CSR, women and SMEs: the Croatian perspective

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present the idea that CSR needs to be communicated from four different levels – government, community, company, and the individual. It also aims to stress that women managers in Croatia are still discriminated against and to show that managers in SMEs in Croatia need to become more aware of the importance of CSR. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is based on several different researches conducted on different populations – those of women managers and of SME managers. Findings - The findings of this paper show that, for the improvement of CSR awareness in general, the CSR idea needs to be communicated on four different levels simultaneously. Even though there are more women managers in higher positions in Croatia, they are still discriminated against. Managers of small and medium‐sized enterprises are still not thinking enough about all stakeholders when making decisions. Practical implications - This paper shows that, in practice, government, community, companies and individuals should be consistent in communicating and working on the CSR idea for the general welfare and advancement of society. Originality/value - The main value of the paper is that it provides the newest results on CSR for companies in Croatia. This paper also gives a new perspective on the importance of simultaneous attempts to communicate the CSR idea for the advancement of society.