Purpose – Social Innovation has attracted the attention of both Scholars and Practitioners for the last years, but very little investigations are actually available about the drivers that lie upon the adoption of social innovative practices at “for-profit” firm’s level. This is particularly true with reference to culture and cultural diversities. According to the underlined gap, our paper aims to investigate the role of culture, and cultural diversities, in defining Corporate Social Innovation (CSI). Design/methodology/approach – The paper is theoretically grounded and based on an inductive approach. An extensive literary review about Innovation and Corporate Social Responsibility - as well as about their cultural drivers - has been carried to gain a wide understanding of CSI as a trade-off between firms’ innovative attitude and their propensity to reach social aims. Hofstede’s cultural model has been, finally, used to interpret the cultural insights of CSI in two different contexts, Italy and Iran. Empirical evidences have been collected thanks to the contribution of the University of Asham, Iran. They allow us to complete the theoretical considerations developed about Iranian firms’ social orientation. Originality/value – Our paper contribute to the literature improving about CSI by developing a more comprehensive knowledge and culturally-based understanding within a still unexplored field. Practical implications – Our paper will expand the ability of both Academics and Practitioners to recognize culture as key driver of CSI. In doing this, it opens up future exploitations about the way culture and cultural diversities may be managed in order to improve the effectiveness of firms’ innovative practices with reference to corporate and collective well-being.

Managing Knowledge for “Corporate Social Innovation”: a cross-cultural comparison between Italian and Iranian firms

BONFANTI, Angelo;
2015-01-01

Abstract

Purpose – Social Innovation has attracted the attention of both Scholars and Practitioners for the last years, but very little investigations are actually available about the drivers that lie upon the adoption of social innovative practices at “for-profit” firm’s level. This is particularly true with reference to culture and cultural diversities. According to the underlined gap, our paper aims to investigate the role of culture, and cultural diversities, in defining Corporate Social Innovation (CSI). Design/methodology/approach – The paper is theoretically grounded and based on an inductive approach. An extensive literary review about Innovation and Corporate Social Responsibility - as well as about their cultural drivers - has been carried to gain a wide understanding of CSI as a trade-off between firms’ innovative attitude and their propensity to reach social aims. Hofstede’s cultural model has been, finally, used to interpret the cultural insights of CSI in two different contexts, Italy and Iran. Empirical evidences have been collected thanks to the contribution of the University of Asham, Iran. They allow us to complete the theoretical considerations developed about Iranian firms’ social orientation. Originality/value – Our paper contribute to the literature improving about CSI by developing a more comprehensive knowledge and culturally-based understanding within a still unexplored field. Practical implications – Our paper will expand the ability of both Academics and Practitioners to recognize culture as key driver of CSI. In doing this, it opens up future exploitations about the way culture and cultural diversities may be managed in order to improve the effectiveness of firms’ innovative practices with reference to corporate and collective well-being.
2015
978-88-96687-07-9
Innovation; Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Social Innovation; Culture; Italian and Iranian firms
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/924469
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