The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility covers a wide range of actions which have been practiced for many years in Western countries. As well as in other developing and transitional countries, the concept of social responsibility emerged in Romania after 1990, concurrently with the set-up of many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the entrance of multinational companies and was rapidly adopted by several firms. The main purpose of our paper is to investigate practices and actions related to social responsibility, which are undertaken by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Romania and to reveal which factors really matter in determining different degrees of involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions. The level of social responsibility actions undertaken by SMEs often depends on the decisions of their managers and the value orientation of the entrepreneur. Moreover, the younger a firm is, the less likely it is that it gets involved in CSR. This is our main assumption: young ventures display a weaker propensity for CSR actions. In order to validate this hypothesis, we used survey data, collected from 84 SMEs, operating in Oradea, Romania. Data were collected between July–September 2016 and analysed by the authors through correlations, independent sample T-tests and linear regression modelling. Our findings reveal that there are significant differences between newly established ventures and those with a longer history; however, age is not a determining factor of CSR. Although, in the literature, there is no clear consensus regarding whether there is a different model of implementation of CSR related practices in developing and transitional countries, especially in the case of SMEs, our results show there are no essential differences between the models of CSR involvement as these are known in the theory and practice of developed countries.

Background: While corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a field of study that has gained popularity in the last years, the approaches of small and medium enterprises’ (SME) contributions to social responsibility are under debate. Moreover, studies on Romanian CSR demonstrate the incremental development of such practices, while the social responsibility of Romanian small business is an understudied topic. In this paper we present data regarding the role of owner-managers in shaping the CSR actions of their SMEs in Romania, along with their opinions on what social responsibility is. Methods: We analyze two sources of data: quantitative research, based on 109 questionnaires collected from SMEs in the western part of Romania, and also a qualitative study, based on 17 interviews with owner-managers of small businesses. The quantitative data presents the reality of social responsibility actions and the relationship with manager’s attitudes, while the qualitative focuses on a better understanding of owner-managers opinions on social responsibility. Results: Our data confirms the high impact of owner-managers’ values and orientations in shaping the degree and forms of the CSR of their firms, and reveals definitions of CSR given by practitioners. Conclusions: Our data reveals that the way managers’ see the role of business in providing social welfare influences their decisions to participate in different types of CSR actions. Through interviews we show that managers, whether their firm has formal CSR actions or not, consider being fair and doing business at their best as part of CSR. Those that also displayed other forms of CSR are those who considered it their duty to give back to the community. The interest of stakeholders was displayed mostly by those who have incremental interest in CSR.

The tourism sector has witnessed continuous development over the last few decades, overcoming various challenges and crises. This resilience underscores the remarkable diversity of managerial and entrepreneurial initiatives capable of meeting the ever-growing and unpredictable global demand. Our objective is to explore the perceptions of factors and opportunities that encourage the launch and management of businesses in health and spa tourism utilizing a qualitative methodology. Our conclusions are based on the analysis of 32 hotel managers’ and small business owners’ interviews in a relevant tourist resort in Romania. This study reveals that all four types of identified opportunities and drivers influencing business creation and management in health and spa tourism (i.e., improving work quality and independence, professional and personal development, responses to opportunities, and upgrading existing services) are substantially influenced by gender, relevant work experience, and education. The novelty of our research lies in highlighting the influence of these drivers according to a specific context given by the size, management type, and ownership structure of tourism ventures, as well as the difference between large hotel managers and small business owners in terms of their perception and goals. We acknowledge that the limited number of interviewees and the spatially bound context of the research may have an effect on the relevance of the results. This study’s findings underscore the necessity for compromise and collaboration among diverse stakeholders in the tourism industry, particularly when developing long-term strategies for health and wellness destinations. This collaborative approach plays a critical role in promoting the well-being and prosperity of individuals, businesses, and the entire local community.

This research aims to investigate whether gender and age of Professional Accountants influence their opinion upon accounting judgments and sustainable decision-making. Through a questionnaire, accountants were interrogated about their education, professional profile, age, gender, personality traits, and their perception on accounting judgment and professional behavior. On one hand, results showed that women accountants are more inclined to comply with accounting regulations and more interested in following an ethical behavior. Moreover, women tend to be more interested in fulfilling managers’ expectations and more willing to collaborate. On the other hand, men accountants proved to be more independent in judgments and more skeptical. Furthermore, men have a greater propensity to make accurate, sustainable judgments, considering the evaluation of goodwill as more important than women. However, no correlations were found between age, gender and accountants’ perception on the theoretical framework of professional accounting judgment. As the age of accountants grows, the compliance degree to regulations increases. This study adds value to gender accounting literature by the way it examines accountants’ behavior and perception towards accounting judgments and sustainable decisions in correlation to gender diversity and age.

Den Sonderband eröffnet ein Beitrag von Kirchmayer, Remišová und Lašáková über ethische Führung in öffentlichen und privaten Organisationen in der Slowakei. Authentische Führung und zwischenmenschliche Konflikte in Polen werden von Sypniewska und Gigol weiter aufgegriffen. Die Wahrnehmung des ethischen Klimas in der serbischen Tourismusindustrie wird von Dragin, Jovanović, Mijatov, Majstorović und Dragin untersucht. Prus untersucht die Förderung einer nachhaltigen Landwirtschaft durch die gezielte Hochschulbildung zur Landwirtschaft in Polen. Saveanu, Abrudan, Saveanu und Matei fordern, die Prädiktoren für CSR in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen in Rumänien zu erforschen. Potocan, Mulej und Nedelko versuchen, die Einstellungen der Mitarbeiter zu natürlichen, sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Aspekten von CSR in slowenischen Organisationen während zweier Perioden - Wirtschaftskrise und Erholung für einen Kontext nach dem Übergang - empirisch zu untersuchen. Rybnikova und Toleikienė wenden sich den formalen und informellen Elementen der Infrastruktur für das Ethikmanagement in der litauischen Selbstverwaltung zu. Diese Ausgabe schließt mit einem Forschungsbericht über die Entwicklung der Nachhaltigkeit (Moral und Verantwortung) in der estnischen Wirtschaft durch Kooskora und Cundiff. This Issue begins with a paper by Kirchmayer, Remišová and Lašáková on ethical leadership in public and private organisations in Slovakia. Authentic leadership and interpersonal conflicts in Poland are further taken up by Sypniewska and Gigol. Perceptions of the ethical climate in Serbian tourism industry are explored by Dragin, Jovanović, Mijatov, Majstorović and Dragin. Prus takes us to the promotion of sustainable agriculture through the focused higher education on agriculture in Poland. Saveanu, Abrudan, Saveanu and Matei call for finding out predictors of CSR in small and medium enterprises operating in Romania. Potocan, Mulej and Nedelko at-tempt empirical investigation of employees’ attitudes towards natural, social and economic aspects of CSR in Slovenian organisations during two periods – economic crisis and recovery for a post-transition context. Rybnikova and Toleikienė turn to formal and informal elements of ethics management infrastructure in Lithuanian local government. This Issue concludes with a research note on the development towards corporate sustainability (morality and responsibility) in Estonian business by Kooskora and Cundiff.

In the context of corporate social responsibility studies there is a gap in understanding these actions at small and medium enterprises (SME). The processes stimulating social expenditures and the motivations in doing so at this level would provide useful information in explaining this phenomenon. At large corporations CSR is part of strategies, there are employees dealing with it managing CSR budgets. However only in smaller enterprises we can understand the decisions to invest in social actions, the domains of such actions and their perceived impact. Our analysis investigates the social expenditures in the form of donations and sponsorship registered by SMEs reporting profit in Oradea. The data was extracted from the National Agency of Fiscal Administration regarding expenditures of small and medium enterprises in 2013. There are 20% of all SMEs that declare such costs, a percentage that we consider is significant for this phenomenon. In this paper, we explore the extent to which these investments vary depending on the size of the enterprise (measured as business rate and number of employees), profit and domain. As expected the bigger the firm, the higher are the chances to donate money and also the amount donated is higher. Future studies should focus on qualitative data mostly motivations of such expenditures. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s5p212