Corporate Social Responsibility in the Missions and Visions of Research Institutes

The concept of scientific social responsibility is appealed to in the context of research institutes more often than the concept of corporate social responsibility. Although the objective of research institutes is largely to act on behalf of the economy, for social good, and to support social activities and innovations, little research has been done on their sense of social responsibility. The aim of this article is to identify elements of social responsibility in the mission and vision of Polish research institutes (including both formal mission and vision statements, as well as informal “declarations” to similar effect). First, a critical analysis of the literature on the subject (66) was carried out, which served as the basis for developing a critical analysis of social responsibility in research institutes. This was followed by a content analysis of 88 mission and vision statements of Polish research institutes. The results, presented using R and WordArt, indicate that the missions and vision statements of Polish research institutes rarely include elements of social responsibility, despite the fact that members of the institutes’ community make such declarations. This implies the need for further research: 1) from the perspective of the institutes’ employees, concerning the diagnosis of informal activities that can be qualified as socially responsible activity; 2) from the perspective of the directors of research institutes. The purpose of further research should be to prepare recommendations that can be used in the development and implementation of the institutes’ strategies.