L'evoluzione della CSR Communication: una review integrativa di disegni e metodi di ricerca

La Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) o Responsabilità Sociale d’Impresa (RSI) rappresenta un modello di gestione aziendale, secondo il quale, pur perseguendo i classici obiettivi economici, le imprese devono condurre le proprie attività nel rispetto dell’ambiente in cui vivono e tenendo comportamenti responsabili da un punto di vista sociale ed etico. Tuttavia, perché la condotta socialmente responsabile delle imprese sia in grado di generare vantaggi anche in termini economici, le attività di CSR devono essere comunicate agli stakeholders in maniera opportuna, adottando una valida strategia di CSR Communication (CSRC). Di qui la necessità di integrare la ricerca relativa alla CSR con studi focalizzati proprio sulla sua comunicazione. Trattandosi di un filone di studio relativamente recente, si avverte l’esigenza di armonizzare la letteratura esistente nell’ambito della CSRC e la necessità di arricchire la ricerca con ulteriori studi in grado di fornire una visione chiara ed omogenea del fenomeno. Dopo un’introduzione ai concetti di CSR e CSR Communication, si forniscono informazioni relative alla metodologia di ricerca utilizzata e i principali risultati dell’analisi

Le recensioni online e le percezioni di credibilità da parte dei consumatori

La tesi affronta il tema delle percezioni di credibilità delle recensioni online postate dai consumatori. In primo luogo, è stata realizzata una rassegna sistematica della letteratura, finalizzata a capire in modo la credibilità delle recensioni è stata studiata fino ad oggi e che ruolo essa ha assunto nel modelli testati dai ricercatori. E' stato, poi, condotto uno studio sperimentale, collocato nell'ambito dell'industria del turismo, avente come obiettivo quello di testare: a. un modello di mediazione, che mostra come percezioni di credibilità delle recensioni online risultano essere influenzate dal tipo di immagine di profilo utilizzata dal recensore e come questa relazione si spiega attraverso la mediazione dell’empatia; b. un modello di moderazione, che evidenzia come, a sua volta, il livello di credibilità della recensione percepito dai consumatori impatta sulla propensione a prenotare una stanza d’hotel da parte degli stessi e come questo impatto sia moderato dalla valenza della recensione

Theories and methods in CSR communication studies. A systematic review

Purpose The aim of this paper is to provide a review about Corporate Social Responsibility Communication (CSRC) from a methodological point of view. Scholars have increasingly shown interest in this topic, however, there has been no review of how different methodologies have contributed to advancing knowledge in this field. Design/methodology/approach We searched title, abstract, and related keywords through a sets of terms related to CSR (e.g. cor- porate ethical; corporate environmental; social responsibility; corporate accountability) and Com- munication (e.g. communica*; reporting; disclosure*; dialogue*; sensemaking). We narrowed down the amount of 3173 papers resulted by the search by considering only papers published on top and field-related journals. Then we classify papers into conceptual versus empirical papers. The final dataset is made by 556 empirical papers. Findings We coded each empirical paper by: 1) the research design (qualitative, quantitative and mixed me- thods), 2) the research method in terms of type of data collection and data analysis, 4) the unit of analysis, 5) the sample and 6) the context in which the study has been conducted. Research limitations/implications Future research will delve deeper into four main areas: 1) identify the main research domains of CSR Communication literature; 2) match research domains of CSR communication literature with me- thodological approaches; 3) provide a comprehensive framework of the theories and methods avai- lable in CSRC research; 4) employ co-citation analysis and content analysis on the collected papers. Originality/value The present paper systematically reviews methods and techniques employed in the CSR Commu- nication literature

Theories and methods in CSRC research: a systematic literature review

Purpose – The authors have systematically reviewed 534 corporate social responsibility communication (CSRC) papers, updating the current debate about the ontological and epistemological paradigms that characterize the field, and providing evidence of the interactions between these paradigms and the related methodological choices. The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical and methodological implications for future research in the CSRC research domain. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used the Scopus database to search for titles, abstracts and related keywords with two queries sets relating to corporate social responsibility (e.g. corporate ethical, corporate environmental, social responsibility, corporate accountability) and CSRC (e.g. reporting, disclosure, dialogue, sensemaking). The authors identified 534 empirical papers (2000–2016), which the authors coded manually to identify the research methods and research designs (Creswell, 2013). The authors then developed an ad hoc dictionary whose keywords relate to the three primary CSRC approaches (instrumental, normative and constitutive). Using the software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, the authors undertook an automated content analysis in order to measure these approaches’ relative popularity and compare the methods employed in empirical research. Findings – The authors found that the instrumental approach, which belongs to the functionalist paradigm, dominates the CSRC literature with its relative weight being constant over time. The normative approach also belongs to the functionalist paradigm, but plays a minor yet enduring role. The constitutive approach belongs to the interpretive paradigm and grew slightly over time, but still remains largely beyond the instrumental approach. In the instrumental approach, many papers report on descriptive empirical analyses. In the constitutive approach, theory-method relationships are in line with the various paradigmatic traits, while the normative approach presents critical issues. Regarding methodology, according to the findings, the literature review underlines three major limitations that characterize the existing empirical evidence and provides avenues for future research. While multi-paradigmatic research is promoted in the CRSC literature (Crane and Glozer, 2016; Morsing, 2017; Schoeneborn and Trittin, 2013), the authors found no empirical evidence. Originality/value – This is the first paper to systematically review empirical research in the CSRC field and is also the first to address the relationship between research paradigms, theoretical approaches, and methods. Further, the authors suggest a novel way to develop systematic reviews (i.e. via quantitative, automated content analysis), which can now also be applied in other literature streams and in other contexts

A review on research methods of CSR communication

The aim of this paper is to provide a review about Corporate Social Responsibility Communication (CSRC) from a methodological point of view. Scholars have increasingly shown interest in this topic, however, there has been no review of how different methodologies have contributed to advancing knowledge in this field

Relationship among explosive power, body fat, fat free mass and pubertal development in youth soccer players: a preliminary study

Purpose: Changes in body size and functional capacities are highly individual during puberty, and the performance of a soccer player is often closely related to their maturity status. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationships among explosive power, body fat, fat free mass and pubertal development in young soccer players. Methods: Explosive power (countermovement jump-CMJ), body mass index (BMI), percentage of body fat (¿), fat free mass (FFM) and a Self-Administered Rating Scale for pubertal development (PDS) values of 11 "Giovanissimi" (age 13 year), 13 "Allievi" (age 15 year) and 10 "Juniores" (age >17 year) male soccer players were compared. The statistical analysis was performed using an analysis of variance among categories with Fisher's post hoc as appropriate. Furthermore, Pearson correlations among variables were calculated considering all subjects and also within categories. Results: Statistical differences emerged among categories in CMJ (F (2,30) = 28.3, p < 0.01), body fat weight (F (2,31) = 29.2, p < 0.01) and PDS (F (2,29) = 18.5, p < 0.01), while ¿ values showed statistical differences only for "Giovanissimi" and "Juniores" (F (2,31) = 3.4, p = 0.01). CMJ showed significant correlations with FFM (r = 0.68) and PDS (r = 0.63), PDS with FFM (r = 0.66) and BMI with ¿ (r = 0.71) and FFM (r = 0.71). A high correlation was found within categories. Conclusion: Since we found differences between categories and no correlation between chronological age and pubertal status, this study highlights the importance of assessing of puberty in youth soccer team

Tocilizumab for patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. The single-arm TOCIVID-19 prospective trial

BackgroundTocilizumab blocks pro-inflammatory activity of interleukin-6 (IL-6), involved in pathogenesis of pneumonia the most frequent cause of death in COVID-19 patients.MethodsA multicenter, single-arm, hypothesis-driven trial was planned, according to a phase 2 design, to study the effect of tocilizumab on lethality rates at 14 and 30 days (co-primary endpoints, a priori expected rates being 20 and 35%, respectively). A further prospective cohort of patients, consecutively enrolled after the first cohort was accomplished, was used as a secondary validation dataset. The two cohorts were evaluated jointly in an exploratory multivariable logistic regression model to assess prognostic variables on survival.ResultsIn the primary intention-to-treat (ITT) phase 2 population, 180/301 (59.8%) subjects received tocilizumab, and 67 deaths were observed overall. Lethality rates were equal to 18.4% (97.5% CI: 13.6-24.0, P=0.52) and 22.4% (97.5% CI: 17.2-28.3, P&lt;0.001) at 14 and 30 days, respectively. Lethality rates were lower in the validation dataset, that included 920 patients. No signal of specific drug toxicity was reported. In the exploratory multivariable logistic regression analysis, older age and lower PaO2/FiO2 ratio negatively affected survival, while the concurrent use of steroids was associated with greater survival. A statistically significant interaction was found between tocilizumab and respiratory support, suggesting that tocilizumab might be more effective in patients not requiring mechanical respiratory support at baseline.ConclusionsTocilizumab reduced lethality rate at 30 days compared with null hypothesis, without significant toxicity. Possibly, this effect could be limited to patients not requiring mechanical respiratory support at baseline.Registration EudraCT (2020-001110-38); clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04317092)