The purpose of the study was identification of activities pursued by stock exchanges of countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the area of promoting and implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and evaluation of impact of such activities on the economies of individual countries ˗ seats of stock exchanges. The object of analysis were seventeen stock exchanges.
Their operation features thirteen types of activities, which may be characterised as a set of best practices supporting corporate social responsibility. Such practices were divided into two areas: practices pertaining to the operation of stock exchanges as such and practices addressed to the listed companies. Significant differences in the activities of the analysed stock exchanges with respect to the engagement in the promotion of the CSR standards has been observed. To answer the second research question, the value of indices was calculated, portraying the level of development of a given capital market, as well as the capacity of the stock exchange to impact the economic environment.
Confronting the data about the activities of stock exchanges in implementation of the CSR standards with the calculated indices allowed for distinguishing four groups of stock exchanges: leaders in the implementation of best practices (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia), stock exchanges manifesting initiative in the best practice implementation (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Slovenia), stock exchanges following the trends in the best practice implementation (Belarus, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia and Hungary) and undecided ones (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Czech Republic and Ukraine). The study conclusions show that creation of infrastructure conducive to the implementation of the CSR standards by the stock exchanges may positively influence the improvement of competition of the local capital market, in particular with respect to the attracting of capital managed by international institutional investors.