Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies in Spanish Electric Cooperatives. Analysis of Stakeholder Engagement

Abstract

Cooperative organizations try to balance economic viability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) management through strategic policies that involve dialogue, participation, and engagement with stakeholders. To measure the impact of CSR management, the electricity sector implements monitoring processes and models, such as the sustainability reporting standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which measure contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. This research analyses the strategic management of CSR in the 28 electric cooperatives that market electricity in Spain with the aim of determining their level of commitment to CSR and stakeholder participation in their corporate policies. The analysis is based on the descriptive-exploratory study of the whole population of electric cooperatives. The results indicate that the CSR management of most electric cooperatives is still in an emerging stage within the Value Curve. Importantly, there is a significant percentage of cooperatives that have already advanced towards the consolidating and institutionalized stages. However, most of these social-economy organizations are not developing programs that link their CSR strategies with their priority SDGs and sustainability as a commitment to their community.

1. Introduction

Over the past few decades, the activities carried out by all kinds of organizations have had decisive social, economic, and environmental impacts in the communities where they operate. Corporate social responsibility (CSR), as an approach developed to respond to the increasing interdependence between companies and their social context, can help organizations balance their multidirectional relationships with stakeholders. In this sense, it can be argued that globalization and technological changes are causing a real social transformation that in turn accelerates the evolution of the endogenous and exogenous systemic factors that connect companies with their context [1]. The influence organizations have on their environment has led stakeholders to increasingly demand more information and consideration on the design and development of those strategic corporate policies that may affect them as a social group [2,3].

CSR has been managed according to different regulations, including legislation and guidelines set by international bodies, such as the European Commission, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), United Nations (UN), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability (ISEA), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Moreover, since the late 20th century and, fundamentally, since the first decade of the 21st century, business organizations with high social impact have shown an increased interest in sharing their CSR initiatives through conveniently verified sustainability reports and balances [4,5].

Corporate behavior, stakeholder participation in CSR management based on issue identification, and an integrated communication strategy are three fundamental premises to solidify a positive reputation, based ethics, and responsible advocacy [6,7,8]. The inherent complexity and challenges of relationship management highlight the need to implement and improve corporate communication channels to achieve strategic goals.

Business, associative, mutual-benefit, and cooperative organizations generate internal and external conflicts with their stakeholders through their activity, competitiveness, and goal achievement. Responsible relationship management that seeks to maintain a balance between an organization and its stakeholders in the economic, human rights, labor, environmental, ethical, and social spheres should include stakeholders’ environmental, social, and good governance expectations in the organization’s policies as a strategic system [9,10,11,12,13,14,15].

CSR, therefore, stands as an essential factor to guarantee competitiveness and growth [16,17,18,19]. Thus, advocates of CSR (regulators, investors, and society itself) demand business management models that consider ethical, social, and environmental aspects in strategic decision-making and in the configuration of corporate organizational structures [20].

In this sense, cooperatives, as social economy companies, are founded on participatory and social principles, which are preserved and updated, taking as reference the values defended by the International Cooperative Alliance and the regulations and guidelines established by regulatory and legislative bodies [4,5]. The legal nature of cooperatives is fully identified with the basic principles of CSR [21], as they integrate these attributes into their corporate identity and try to balance economic viability with stakeholder dialogue and participation in their business models.

Renewable energy cooperatives are well established in European countries such as Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, northern Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and France [22], forming a network of 1900 cooperatives actively involved in the energy transition. However, in Spain and southern Italy, these cooperatives are still in an emerging phase. Their energy offer to consumers is based on values such as social cohesion, democratic participation, and the promotion of clean energy and responsible consumption. They are helping to alleviate a problem of a social, economic, and environmental nature [23,24].

This descriptive and exploratory research centers on the analysis of strategic management of CSR (models, regulations, legislation, and guidelines), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and stakeholder participation in CSR management in Spanish electric cooperatives. This theoretical framework allowed us to analyze the CSR management and contribution to the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda of 28 Spanish electric cooperatives. The study was guided by three research objectives: first, to assess the corporate governance of the cooperatives, based on their degree of CSR commitment and the production of CSR reports; second, to evaluate stakeholder engagement in the cooperatives’ strategic CSR management and their social and environmental commitment with the community; and third, to confirm cooperatives’ degree of knowledge and contribution to the targets associated to SDG 7 (affordable and green energy) and SDG 13 (climate action), which are priority goals for the electricity sector. These general objectives involve the following specific objectives: evaluate the cooperatives’ commitment to CSR culture and management; identify and evaluate the use of CSR and PR management policies, procedures, and standards; evaluate the level of stakeholder engagement in CSR development; evaluate the inclusion of stakeholder expectations in the definition of key processes; identify stakeholder commitment and partnerships arising from CSR policies in the five phases of the Value Curve; and identify links between CSR policy development and SDG 7 and SDG 13.

2. Theoretical Framework

Organizations’ constant adaptation to their environment should include learning how to predict and respond in a credible way to society’s changing perceptions on specific societal issues that affect their activities. As Zadek [25] points out, this task can be overwhelming given the complexity and volatility of societal issues and the difficulty to define the implicit responsibilities of organizations in certain societal problems.

To properly manage conflicts of interest and society’s expectations, good corporate governance requires constant learning of the standardized processes of CSR management, implementation, and communication [26]. Moving from a reactive approach, based on risk and loss of reputation, to an approach that responds to the current sustainability challenges of the electric cooperative sector requires a major change of perspective that would enable progress to be made towards the consolidation of CSR in this sector. Thus, CSR has become an essential strategy to manage conflict reduction, stakeholder engagement, and organizational reputation [27].

The literature review reveals that authors such as Ingenhoff and Marschlich [28] and Ozdora, Ferguson, and Duman [29] identify the intrinsic features of CSR and its integration into PR programs and remark that many of the negative perceptions of CSR activities, which generate skepticism, come precisely from their association with relational strategies that were implemented by organizations exclusively for utilitarian and commercial purposes [30]). These strategies only aimed to clean the public image of corporations to maximize economic benefits.

However, in contrast to this view, there is a school of thought in corporate governance [1,27] that postulates that the social function of any organization inherently entails responsibility for the impact of its actions, decisions, strategic policies, and, therefore, corporate behavior.

2.1. Strategic Management of CSR: Models, Regulations, Legislation and Guidelines

The study of CSR as a philosophy of corporate governance involves different approaches that explain how the interaction between organizations and their social context is triggered by the consequences generated on shareholders and stakeholders [31,32,33]. Many interdisciplinary studies have analyzed the relationships between organizations and their stakeholders, the ethical, philanthropic, normative, economic, social, and environmental aspects of corporate actions, the longitudinal dimension in the implementation of different stages of CSR models as well as their measurement and impact on the creation of corporate value and reputation [16,28,34,35,36,37,38,39].

Among the CSR models that have been revised [20,32,38,40,41,42,43,44,45], Zadek’s civil learning tool [43,44] is of great interest to this research, as it helps companies to identify where they fall on a specific societal issue and to determine how they can develop and position their future business strategies while maintaining a balanced relationship with stakeholders. Based on the contributions made by Zadek and other authors, this article proposes a business management model that integrates ethical, social, and environmental aspects in decision-making processes, as well as the main sustainability challenges identified in a given sector of economic activity (Figure 1).

This model is represented in a graph that allows a two-dimensional analysis of CSR management: the stages of organizational learning (y-axis) and the stages of issue maturity (x-axis). The axis that represents organizational learning in CSR management is an iterative process in which progress can be gradual in short and medium terms. This process is characterized, based on the evolution of different stages, by a purely defensive performance; strict compliance with regulations, legislation, and guidelines; operational management; strategic management; and civic engagement in the identification of priority issues that must be addressed through CSR. With regard to the second axis, the stages of maturity of societal issues, as organizations move from left to right (from latent and emerging to consolidating and institutionalized stages), the five stages of the Value Curve materialize: reactive CSR, risk-management CSR, good-governance CSR, strategic CSR, and sustainable development CSR.

In the first stage (reactive CSR), the organization only reacts to conflict situations with stakeholders that require a corporate response; in the second stage (risk-management CSR), organizations fully assume and implement existing CSR regulations and guidelines established by governmental and non-governmental bodies; in the third stage, which represents good governance, standardized CSR models are implemented based on the organization’s degree of voluntary commitment; in the fourth stage CSR becomes strategic through the consideration of stakeholders in the identification of issues that directly affect them and though the reporting of actions over various communication channels; in the fifth stage, sustainable development, the corporate strategy achieves maximum efficiency through the integration, into the organization’s management systems, of relevant issues derived from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set in the United Nations 2030 Agenda (2015), as well as the fulfillment of associated targets. This stage is characterized by the active engagement of stakeholders in the strategic process of CSR.

Table 1. International CSR guidelines, standards, and regulations.

Principles of the United Nations Global Compact (UN) https://www.pactomundial.org/category/aprendizaje/10-principios/ (accessed on 12 December 2020).	1999
Green Paper. Promoting a European framework for corporate social responsibility https://www.um.es/rscpymes/ficheros/RSC_Libro_Verde_Fomentar_marco_europeo_para_responsabilidad_empresas_2001.pdf (accessed on 12 December 2020).	2001
Tripartite Declaration of the International Labor Organization (ILO) http://www.mitramiss.gob.es/ficheros/rse/documentos/monitoreo/declaracionTripartita.pdf (accessed on 12 December 2020).	2006
SGE 21 Forética http://www.mitramiss.gob.es/ficheros/rse/documentos/monitoreo/sge_21_es.pdf http://foretica.org/sge21/(accessed on 12 December 2020).	2008
OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises http://www.mitramiss.gob.es/ficheros/rse/documentos/monitoreo/LineasDirectricesOCDE_EMN.pdf (accessed on 12 December 2020).	2011
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_SP.pdf (accessed on 12 December 2020).	2011
Integrated Reporting (IR) http://www.mitramiss.gob.es/ficheros/rse/documentos/monitoreo/ReportingIntegrado.pdf (accessed on 12 December 2020). https://integratedreporting.org/ (accessed on 12 December 2020).	2011
AA1000 Accountability https://www.accountability.org/ (accessed on 12 December 2020). http://www.mitramiss.gob.es/ficheros/rse/documentos/monitoreo/aa1000ses_es.pdf (accessed on 12 December 2020).	2011
IQNet SR10 http://www.mitramiss.gob.es/ficheros/rse/documentos/monitoreo/IQNetSR10-Requirements_es.pdf (accessed on 14 December 2020).	2011
Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/calidad-y-evaluacion-ambiental/temas/sistema-comunitario-de-ecogestion-y-ecoauditoria-emas/(accessed on 14 December 2020).	2013
SA 8000:2014 (Social Accountability) http://www.sa-intl.org/ (accessed on 14 December 2020). http://www.sa-intl.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid=1689 (accessed on 14 December 2020).	2014
ISO 26000:2010 (Social Responsibility) https://www.iso.org/iso-26000-social-responsibility.html (accessed on 14 December 2020). http://www.mitramiss.gob.es/ficheros/rse/documentos/monitoreo/iso_26000_and_ir.pdf (accessed on 14 December 2020).	2015
ISO 9001 (Quality Management) https://www.iso.org/iso-9001-quality-management.html https://www.nueva-iso-9001-2015.com/ (accessed on 14 December 2020).	2015
ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) https://www.iso.org/iso-14001-environmental-management.html (accessed on 14 December 2020).	2015
UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/es/2015/09/la-asamblea-general-adopta-la-agenda-2030-para-el-desarrollo-sostenible/ (accessed on 14 December 2020).	2015
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) https://www.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx (accessed on 14 December 2020). https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/ (accessed on 14 December 2020).	2016

Source: Authors’ own creation based on Estrategia de la RSC de las empresas españolas [45] and Portal de la Responsabilidad Social [47].

presents the most relevant international guidelines, standards, and regulatory instruments for measuring and reporting on social responsibility and sustainability management, as well as the classification of SDGs set by the United Nations as a global corporate strategy.

Of these CSR guidelines, standards, and regulations, the integrated reporting (IR) [48], the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) [49] stand out because they mark a milestone in corporate reporting in a context based on sustainability and stakeholder engagement.

Sustainability and community engagement reporting, promoted by the GRI standards, is one of the key actions for any organization. The public disclosure of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) actions has direct impacts on the financial value of organizations, depending on their (positive and negative) contributions to SDGs [49]. The GRI Standards are divided into two large groups: universal and topic-specific, as shown in Figure 2 and

Table 2. Development of topic-specific standards. Source: Global Reporting Initiative [50].

GRI 100: Universal Standards
GRI 101: Foundation
GRI 102: General Disclosures
GRI 103: Management Approach
GRI 200: Economic	GRI 300: Environmental
GRI 201: Economic Performance GRI 202: Market Presence GRI 203: Indirect Economic Impacts GRI 204: Procurement Practices GRI 205: Anti-corruption GRI 206: Anti-competitive Behavior GRI 207: Tax	GRI 301: Materials GRI 302: Energy GRI 303: Water and Effluents GRI 304: Biodiversity GRI 305: Emissions GRI 306: Waste GRI 307: Environmental Compliance GRI 308: Supplier Environmental Assessment
GRI 400: Social
GRI 401: Employment GRI 402: Labor/Management Relations GRI 403: Occupational Health and Safety GRI 404: Training and Education GRI 405: Diversity and Equal Opportunity GRI 406: Non-discrimination GRI 407: Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining GRI 408: Child Labor GRI 409: Forced or Compulsory Labor GRI 410: Security Practices GRI 411: Rights of Indigenous Peoples GRI 412: Human Rights Assessment GRI 413: Local Communities GRI 414: Supplier Social Assessment GRI 415: Public Policy GRI 416: Customer Health and Safety GRI 417: Marketing and Labeling GRI 418: Customer Privacy GRI 419: Socioeconomic Compliance

.

Moreover, following the Brundtland report [51], which defined for the first time the concept of sustainable development, the Rio de Janeiro Summit [52], the UN Global Compact announced at the Davos World Economic Forum [53], and the agreement reached at the Rio+20 conference [54], the United Nations General Assembly incorporated 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) into the 2030 Agenda [55]. These SDGs (Figure 3) are materialized into 169 targets that are classified in three dimensions (economic, social, and environmental) [56], following the approach of the aforementioned international standards.

This document sets out, for the first time, universally applicable and contrastable common goals that seek to guide collective global action during the 2015–2030 period in the adoption of measures for the management of the world’s great challenges based on specific goals and targets.

The UN considers that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda requires the intense participation and engagement of governments, the private sector (microenterprises, multinational companies, and cooperatives), and civil society. In addition, the UN conceives organizations as key players in achieving the SDGs, both locally and internationally [57,58]. This initiative urges organizations to adopt a set of universal principles on human rights, labor rights, the environment, and the fight against corruption, through a voluntary commitment to social responsibility and ethics, as reflected in the SDG Compass Guide for business action on the SDGs [59].

2.2. CSR and SDGs in Spanish Electric Cooperatives

Cooperative societies are organizations based on the values, principles, and foundations of CSR. They incorporate the collective interests of the local community into their corporate policies and respond to the problems, needs, and expectations of their stakeholders.

Multiple authors, such as Haro del Rosario, Benítez-Sánchez, and Caba-Pérez [60]; Mochales-González [20]; Mozas-Moral and Puentes-Poyatos [4]; Server-Izquierdo and Lajara-Camilleri [14]; Torres-Pérez [5]; and Vargas-Sánchez and Vaca-Acosta [21], identify a similarity between cooperativism and CSR when they allude to the identity of such legal organizations. According to Carroll [40], these authors point out that the main attributes of cooperatives are their economic, social, and environmental balance, their compliance with national and international legislation, their business ethics, their fulfillment of stakeholder needs in a balanced way, and transparency.

The engagement of cooperative organizations in ethical, social, economic, and environmental issues derives from the relevance given, in the current context, to sustainable development as the central axis of the cooperative model, represented in stage 5 of Zadek’s Value Curve [29,38,43,44,46]. This stage responds to the new social and environmental expectations of a globalized society, which is much more informed and involved in the consequences generated by social organizations in their context of proximity.

In Spain, as in other emerging and developed countries, specific guidelines and regulations have been established as references for the private sector to integrate strategic CSR policies into their corporate programs (

Table 3. National CSR guidelines, standards, and regulations in Spain.

CSR Observatory https://observatoriorsc.org/ (accessed on 6 September 2020).	2004
White Paper on CSR in Spain http://www.congreso.es/public_oficiales/L8/CONG/BOCG/D/D_423.PDF (accessed on 6 September 2020).	2006
Royal Decree that creates and regulates the National Council of CSR (CERSE) (2008) https://www.boe.es/buscar/pdf/2008/BOE-A-2008-3868-consolidado.pdf (accessed on 6 September 2020).	2008
Spanish CSR strategy. Ministry of Employment and Social Security (2014–2020) http://www.mitramiss.gob.es/es/rse/eerse/index.htm (accessed on 6 September 2020).	2014
Action Plan for implementing the 2030 AGENDA (High Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda. Presidency of the Government of Spain) http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Portal/es/SalaDePrensa/Multimedia/Publicaciones/Documents/PLAN%20DE%20ACCION%20PARA%20LA%20IMPLEMENTACION%20DE%20LA%20AGENDA%202030.pdf (accessed on 6 September 2020).	2018
Law 11/2018, of 28 December, amending the Commercial Code, the revised text of Capital Companies Law approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2010, of 2 July, and Law 22/2015, of 20 July, on Account Auditing, on Non-Financial Information and Diversity. https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2018/12/29/pdfs/BOE-A-2018-17989.pdf (accessed on 6 September 2020).	2018

Source: Authors’ own creation based on Estrategia de la RSC de las empresas españolas [45] and Portal de la Responsabilidad Social [47].

).

The liberalization of the electric market in Spain occurred gradually [61], starting in 1997 with the promulgation of the Electricity Sector Law [62], which responded to the guidelines set by the European Union. The Community guidelines were geared towards the separation of competition activities (power generation and retail) from regulated activities (transmission and distribution). This process culminated in 2009, when consumers were granted freedom to choose electric power suppliers (retailers), regardless of their geographical location and the electric connection network (distribution companies).

According to the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) of Spain [63], as of 3 January 2021, there are 956 companies operating in the Spanish electricity market: 623 retailers and 333 distributors. Of all of them, only 28 are cooperatives: 17 distribute and market electricity (with legally differentiated companies), while 11 focus on retail (

Table 4. Electricity retail cooperatives.

Cooperative	Locality	Province	Website
CEA	Alginet	Valencia	http://www.electricadealginet.com (accessed on 9 September 2020).
CEC	Callosa del Segura	Alicante	http://electricadecallosa.es/publica/ (accessed on 9 September 2020).
COOPELEC	Guadassuar	Valencia	https://www.electricaguadassuar.es/ (accessed on 9 September 2020).
COOPERATIVA ELECTRICA DE CASTELLAR	Valencia	Valencia	https://coopcastellar.com/ (accessed on 9 September 2020).
E + P	Pamplona	Navarra	http://www.emasp.org (accessed on 9 September 2020).
ECONACTIVA	Guadalajara	Guadalajara	http://www.econactiva.es (accessed on 9 September 2020).
EDFA SERRALLO	Grao de Castellón	Castellón	https://www.economiasolidaria.org/entidades/cooperativa-electrica-edfa-serrallo (accessed on 9 September 2020).
EFIDUERO	Trabanca	Salamanca	http://www.efiduero.com (accessed on 9 September 2020).
ELÉCTRICA ALBATERENSE	Albatera	Alicante	http://coopealbaterense.es/ (accessed on 10 September 2020).
ELECTRICA ALGIMIA DE ALFARA	Algimia Alfara	Valencia	https://www.electricaalgimia.com/(accessed on 10 September 2020).
ELECTRICA CATRALENSE	Catral	Alicante	http://www.cooperativaelectricacatral.es (accessed on 10 September 2020).
ELECTRICA DE CHERA	Chera	Valencia	https://electricadechera.wordpress.com/ (accessed on 10 September 2020).
ELÉCTRICA DE MELIANA	Meliana	Valencia	http://www.electricademeliana.com (accessed on 10 September 2020).
ELÉCTRICA DE VINALESA	Vinalesa	Valencia	http://www.coop-vinalesa.com/(accessed on 10 September 2020).
ELÉCTRICA DEL POZO	Madrid	Madrid	http://www.electricadelpozo.es (accessed on 10 September 2020).
ENERBI	Biar	Alicante	http://www.coopelectricabiar.com (accessed on 10 September 2020).
ENERCOOP	Crevillente	Alicante	http://www.enercoop.es (accessed on 11 September 2020).
ENERGÍA CASABLANCA	Almenara	Castellón	https://www.casablanca.cl/(accessed on 11 September 2020).
ENERKORE	Durando	Bizkaia	http://www.enerkore.es (accessed on 11 September 2020).
GOIENER	Ordizia	Guipúzcoa	http://www.goiener.com (accessed on 11 September 2020).
HELIA COOP V	Engera	Valencia	http://www.helialuz.es (accessed on 11 September 2020).
LA CORRIENTE	Madrid	Madrid	http://https://lacorrientecoop.es/ (accessed on 11 September 2020).
MEGARA ENERGÍA	Soria	Soria	htpp://www.megaraenergia.com (accessed on 11 September 2020).
MUSEROS FLUIDO ELECTRICO	Museros	Valencia	http://www.muserosfluidoelectrico.com/(accessed on 11 September 2020).
SOLABRIA RENOVABLES	Santander	Cantabria	http://www.solabria.es (accessed on 12 September 2020).
SOM ENERGÍA	Girona	Girona	http://www.somenergia.coop (accessed on 12 September 2020)
SOT DE CHERA	Sot de Chera	Valencia	http://www.sotdechera.es/es/content/cooperativa-electrica-sot-chera (accessed on 12 September 2020)
SUCA ENERGÍA	El Ejido	Almeria	http://energia.gruposuca.com/ (accessed on 12 September 2020)

Source: Authors’ own creation.

). Electric cooperatives, as a corporate model based on sustainable energy management that guarantees the supply of electricity to partners and customers at a cost below the market average, currently represent 2.8% of the structure of the Spanish electricity market.

As mentioned, the 17 SDGs set by the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development Goals [64] and their corresponding targets condition the strategic management of CSR in a completely global social, political, and economic context [45]. Two of the 17 SDGs are particularly relevant for the good governance of sustainable development in the electric cooperative sector: SDG 7, which refers to the need to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all; and SDG 13, which calls on the international community to take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects.

The social perception of the cooperatives’ commitment to the SDGs and their targets depend on the CSR actions they carry out and the knowledge they generate about their corporate strategy for the benefit of their stakeholders and society in general. For electric cooperatives to position themselves according to their social identity, it is not enough to just exploit their legal corporate nature and implement standardized models to evaluate integrated CSR management through the GRI Standards [4,5,60,65,66]. It is also essential for cooperatives to design and implement integrated communication management models with stakeholders, establishing a system of permanent dialogue that enables more positive engagement, a higher level of trust, and, in turn, greater competitive advantage based on market positioning [67].

2.3. CSR Management with Stakeholders in Electric Cooperatives

The integrated communication strategies of electric cooperatives contribute to building trust and credibility with stakeholders. Authors such as Dopazo-Fraguío [68]; Orozco-Toro and Ferré-Pavia [69]; Falcón Pérez [24]; and Arenas-Torres, Bustamante-Ubilla, and Campos-Troncoso [70] have analyzed, from a multidisciplinary perspective, different relational processes to manage dialogue, commitment, and co-orientation between organizations and stakeholders through CSR, from the perspective of stakeholder theory, circular economy theory, and network theory [30,71,72]. Following the implementation of standardized reporting monitoring models, CSR strategies should respond to the corporative goals defined in the different stages of the Value Curve.

A strategic process focused on stakeholders allows organizations to analyze the importance of these groups in achieving the corporate targets linked to sustainability [45]. The stakeholder map of electric cooperatives includes different groups, organizations, and institutions that are integrated into three situational levels [30,71,72]: consubstantial, contextual, and contractual (Figure 4). The consubstantial level, which is governed by the principles of cooperative and sustainable governance, has a direct impact on the contextual level through the cooperative fund for social actions in the local community.

As sustainable organizations, electric cooperatives integrate into their strategies the expectations, needs, and demands of their diverse stakeholders with whom they establish enabling, functional (input and output), normative, or diffused links (enabling links provide organizations with the authorization they need to develop their activities and control the resources that enable their existence and survival in their environment. Functional links allow organizations to develop input activities with employees and suppliers and output activities with clients/consumers: they represent the connection between supply and demand. These links allow organizations to reach their strategic corporate objectives through work and permanent collaboration with diverse groups. Normative links refer to those relationships established between organizations that share common values or the same strategic interests. Diffused links are established when the organization has specific consequences on external groups or stakeholders that are not permanently linked to the organization) to maintain balanced relationships, and generate a positive image that contributes to a solid reputation [30,74]. In this type of organizations, there is a complex stakeholder category due to the type of link that is generated between a cooperative and its shareholders or cooperative partners: they establish an enabling relationship (at the consubstantial level) and functional (output) relationship (at the contractual level) because they are also customers [5].

There are different mechanisms to communicate CSR actions to stakeholders, as noted by Orozco-Toro and Ferré-Pavia [69]; Stocker, de-Arruda, de-Mascena, and Boaventura [75]; Hu, Zhang and Yan [76]; and Guillamon-Saorin, Kapelko, and Stefanou [77] among others. Organizations use various formats to translate their CSR results into a report, mainly the annual memoir (or sustainability report) and the social balance resulting from the standard compliance audit. Through corporate websites, social networks, and multimedia platforms, cooperative organizations generate content for their stakeholders [78,79] as an extension of the information included in their annual reports and balances.

3. Methods

A descriptive and exploratory study was carried out in 2019 (January to December) to analyze the CSR management and contribution to the UN 2030 Agenda [55] of the 28 Spanish electric cooperatives based on the following key aspects: corporate governance, strategic CSR management, and social and environmental initiatives.

The methodological instrument used to achieve the research objectives set in the introduction is the SDG Compass tool [80], which associates the GRI Indicators (Global Reporting Initiative) with the targets associated with each SDG (

Table 5. Targets of the 2030 Agenda for SDG 7 and their association with GRI indicators.

	SDG 7 of the 2030 Agenda	GRI Indicators	Description
7.1. Ensure universal access		EU-23	Programs to improve access to electricity and customer support service.
		EU-26	Percentage of population unserved in licensed distribution or service area.
		EU-28	Power outage frequency.
		EU29	Average power outage duration.
7.2. Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix		EU-10	Installed power from renewable sources.
		EU-30	Energy produced from renewable sources.
		302-1	Type of domestic energy consumption.
7.3. Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency		302-4	Reducing energy consumption.
		302-5	Reductions in energy requirements for products and services.
		EU-30	Average plant availability factor by energy source and regulatory regime.
7.4. Enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology		EU-8	R&D costs to provide reliable and sustainable electricity.

Source: Authors’ own creation based on the UN 2030 Agenda [55] and the Global Reporting Initiative [50].

and

Table 6. Targets of the 2030 Agenda for SDG 13 and their association with GRI indicators.

	SDG 13 of the 2030 Agenda	GRI Indicators	Description
13.1 Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.		302-1	Proportion of energy consumed from renewable energy.
		302-4	Reduction in energy consumption.
13.2. Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.		302-5	Savings on green products and services.
		305-1	Direct greenhouse gas emissions.
		EU-30	Average plant availability factor by energy source and regulatory regime.
		201-2	Financial implications and other risks and opportunities for the organization’s activities due to climate change.
13.3 Improve education, awareness-raising, and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning.		404-4	Training and education. Climate change and renewable energy awareness-raising activities.

Source: Authors’ own creation based on the UN 2030 Agenda [55] and the Global Reporting Initiative [50].

), as shown below.

A semi-structured questionnaire was designed and implemented as a methodological tool to evaluate five key aspects of the strategic management of CSR in electric cooperative organizations: corporate governance, policies and strategies, stakeholder engagement, processes, and commitments and partnerships.

The structure of the questionnaire is based on the GRI indicators of the SDG Compass Guide for business action [49]. Such indicators are used as verified parameters in the CSR practices of the leading Spanish power companies and have been documented in their sustainability reports. These indicators correspond to five steps: understanding the SDGs; defining priorities to benefit from the business opportunities and reduce risks; setting sustainable development goals and targets to foster shared priorities, corporate commitment, and drive performance across the organization; integrating sustainability into the core business and governance of companies by engaging in partnerships with organizations in their sector, public administrations, and civil society organizations; and finally, reporting and communicating sustainable development as the highest level of the CSR Value Curve.

The questionnaire (Appendix A) consisted of five sections (26 questions) (

Table 7. Questionnaire structure: sections and justification according to general and specific objectives.

	General Objectives	Specific Objectives
Section 1. Corporate governance	O.1. Evaluate corporate governance	O.1.1. Evaluate the cooperatives’ commitment to CSR culture and management.
Section 2. Policies and strategies		O.1.2. Identify and evaluate the use of CSR and PR management policies, procedures, and standards.
Section 3. Stakeholders engagement	O.2. Evaluate strategic CSR management	O.2.1. Evaluate the level of CSR development with stakeholders (consubstantial, contextual, and contractual levels).
Section 4. Processes		O.2.2. Evaluate the inclusion of stakeholder expectations in the definition of key processes.
Section 5. Commitments and partnerships	O.3. Measure degree of knowledge and contribution to targets of SDG 7 and SDG 13	O.3.1. Identify the commitment and partnerships with stakeholders arising from CSR policies in the five phases of the value curve.
		O.3.2. Identify the links between CSR policy development and SDG 7 and SDG 13.

) on the aforementioned five key aspects that measured the degree of standardization in CSR management in electrical cooperatives and the integration of these policies into the global corporate strategy.

On the other hand, the model of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) [81] allowed us to set the different multiple response options. It represents the constant adaptation of the goals and internal processes of organizations to the demands of their stakeholders and environment. The REDER scheme for continuous improvement of the EFQM Model introduces a systematized approach to develop a system of organizational control and learning on sustainable management, the review of the different results that are established as goals, and the processes to achieve them. This questionnaire was validated by a panel of experts from the cooperative sector during June 2019 and was subsequently distributed across the 28 Spanish electric cooperatives via email. It had a response level of 96% among managers and directives in charge of CSR management in their respective organizations.

4. Results

The first result of this research is that many electric cooperatives are aware of the relevance of CSR as an attribute linked to corporate identity. This first level is evolving inclusively to consolidate, eventually, the commitment to the continuous improvement of CSR and sustainability management (level 5).

As Figure 5 shows, 61% of the cooperatives have assumed CSR management as a main intangible asset. In addition, 6% of the cooperatives informally define their CSR strategy and communicate it to stakeholders through various channels; 11% have also produced a reference document to reflect their annual CSR strategy, and the same percentage allocates economic resources for the management of their CSR program. The last level, represented as the solid commitment to continuous improvement, is only reached by 6% of all the cooperatives analyzed.

Thus, we can see how CSR is being managed by corporate governments following different international regulations, laws, and guidelines, as well as diverse ethical, economic, social, and environmental issues derived from cooperatives strategies. The implementation of CSR models and the evaluation of their impact on the creation of corporate value and reputation allows organizations to identify priorities to implement future business strategies aimed at balancing stakeholders’ needs.

In this context, the level of development in CSR reporting is relevant in electric cooperatives. As we can see in Figure 6, only 32% of the organizations are aware of the need to develop a CSR report and of implementing the appropriate channels to disseminate the CSR actions developed over a given period. However, only 5% of the cooperatives have implemented a formal management system for CSR reporting, following the guidelines of leading bodies, which would allow the development of standardized and verified procedures to prepare the report. 21% of cooperatives have implemented channels to get stakeholders’ feedback on their CSR initiatives. The same percentage of cooperative organizations (21%) analyze and evaluate stakeholders’ feedback. Accordingly, the data resulting from this two-way process influence future strategies linked to the cooperatives’ governance and social and environmental values.

In the preparation of corporate non-financial information reports, the most common instruments for power cooperatives in a context based on sustainability and stakeholder engagement are the Integrated Reporting (IR; 2011), the United Nations 2030 Agenda (2015), and the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards (2016, 2018). Consequently, sustainability reports represent one of the most important strategic actions for any organization since the disclosure of environmental, social, and governance impacts to sustainable development have a direct impact on its financial value.

With regard to the relationships that cooperatives have established with their stakeholders, Figure 7 shows that 42% of the surveyed organizations claim to be aware of the desirability of maintaining a balanced relationship with stakeholders. In this sense, it is observed that only 32% of the cooperative organizations have mapped, identified, and classified stakeholders and shareholders as well as the type of relationships established with them. Only 5% of cooperatives claim to have direct, two-way communication channels with stakeholders; 11% claim to implement stakeholder participation processes in their CSR management; and another 11% claim to integrate stakeholders’ expectations within their corporate strategy.

The CSR strategies of electric cooperatives contribute to the generation of trust and credibility among stakeholders through dialogue, commitment, and co-orientation. As we can see, the implementation of standardized CSR reporting and monitoring models responds to the corporate objectives identified in the different stages of the Value Curve, proposed in Section 2.1. In this sense, the cooperatives’ strategic engagement with stakeholders allows us to analyze the relevance of the latter in the achievement of corporate sustainability-related objectives as the last phase of the Curve.

With regard to the degree of commitment to the local community, characterized primarily by engagement with social and environmental values, there is a significant difference.

As shown in Figure 8, the identity of cooperatives as social-economy entities imposes a high level of commitment to social values. The corporate principles and values of these organizations assume the responsibility to improve the conditions of the local community as a context of proximity where they develop their economic or business activities. Consequently, both the corporate culture and behavior of electric cooperatives result in a permanent social action that is part of their strategic functions in their relationship with shareholders and stakeholders, as we can see at the last level.

These results indicate that power cooperatives have carried out responsible management of stakeholder engagement since they include their social and governance expectations in corporate policies as strategic systems.

However, if we focus on the degree of commitment to environmental values (Figure 9), we can see that 37% of cooperatives only ensure compliance with environmental regulations without making a greater commitment. Only 16% of organizations have designed complementary measures to reduce their internal and external environmental impacts and have implemented environmental plans. Meanwhile, 11% have communicated their environmental programs to their suppliers and distributors. Finally, at the highest level, it is noted that 21% of electric cooperatives have reviewed the results of their respective strategic environmental plans with their stakeholders.

These results confirm the existing conflict in the environmental field on the part of electric cooperatives. In the light of the results, it is necessary for cooperatives to manage the environmental expectations of society and stakeholders much more responsibly since this strategic CSR policy has a significant influence on their sustainable development, the achievement of their priority SDGs, their competitiveness, financial value, and corporate reputation.

Figure 10 shows the cooperatives’ degree of knowledge and commitment to SDG 7 (affordable and green energy) and SDG 13 (climate action). As we can see, 53% of the cooperatives have identified both SDGs within their CSR strategy, and 32% have implemented standardized management systems, such as reporting, to measure the GRI indicators linked to the targets set for each of the two SDGs. However, only 16% of the organizations communicate their results or contributions to SDGs to their stakeholders through responsibility or sustainability reports, social management balances, corporate websites, social networks, and multimedia platforms.

The use of all of these communication platforms and resources would guarantee the cooperatives’ dissemination of their CSR report to stakeholders. The lack of effective communication processes undoubtedly represents an opportunity cost for the generation of content aimed at society and stakeholders since the corporate website, blogs, social networks, and multimedia platforms allow cooperative organizations to amplify and highlight the importance of the information included in their annual reports and balances.

In this sense, and to delve into the results, Figure 11 and Figure 12 analyze the contribution of electric cooperatives to the priority SDGs in the sector through the development of certain actions initiatives linked to the GRI indicators (Table 5 and Table 6), which are included in each of the targets of SDG 7 and 13.

Regarding the contribution to SDG 7, only 37% of the cooperatives have made significant investments to implement research agreements and strategic partnerships with R&D companies. Importantly, 89% of organizations have implemented network and service innovations to improve energy efficiency and have guaranteed the 100% renewable origin of electricity, certified by the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC). On the other hand, 74% of cooperatives have established specific actions in the electricity grid, service supply, or the price scale to ensure universal access to affordable and green energy.

Therefore, based on the GRI indicators (Figure 11), there is a remarkably greater commitment to SDG 7 in comparison to the actions carried out by electric cooperatives with respect to SDG 13 (Figure 12), in which only climate change and renewable energy awareness-raising activities stand out (in 79% of cooperatives). Standardized greenhouse gas emission measurement and identification of risks and opportunities to develop efficient climate change policies, which are present in 11% and 26% of the analyzed organizations, respectively, show the dissonance between the projection of a public image linked to SDG 13 (Climate Action) and the cooperatives’ own identity, which is based, among other things, on environmental values but does not translate into a corporate behavior consistent with the other priority SDG.

Electric cooperatives, as social-economy companies, are based on participatory and social principles that are present in their corporate identity, as demonstrated by their degree of commitment to the community. These organizations have a high impact on society, which leads regulators, investors, and society itself to demand the implementation of strategic CSR programs that respond to standardized management, monitoring, and evaluation models and are integrated within corporate strategies.

The five sets of items included in the questionnaire to analyze corporate governance, policies and strategies, stakeholder engagement, processes and commitments, and partnerships, together with the GRI indicators that provide information on CSR actions and their contribution to the targets of priority SDGs for the sector, have allowed us to determine the electric cooperatives’ degree of commitment to CSR based on the progressive stages of the Value Curve [29,38,43,44,46]. In this regard, while electric cooperatives are taking enough action to materialize SDG 7 (affordable and green energy), the development of activities to consolidate SDG 13 (climate actions) and their integration into the CSR strategy are still very scarce.

The research indicates that most electric cooperatives (61%) are positioned in stage 3 of the Value Curve (good governance CSR). This stage is characterized by the relevance the organization gives to the principles and codes of conduct governing its behavior and their connection with strategic CSR policies (Figure 5) and by the identification and classification of stakeholders (42%), which enables the analysis of engagement with the organization (Figure 7). These results derive from sections 1, 2, and 3 of the questionnaire.

However, the fact that 11% of the organizations facilitate the participation of stakeholders in CSR management and integrate their social, economic, and environmental expectations (Figure 6) allows us to infer that electric cooperatives are currently making some progress within the Value Curve, going from stage 3 to 4 (Strategic CSR), as shown by the results obtained from Section 4 of the questionnaire.

In addition, more than half of the organizations (53%) identify SDGs 7 and 13 as priorities for the sector (Figure 10); while 32% establish standardized measurement indicators and 16% also disseminate their results, setting a clear trend towards stage 5 (Sustainable Development CSR), as shown by the results derived from Section 5 of the questionnaire.

Consequently, and although most electric cooperatives are in the emerging stage of issue maturity (between stages 2 and 3 of the Value Curve, risk management, and good governance), there is a significant percentage that is already in the consolidation and institutionalization stages of the Value Curve (between stages 3 and 4, and stage 5, respectively). However, and despite this evolution, the CSR strategies of most of these organizations do not include measurement and dissemination indicators for their priority SDGs (Figure 10). Thus, the progression that begins to occur towards stage 5 of the Value Curve (Sustainable Development CSR), linked to SDGs, is not present in the corporate documents used to report social responsibility, sustainability, economic activities, and non-financial information. This circumstance, according to Morsing and Schultz [82] and McKie and Heath (2016) [1], implies an opportunity cost for those electric cooperatives that have not yet implemented CSR strategies that integrate SDG 7 (affordable and green energy) and SDG 13 (climate action). The absence of integrated CSR programs that allow cooperatives to generate trust and credibility and strengthen stakeholders’ engagement and participation is an important obstacle to reach stage 5 of the Value Curve of CSR. This stage of sustainable development would allow for greater profitability of the corporate strategy derived from the goals of the SDGs into the management systems and processes of electric cooperatives.

5. Conclusions and Future Lines of Research

The Value Curve model we proposed in the theoretical framework can help electric cooperatives identify their stage of CSR development. Accordingly, organizations that want to advance in the implementation and improvement of their CSR must plan and implement strategies that integrate the social and environmental concerns of stakeholders and society in general.

Advancing in the CSR Value Curve requires a change of mindset that involves abandoning the idea of CSR management as an exclusive effort to mitigate risks in a reactive way. This change involves considering a new paradigm that is based on innovation and integrates the social and environmental aspect as an epicenter of the corporate activity of electric cooperatives with the active collaboration of the diversity of stakeholders (Figure 5).

Aligning the CSR strategy with the global corporate strategy generates an unquestionable competitive value that brings mutual benefits for both cooperatives and society. The pragmatic vision set out in this model makes it easier for organizations to know where to move to manage contextual risks and seize opportunities. In this sense, CSR management requires cooperatives to learn to identify conflicts and problems and prioritize those material issues that affect or may influence their business model.

Consequently, reaching the highest level in the CSR value curve for electrical cooperatives can substantially increase their corporate reputation, consolidate their position in the electricity market, reduce reputational risks, develop a social and ecological corporate culture, increase opportunities when tendering for public sector contracts, increase the loyalty of partners-customers, increase employees’ motivation and satisfaction, and strengthen their influence in their context of proximity.

The materiality or degree of relevance of the social issues and expectations to which cooperatives must respond through CSR represents a decisive aspect to minimize strategic risks and take advantage of the opportunities offered by the electric power sector. The diagnosis of risks and opportunities can be the source of new capabilities with which these organizations can learn to effectively engage with an increasingly demanding and competitive market and to generate engagement with their stakeholders. The identification of the material (social and environmental) issues linked to the SDGs and their targets is, therefore, one of the delimitations of this research.

The second limitation of our contribution is the development of comparative research between Spanish and other European electric cooperatives, from a strategic and management approach, since this type of study would allow us to identify and compare, through a SWOT analysis, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of this sector of economic activity from a much more comprehensive perspective.

The third delimitation of this work is that it has been found that there is a significant difficulty in establishing robust stakeholder communication systems that contribute to the identification of the priority issues that affect or may affect electric cooperatives and to their incorporation into CSR management systems. Thus, we consider that the design of strategic communication models that guarantee feedback from stakeholder communication and management processes would help electric cooperatives move towards stage 5 of the Value Curve, linking sustainable development policies with priority SDGs and their targets in corporate reporting. The dissemination of this process of development in CSR management and its alignment with strategic corporate policies, based on the guidelines of the 2030 Agenda, is one of the most significant and immediate challenges for the electric cooperative sector.