noh [
6] noted that Environmental management has shown its potential to improve firms’ financial benefits beyond CSR. Enterprises consider environmental activities as a possible way to reduce costs. These activities may affect cost reduction, improve corporate image, and provide better opportunities for exporting and strengthening a firm’s competitive advantage together with reducing its environmental effects [
7]. Business firms are increasingly certifying environmental management as a business strategy to accept environmental challenges and facilitate a shift to green market competition [
3]. The world’s most successful EMS standard is considered to be ISO 14001. ISO 14001 is a harmonized environmental standard that has the potential to improve firm performance. Organizations may reduce their costs and improve their production processes by implementing green strategies [
8]. According to an early survey, presented by Cornoglio and Botta [
9], the firms that have attained a level of ISO 14001 certification are not only more environmentally responsible but also more efficient. The purpose of environmental management is to develop, implement, manage, coordinate, and monitor corporate environmental activities. Environmental innovation and environmental performance can then emerge as an outcome of environmental management [
3]. This work contributes to the literature on sustainability, corporate social behavior, and environmental certification in firms operating in various sectors of the national economy. Due to the research focus of the funding agencies and the main goals of the scientific grants supporting this research, we focus our study on Slovak companies. The principal aim of this article is to determine whether the implementation of CSR and EMS certification (ISO 14001) (either externally or mutually) influences the economic results of the researched companies. The secondary objective is to observe the incorporation of these two management tools in various sectors of the national economy.
4. Results
According to Hypothesis 1, we assume that if a company has incorporated CSR, it also has EMS. To verify Hypothesis 1, we used a Chi-square test.
Table 4 presents the results of this test via Cross Tabulation, specifically the absolute observed counts, and relative observed counts in brackets (in %). The results show that there exists a statistically significant relationship between incorporating CSR and incorporating EMS. In total, 61 (30.5%) companies have both CSR and EMS, 40 companies have only CSR, 28 has only EMS, and up to 71 (35.5%) companies include none of these systems in their organization. We can thus confirm Hypothesis 1.
In Hypothesis 2, we assumed that companies certified in both CSR and EMS will have higher profit than those that have only one of them. Therefore, the research sample consisted of only 129 companies because there is a requirement to have at least one certificate. As our dependent variable (profit) does not have a normal distribution (verified by the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test), we used a nonparametric Mann–Whitney U test.
Table 5 presents the results, based on which we reject Hypothesis 2. There are no statistically significant differences in the company profits between the companies that have incorporated both CSR and EMS and those that have incorporated only one of them. The mean profit of companies that use both of these certificates is 7,829,120 euros; the mean profit of companies that use only one of them is 16,245,919 euros.
The partial Hypothesis 2a assumes that there exists a statistically significant difference in the profit between the companies that have incorporated CSR and those that have not. Next, we use the full research sample consisting of 200 companies, and to test the given hypothesis, we used the Mann–Whitney U test. The results (
Table 6) confirm the statistically significant differences between the analyzed groups (Hypothesis 2a), but, interestingly, the companies with CSR achieved lower profits (the mean is 8,752,008 euros) than those without CSR (the mean is 27,552,822 euros).
The same analysis was performed within partial Hypothesis 2b, as we wanted to confirm the assumption that there exists a statistically significant difference in the profits between the companies that have incorporated EMS and those that have not. In this case, we reject Hypothesis 2b (see
Table 7), as the use of EMS in a company does not influence the amount of profit.
As our research sample consists of companies from 12 various groups of industries (sectors) in the Slovak Republic, we assume that those in the selected sectors are CSR certified more often than those in the other sectors. From a statistical point of view, the alternative hypothesis of the Kruskal–Wallis test assumes that at least one population median of one group is different from the population median of at least one other group. The results (
Table 8) confirm Hypothesis 3.
By using multiple comparisons of the mean ranks for all groups, we determined that there is a difference between the automotive industry and the service and business sector, i.e., the industries comprising 43% of our total sample of companies. This is confirmed by the results of the Dunn’s test, where the
z-statistic for the pairwise comparisons between the mentioned two sectors is −3.7214 and the
p-value is 0.0065. In the following
Table 9, we show that the variables of industry (automotive /service and business) and incorporation of CSR are dependent. Cross tabulation shows that when considering the 41 companies from the service and business sector, 32 of them (78.05%) have incorporated CSR. On the other hand, in the automotive industry, more companies (28) have not incorporated CSR (62.22% of all 45 companies operate in the automotive industry).
Similarly, we verified Hypothesis 4, which assumes that some sectors are CSR certified more often than others. The Kruskal–Wallis test confirms this hypothesis (
Table 10), while the multiple comparisons of the mean rank for all groups show that the main difference is again between the automotive industry and the service and business sector. Dunn’s test
z-statistic for this pair of sectors is—4.7971 and the
p-value is 0.0001. Cross tabulation (
Table 11) records very similar results to those in Hypothesis 3. In total, 80.49% of companies from the service and business sector have incorporated EMS, but only 28.89% in the automotive industry has done the same.
Finally, using Hypothesis 5, we aimed to determine whether some sectors are both CSR and EMS certified more often than other sectors. The Kruskal–Wallis test (
Table 12) shows, that by incorporating CSR and EMS concurrently, at least one population median of one industry is different from the population median of at least one other industry. Also, in this case, multiple comparisons of the mean rank for all groups show that this difference is between the automotive industry and the service and business sector. Specifically, the
z-statistic for the pairwise comparisons between mentioned two sectors of the Dunn’s test is −5.5152 and the
p-value is 0.0000.
Subsequently, we sought to confirm the presence of a statistically significant relationship between the type of industry (automotive/service and business) and the incorporation of CSR and EMS concurrently. The chi-square test (
Table 13) confirms this assumption, and both systems are implemented in the service and business sector rather than in the automotive industry (68.29% from all service and business companies, and only 13.33% of all companies from the automotive industry).
Thus, incorporating CSR and EMS concurrently, and incorporating only EMS do not influence the volume of profits of a company. When a company incorporates only CSR, its profits are lower than when the company CSR does not use CSR. Moreover, we have shown that companies from the service and business sector include certified CSR, EMS, or both more often than companies from the automotive industry. Therefore, we confirm Hypotheses 1, 2a, 3–5.
5. Discussion
Sustainability ensures that companies do not primarily make short-term decisions but instead think in a longer timeframe and consider more factors than just the profit or loss involved. According to Štefko [
68] long-term sustainability results from a company’s competitive position. Firms should set goals for sustainability and then aim to achieve them. Sustainability is becoming increasingly important for all companies in all industries. To achieve their sustainability goals, companies use different management tools, one of which is CSR incorporation. In 2002, global research on managers defined CSR as an important business issue that will become more important in the future [
69]. According to another study (2013), CSR initiatives impact the total corporate efficiency more strongly through strategic CSR incorporation [
70], and positive implementation of the CSR positively affects a company’s profits [
71,
72]. Based on this research [
73], companies in the Slovak Republic are aware of the importance of their social responsibility. The most important motive for the fulfilment of CSR activities is a company’s own profit. CSR is more commonly implemented in developing and developed economies [
74]. While the original focus of CSR was social, recent developments also incorporate environmental responsibility. Studies have proven that cooperation between these two domains can lead to higher efficiency in general management [
68]. “Environmental CSR” has become an integral part of CSR and is a very important part of business culture [
75]. The Polish Department of Standardized Management Systems conducted research between 1997 and 2004 on Polish companies certified according to ISO 14001. This system has identified two groups of benefits: internal ones and external ones [
35]. Internal benefits include the following: reduction in costs and increased profitability. External benefits are related to an improved image and activities directed towards the external environment related to competitiveness. Through the years various benefits of EMS certification both for companies and for the environment have been examined. These benefits have resulted in the specification of multiple positive benefits or outcomes following ISO 14001 certification. On the contrary, other studies concluded that the certification process did not result in any significant changes in organizational performance or practices [
76,
77]. The French Standardization Association (AFNOR) introduced a study researched by the Paris Dauphine University entitled “Performance des organizations”. This study proves that environmental practices such as ISO 14001 EMS significantly influence a business’s economic performance [
78]. The impacts of self-regulation and other CSR company practices on environmental practices are important but not fully understood—especially in transitional and developing countries [
79]. In developing countries, “companies increasingly use management certification to overcome reputation problems and enter international markets” [
80]. According to a study presented in 2011, managers of Western European companies are more inclined to engage in the implementation of environmental governance structures or processes [
48,
81]. Research produced by Slovak firms confirmed that certification in Standard ISO 140001 makes such companies more competitive in the market, both globally and locally [
82]. Implementation of the environmental managerial systems in the conditions of the Slovak republic is often influenced by relationships with other organizations and business partners. Businesses that are the suppliers of foreign companies are often forced to implement a quality system, as well as an environmental managerial system [
83].
There are also other positive effects resulting from the incorporation of social aspects and environmental awareness into corporate management [
42,
84]. Overall, 91–% of companies gained profits from their improved image and more intensive business relations through ISO 14001 certification [
77,
85,
86,
87]. Other effects are concerned with managers involvement, their roles and competencies [
35,
88,
89,
90], and human resources development through trainings and the dissemination of knowledge [
77,
91], as a very important issue in organizational theory and practice is obtaining the appropriate knowledge and sharing it within the company [
92]. Further studies in this research field may investigate the impact of incorporating modern management tools, such as CSR and EMS, into human resources management.
6. Conclusions
Sustainability protects the environment and human and ecological health by driving innovation [
3]. Organizational sustainability is defined as the cooperation between ecological tolerance, human resources development, and economic profitability [
2]. The literature considers Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) such as ISO 14001, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to be factors that support organizational changes towards more sustainable production [
93]. Recently, global trends have shown that most economically developed industries respect both environmental protection and social welfare as well as the economic value creation. Companies concentrate on an improvement of human life and welfare, as well as the effective use of the ecological resources, through the use of the financial resources needed to maintain the environmental protection and social welfare activities of the corporations [
94]. These trends also detect new activities concerned with environmental and social responsibility [
95,
96].
The principal aim of this article was to determine whether the implementation of the CSR and certifying EMS (ISO 14001) (either externally or mutually) influence the economic results of the searched companies. The secondary objective was to observe the incorporation of these two management tools in various sectors of the national economy. Based on our aim, in this paper, we set five hypotheses. To verify the individual hypothesis, we used well-established methods, specifically a Pearson Chi-square test (Hypotheses 1,3–5), a Mann–Whitney U test (Hypothesis 2,2a,b), and a Kruskal–Wallis test (Hypotheses 3–5), alongside the Statistica software.
According to Hypothesis 1, we assumed that if a company incorporates CSR, it also features EMS. The results show that there exists a statistically significant relationship between incorporating CSR and incorporating EMS. Thus, we can confirm Hypothesis 1.
Many presented studies declare that implementation of management tools, such as CSR and EMS significantly influence companies’ economic behavior [
3,
78,
79,
94]. According to Hypothesis 2, we assumed that companies with both CSR and EMS will have higher profits than those that have only one of them.
Table 5 presents the results, based on which we reject Hypothesis 2. There are no statistically significant differences in the profit between the companies that have incorporated both CSR and EMS, and those that have incorporated only one of them. The partial Hypothesis 2a assumes that there exists a statistically significant difference in the profits between the companies that have incorporated CSR and those that have not. The results (
Table 6) confirm the presence of statistically significant differences between the analyzed groups. However, companies with CSR achieved lower profits than those without CSR. The same analysis was performed to test partial Hypothesis 2b, as we sought to confirm the assumption that there exists a statistically significant difference in the profits between the companies that have incorporated EMS and those that have not. In this case, we reject Hypothesis 2b (see
Table 7). Therefore, the integration of EMS in a company does not influence the amount of profit.
As our research sample consists of companies from 12 various groups of industries (sectors) in the Slovak Republic, we assume that CSR is certified more often in the selected sectors than in other sectors. The results (
Table 8) confirm Hypothesis 3. By using multiple comparisons of the mean rank for all groups, we determined that there is a difference between the automotive industry and the service and business sector (i.e., the industries), from which 43% of our total sample of companies is taken. In
Table 9, we show that the variables of industry (automotive /service and business) and CSR incorporation are dependent.
Similarly, we verify Hypothesis 4, which assumes that some sectors are CSR certified more often than other sectors. The Kruskal–Wallis test confirms this Hypothesis (
Table 10), while multiple comparisons of the mean rank for all groups show that the main difference is again between the automotive industry and the service and business sector.
Finally, testing Hypothesis 5, we aimed to determine whether some sectors are both CSR and EMS certified more often than other sectors.
Table 12 shows, that, according to the incorporation of CSR and EMS concurrently, at least one population median of one industry is different from the population median of at least one other industry. Likewise, multiple comparisons of the mean rank for all groups show that main difference is between the automotive industry and the service and business sector.
Subsequently, we aimed to confirm the presence of a statistically significant relationship between the type of industry (automotive / service and business) and incorporating CSR and EMS concurrently.
Table 13 confirms this assumption. Both systems are implemented in the service and business sector rather than in the automotive industry. In Slovakian corporate sustainability practices, the most active sectors are technology, telecommunications, and retail companies. These are mostly branches of foreign companies.
This work contributes to the literature on sustainability, corporate social behavior and environmental certification in firms operating in various sectors of the national economy.
However, this work also has its limitations. The research involves nonfinancial companies, and selected management tools, such as CSR behavior and EMS implementation. Accordingly, future studies may also examine financial companies and take into account other management tools for improving the social and environmental consciousness of companies which may lead to their sustainable development. One way of deepening the researched topic is observing the topic of total management quality, its linkage with CSR and EMS, and their common impact on company profit. Other way of improving the informative value of this research is to expand the territorial research scope of this study.