At the beginning of the 21st century, rural policy remains one of the most important areas of public policy. The activity of public society calls for an essential review of the underlying support principles and justification of the public value, created by farmers that are subject to the support. It highlights the problematic paradox of this research: for the provision of public goods and services, i.e. for meeting the public interest, in agricultural sector, unlike other sectors, farmers are sponsored from public funds. The extent of the problem is evident from overviewed research of recent decades. Findings imply that rural areas are experiencing value crisis due to the massive deployment and intensity of financial and human resources which over accelerated rural development. Therefore social responsibility of farmers in the provision of public goods and services becomes a novel object of discussion, opening up a new original agrarian discourse into the research of post-industrial society’s value system.
The first part of the study presents an evolutionary analysis of the assumptions and theoretical approaches of farmers' social responsibility in the provision of public goods and services. The key factors behind are highlighted in the changing perception of farmer’s role in a post-industrial society. It is consistently explained how to understand holistically the two contradictory conceptions - economic (public goods and services) and moral (social responsibility, SR). It resulted with a holistic construct of SR of farmers in the provision of public goods and services. The second part of the study focused on developing a methodology for multi-criteria evaluation of farmers’ SR in the provision of public goods and services. The theoretical findings from evolutionary and systemic methodologies were used to develop the multi-criteria methodology, based on qualitative parameters. The review of prospective CSR research methodologies proposed a three-dimensional SR with environmental, economic and social layers as most suitable SR conception applicable for SR in agrarian discourse in composition with SR managerial operationalization tools: Global Reporting Initiative (2014) and Guidance on Social Responsibility (ISO 26000:2010). Modification and adaptation of them helped define the context-specific diagnostic indicators. Thus the conceptual framework and methodology for farmer’s SR disclosure in the provision of public goods and services, based on qualitative parameters, was developed. The third part of the study presents the results of developed methodology of farmers’ SR in the provision of public goods and services. The results are based on original empirical data collected in Lithuanian farms in January-February, 2017. Summarized and interpreted research results, helped discuss the limitations of developed methodology and its application possibilities for further research and rural policy decisions.
Vilkė, D.; Crowther, D.; Pareigienė, L.; Stalgienė, A. 2018. Ūkininkų socialinė atsakomybė teikiant viešąsias prekes ir paslaugas: daugiakriterinis vertinimas: Mokslo studija. Vilnius: Lietuvos agrarinės ekonomikos institutas. 86 p. : iliustr., santr. angl. (online) ISBN 978-9955-481-65-2.