PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE ISSUES OF BUSINESS DIGITALIZATION

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to systematize the key problem areas of business social responsibility under conditions of digitalization and to substantiate directions for institutionalizing digital social responsibility of enterprises, with particular attention to the specifics of the Ukrainian business environment. The relevance of the topic is determined by the accelerating digital transformation of business under wartime conditions, the harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with European Union data protection and artificial intelligence regulation, and the recent adoption of a binding international treaty on platform work.The study applies methods of theoretical generalization, systemic and comparative analysis, induction and deduction, abstract-logical reasoning, and scientific classification to synthesize findings from Ukrainian and international scholarly literature, reports of international organizations, and legal acts of Ukraine and the European Union. As a result, the article demonstrates that traditional corporate social responsibility, historically built around economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic dimensions, requires extension through the concept of corporate digital responsibility, which additionally covers data protection, digital well-being, digital inclusion, and the ethical use of technology. Five key problem areas of business social responsibility under digitalization are identified and characterized: personal data protection and digital privacy; algorithmic bias and artificial intelligence ethics; the digital divide and digital inclusiveness; the rights of platform workers and transparency of algorithmic management; and business responsibility for the social consequences of labor market automation.The analysis of these problems in the Ukrainian business environment reveals an adaptive, crisis-driven character of digital transformation during wartime, a dual regulatory pressure arising from outdated national legislation combined with the need for anticipatory alignment with European standards, and a close interconnection between digital responsibility and the ESG agenda as a factor of international competitiveness.The practical value of the obtained results lies in the substantiation of a multilevel framework for institutionalizing digital social responsibility, encompassing corporate-level digital responsibility policies and artificial intelligence ethics committees, industry-level codes of digital conduct, and state-level acceleration of legislative harmonization with European data protection and artificial intelligence regulation, as well as consideration of ratifying the International Labour Organization convention on decent work in the platform economy. The proposed framework can be used by enterprise management to design digital responsibility strategies and by public authorities to shape digitalization policy.