CSR and related terms in SME owner-managers' mental models in six European countries: national context matters
Fassin, Yves, Werner, Andrea 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3746-7248, Van Rossem, Annick, Signori, Silvana, Garriga, Elisabet, Von Weltzien Hoivik, Heidi and Schlierer, Hans-Jorg
(2015)
CSR and related terms in SME owner-managers' mental models in six European countries: national context matters.
Journal of Business Ethics, 128
(2)
.
pp. 433-456.
ISSN 0167-4544
[Article]
(doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2098-7)
|
PDF
- Published version (with publisher's formatting)
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
As a contribution to the emerging field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) cognition, this article reports on the findings of an exploratory study that compares SME owner–managers’ mental models with regard to CSR and related concepts across six European countries (Belgium, Italy, Norway, France, UK, Spain). Utilising Repertory Grid Technique, we found that the SME owner–managers’ mental models show a few commonalities as well as a number of differences across the different country samples. We interpret those differences by linking individual cognition to macro-environmental variables, such as language, national traditions and dissemination mechanisms. The results of our exploratory study show that nationality matters but that classifications of countries as found in the comparative capitalism literature do not exactly mirror national differences in CSR cognition and that these classifications need further differentiation. The findings from our study raise questions on the universality of cognition of academic management concepts and warn that promotion of responsible business practice should not rely on the use of unmediated US American management terminology.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords (uncontrolled): | Business ethics, Cognition, Corporate social responsibility (CSR), Cross-national study, Repertory Grid Technique, Small to medium sized enterprises |
| Research Areas: | A. > Business School > International Management and Innovation A. > Business School > International Management and Innovation > Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics group |
| Item ID: | 13120 |
| Notes on copyright: | © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com.
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited. |
| Useful Links: | |
| Depositing User: | Andrea Werner |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Mar 2014 16:01 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Nov 2022 22:47 |
| URI: | https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/id/eprint/13120 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)