Abstract:

We are planning an educational project in the Czech Republic focusing on the education of employees in social responsibility with the focus on biobased economy. We have successfully applied for such a project (2019-1-CZ01-KA202-061409). To be able to adapt the curricula to the recipients’ needs we tried to analyse their awareness of problematic issues in this area. In accordance with the norm ISO 26000 we have identified six core subjects of social responsibility: human rights, labour practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues, community involvement and development. We were trying to find out in what areas of social responsibility the respondents are informed the least, what areas they consider to be the most important and which areas they consider underestimated with the need of further development. In the section dealing with the environment, we investigate the issue related to biobased economy, too. It is related to all topics included in this subject, i.e. pollution prevention, sustainability, climate change and environment protection. We used a questionnaire distributed online to get the results that will be analysed by statistical methods.

Corporate social responsibility is becoming more and more important as the power of companies increase and the ability of states to regulate them decrease. That’s why sensitivity to ethical issues, fairness, human rights and environmental issues becomes more relevant for the general public. However, the level of education in many related topics is not very high and that is why raising public awareness in these issues is very important.

Keywords:

Corporate social responsibility, ISO 26000, adult education, biobased economy.