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Despite the increased recognition and emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a topic and highly formalised CSR control systems, numerous well-publicised problems and scandals often involving multinational enterprises (MNEs) continue to emerge. These companies are mostly extrinsically motivated in CSR. They operate with highly formalised CSR systems that, in many cases, miss the prevention of anti-social and illegal behaviour. This might reflect the failure of extrinsic CSR to integrate the ethical dimension and/or the failure of intrinsic CSR to formalise and thus benefit from economies of scale. Currently, the conviction is growing that if CSR is to have a meaningful impact, it should be a matter of intrinsic motives, morale and ethical values rather than a formalised management tool. This research aims to focus on a sample of small and large companies in Switzerland, aiming at a comparison of key motives for CSR related to actual CSR implementation, performance and company size.

The study examined two groups: seven owner-managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and seven managers of MNEs. Each group met for two focus group discussions that were qualitatively and visually analysed using MAXQDA.

The results show that CSR implementation in the examined Swiss SMEs is more related to moral commitment than to profit maximisation. These companies are often driven by soft assets, such as networks, by the nexus of mission and value set; by a system of initiatives and integrated behaviour; by proximity and informal, flat organisational structures; by the aspiration and ambition of craftsmanship or excellent service (instead of profit); by community involvement; by recruiting from the local community; by the willingness to grow slowly and steadily; by the avoidance of atomic markets; and finally, by the mental set up and sociological tradition of the stewardship concept. This contrasts with the extrinsically motivated approach of the MNEs under research. While MNEs follow their approach of “ethics for the firm that must pay”, the findings here identified potential transition cases of “ethics in the firm” and “ethics of the firm” within Swiss SMEs. This is consistent with others, resembling the need of this dichotomy to be revised.

The cross-sectorial approach limits the degree to which motives can clearly be attributed to actual CSR performance or company size.

The results imply that policymakers, public institutions, scientific community, etc. should be careful when establishing systems that favour financial returns from CSR engagement, because, first, other research showed that a behaviour attributed to extrinsic motives is mostly perceived as dishonest and misleading, for instance, consumers. Second, extrinsic motivation might crowd out morale and paying lead actors for behaving altruistically or philanthropically might decline their intrinsic motivation. Notably, the crowding out of intrinsic motivation by extrinsic incentives is a phenomenon well-researched not only in regard to CSR but in various other areas linked to human behaviour. This has important implications for nearly every business operation, especially for mergers and acquisitions, as well as for the growth of businesses.

It seems unsuitable to support social goods in intrinsic CSR by the implementation of a system of financial incentives (or consequences). Thus, an economic cost-benefit is inappropriate where CSR needs an ethical stand. The difference between extrinsic and intrinsic CSR is very difficult to bridge – both have powerful incentives and drivers preventing a potential cross-over.

In sum, this study showed that CSR is meaningful and justifiable even if it is not profitable in the first place or implemented in and managed through formalised systems. This leads to two conclusions: first, care should be taken when emphasising the extrinsic approach in relation to social goods and second, the cost of a possible mismatch in a climate of ethical principles might be substantial for societies’ moral inclination.

This paper aims to investigate, using stakeholder map methodology, showing power, urgency, legitimacy and concerns of different actors, the current state of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Switzerland. Previous research on CSR in Europe has made few attempts to identify stakeholders and their contribution to this topic.

To derive this map, publicly available documents were explored, augmented by 27 interviews with key stakeholders (consumers, media, government, trade unions, non-profit organisations [NPOs], banks, certifiers and consultants) and management of different companies (multinational enterprises [MNEs], small- and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] and large national companies). Using MAXQDA, the quantified codes given for power, legitimacy and urgency were triangulated between self-reporting, external assessments and statements from publicly available documents and subsequently transferred into stakeholder priorities or, in other words, into positions in the map. Further, the codes given in the interviews for different CSR interests and the results from the document analysis were linked between stakeholders. The identified concerns and priorities were quantitatively analysed in regard to centrality and salience using VennMaker.

The paper identified SMEs, MNEs and cooperating NPOs as being the most significant stakeholders, in that order. CSR is, therefore, not driven primarily by regulators, market pressure or customers. Further network parameters substantiated the importance of SMEs while following an unconventionally informal and idiosyncratic CSR approach. Hence, insights into these ethics-driven, unformalised business models that pursue broader responsibility based on trust, traditional values, regional anchors and the willingness to “give something back” were formed. Examples of this strong CSR habit include democratic decisions and abolished hierarchies, handshake instead of formal contracts and transparency in all respects (e.g. performance indicators, salaries and bonuses).

In total, 27 interviews as primary data that supplements publicly available documents are clearly only indicative.

The research found an innovative, vibrant and practical CSR model that is emerging for reasons other than conventional CSR agendas that are supposed to evolve. In fact, the stakeholder map and the CSR practices may point at a very different role businesses have adopted in Switzerland. Such models offer a useful, heuristic evaluation of the contribution of formal management systems (e.g. as could be found in MNEs) in comparison to the unformalised SME business conduct.

A rarely reported and astonishing feature of many of the very radical SME practices found in this study is that their link to commercial strategies was, in most cases, not seen. However, SMEs are neither the “poor relative” nor the abridged version of CSR, but are manifesting CSR as a Swiss set of values that fits the societal culture and the visionary goals of SME owners/managers and governs how a sustainably responsible company should behave. Hence, as a new stance and argument within CSR-related research, this paper concludes that “informal” does not mean “weak”. This paper covers a myriad of management fields, e.g. CSR as strategic tool in business ethics; stakeholder and network management; decision-making; and further theoretical frameworks, such as transaction cost and social capital theory. In other words, this research closes scientific gaps by at once applying quantitative as well as qualitative methods and by merging, for the first time, network methodology with CSR and stakeholder research.

The aim of this chapter is to understand the nature of business collaboration between healthcare service providers and tourism agencies in Malaysia. Interviews with 17 healthcare service providers in Malaysia reveal that most of the collaboration between healthcare service providers and tourism agencies in Malaysia is informal or loose, despite their intention to leverage on medical tourism for business expansion. Close and tight collaborations are rare. The findings point towards the main reasons behind the rare collaboration which are the high customer orientation of healthcare service providers, the strategic move of business and support for government agenda.

This chapter is concerned with the social relationships and communities that families engage with while playing Pokémon Go. The chapter begins by considering the release of this hybrid reality game (HRG) in the summer of 2016, and the extent to which it seemingly lends itself to communities and the development of social relationships through play. Following this, we demonstrate that while the evidence for Pokémon Go facilitating new relationships is apparent, the kind of relationships in question are not explicitly explicated through extant literature. Accordingly, we develop the theoretical framework that undergirds the exigency of the chapter. This includes Granovetter's (1973) taxonomy of social ties among people in social networks – strong, weak and latent ties – and the suggested effect these categories have on the sharing of information. Having outlined the implication of this taxonomy for comprehending social relationships forged through Pokémon Go, we introduce Gerbaudo's (2012) ‘liquid organising’ to explore how weak ties have been enhanced through social media, which raises pertinent question in the context of familial locative play. Critically, then, this chapter looks to understand what kind of social ties can be formed when the playing of Pokémon Go is itself performed in the context of the family unit, using the theoretical frameworks outlined above. This chapter is driven by the following research questions. First, what kinds of social relationships have developed for the families that play Pokémon Go together? This includes whether intergenerational players have made new friends, as well as strengthened current relationships. Second, has this HRG facilitated friendships for the children that play Pokémon Go? In other words, is a community of players still a salient feature of playing this HRG, in the same way that it was shortly after its release in the Summer 2016?

While it is essential to further research the growing diversity in western metropolitan cities, little is currently known about how the members of various ethnic communities acculturate to multicultural societies. The purpose of this paper is to explore immigrants’ cosmopolitanism and acculturation strategies through an analysis of the food consumption behaviour of ethnic consumers in multicultural London.

The study was set within the socio-cultural context of London. A number of qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews, observation and photographs were used to assess consumers’ acculturation strategies in a multicultural environment and how that is influenced by consumer cosmopolitanism.

Ethnic consumers’ food consumption behaviour reflects their acculturation strategies, which can be classified into four groups: rebellion, rarefaction, resonance and refrainment. This classification demonstrates ethnic consumers’ multi-directional acculturation strategies, which are also determined by their level of cosmopolitanism.

The taxonomy presented in this paper advances current acculturation scholarship by suggesting a multi-directional model for acculturation strategies as opposed to the existing uni-directional and bi-directional perspectives and explicates the role of consumer cosmopolitanism in consumer acculturation. The paper did not engage host communities and there is hence a need for future research on how and to what extent host communities are acculturated to the multicultural environment.

The findings have direct implications for the choice of standardisation vs adaptation as a marketing strategy within multicultural cities. Whilst the rebellion group are more likely to respond to standardisation, increasing adaptation of goods and service can ideally target members of the resistance and resonance groups and more fusion products should be exclusively earmarked for the resonance group.

The paper makes original contribution by introducing a multi-directional perspective to acculturation by delineating four-group taxonomy (rebellion, rarefaction, resonance and refrainment). This paper also presents a dynamic model that captures how consumer cosmopolitanism impinges upon the process and outcome of multi-directional acculturation strategies.

Body positivity movement empowered plus-size women globally to speak up boldly about their clothing needs. Retailers cannot satisfy this group with some classic style offerings anymore. By taking clue from existing literature, this study aims to identify clothing preferences and problems related to ready-made plus-size clothing in India. Although many past literature pointed out about poorly fitted and size unavailability issues worldwide, very few of them addressed about clothing style preferences.

A self-administered close-ended questionnaire was used to answer a set of objectives. A pilot study with 40 plus-size women was carried out to check the reliability and validity of the instrument. Four hundred subject's data were gathered from six Indian cities with a purpose of varied geographical importance. Statistical tests like binomial distribution was used to analyze fit-related problems of 12 bodily sites such as shoulder, upper arm, lower arm, bust, waist, stomach, abdomen, hip, thigh, lower leg, armhole and elbow, and frequency charts were used to examine Likert scale data of sizing problems. The choices of 12 clothing styles were mapped through four factors which affect the purchasing decision of a plus-size woman.

Poor-fitted clothes at 10 body sites out of the 12 reflected about the fit aspect of plus-size clothing in India. Findings associated to sizing issues like unavailability of trendy clothes in appropriate sizes, which also adorn Indian curvy figure, shows synonymy to the worldwide researcher's findings related to sizing chaos. Classic silhouettes like Straight Indian kurti, A-line dresses and regular-fit trousers were majorly preferred by women. Hiding body bulges was mostly preferred while purchasing loose-fitted garments, and fitted garments were preferred only if these suits to the curvy body proportion. Appropriate fit and size availability are always a prime requisite for this class of women.

The outcomes of research will help Indian retailers/manufacturers to update their patterns in order to provide desired fit. In this lacuna of standard size chart, the study will add value in the development of Indian plus-size women's size chart. The factor mapping with clothing preferences will be useful to reduce rejections and inventories.

As medical schools become increasingly diverse, there is a growing demand for schools to support their equity-seeking students. At the University of Toronto, the diversity mentorship program (DMP) is a new program created to support equity-seeking and diverse medical students in first- and second-year through didactic lectures, networking opportunities and mentorship from senior clinicians. This article aims to share participant perspectives on how diversity-focused mentorship benefits them, perceived barriers and insights for other institutions developing a similar program.

Using a mixed methods design, students and mentors completed semi-structured surveys to assess broad perceptions of their mentorship experiences. Focus groups were conducted with both groups to gain deeper understandings of participants' experiences. The authors performed thematic analysis to identify qualities of successful experiences and barriers to participation.

Most mentors and mentees found the DMP helpful and identified five themes contributing to a positive mentorship experience: (1) accessibility, (2) program diversity focus with clear expectations, (3) career guidance, (4) exposure to different perspectives and (5) community and shared identity. Uncertainty on how to help less assertive mentees, mentorship pair discordance where mentees paired by race did not share racial identities and logistical challenges was identified as barriers to maintaining mentoring relationships.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first qualitative study exploring the feelings and impressions of participants in a mentorship program at a medical school addressing the needs of equity-seeking groups. By understanding the characteristics and value of diversity-focused mentorship, this will inform the creation of similar supportive programs across various professional fields at other schools.

Young people’s attachment to their smartphones is well-documented, with smartphones often described as prostheses. While prior studies typically assume a clear human/machine divide, this paper aims to build on posthuman perspectives, exploring intercorporeality, the blurring of human/technology boundaries, between emerging adults and their smartphones. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Drawing on assemblage theory, this interpretive study uses smartphone diaries and friendship pair/small group discussions with 27 British emerging adults.

Participants in this study are characterized as homo prostheticus, living with and through their phones, treating them as extensions of their mind and part of their selves as they navigated between their online and offline, private and social lives. Homo prostheticus was part of a broader assemblage or amalgamation of human and non-human components. As these components interacted with each other, the assemblage could be strengthened or weakened by various technological, personal and social factors.

These qualitative findings are based on a particular sample at a particular point in time, within a particular culture. Further research could explore intercorporeality in human–smartphone relationships among other groups, in other cultures.

Although other studies have used prosthetic metaphors, this paper contributes to understanding of smartphones as a prostheses in the lives of emerging adults, highlighting intercorporeality as a key feature of homo prostheticus. It also uses assemblage theory to contextualize homo prostheticus and explores factors strengthening or weakening the broader human–smartphone assemblage.

By relying on social learning theory, the authors aim to evaluate how team characteristics as evaluated by a team coach impact participation in leadership development program activities. Specifically, the authors hypothesize that teams with high levels of competence and social support would participate more team and program-wide training activities.

The authors examine 41 teams (266 participants) in a leadership development program and develop a two-by-two matrix to categorize teams based on their underlying characteristics for the purpose of identifying participation differences.

The mixed results indicate how team social support is a key driver for participation in team activities and how team competence is associated with less participation in program-wide activities in a leadership development program.

The results point to the importance of team characteristics when using teams for education and training programs such as leadership development programs. Team characteristics such as team competence and team social support should be considered when building teams and for team facilitation needs during education and training programs that implore teams to enhance learning.

Although the use of teams as an organizing strategy is popular, very little research has examined the effectiveness of this strategy by taking a deeper look at team characteristics and how these impact participation in a leadership development program.