The influence of cultural dimensions on corporate social responsibility: reflections about Italian firms

Environmental pollution, economic over-exploitation of natural resources, and growing social and economic inequalities have attracted academicians and practitioners’ interest on the role of firms as actors able to influence societal and environmental dynamics trough the economic flows. Since the preliminary definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provided by Robert Edward Freeman in 1984, a challenging debate has attracted multiple research streams in order to depict the role of firms in social, environmental, and economic balance for a sustainable development. With the aim to enrich the ongoing debate, the paper focuses the attention on the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as a way for depicting elements and variables able to influence firms’ commitment in CSR strategies. Six propositions are formulized for investigating the relationships between firms’ commitment to CSR and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions from managerial point of view and they are discussed with reference to the Italian firms. Secondary data from Hofstede insight platform (https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/) are collected and discussed for tracing possible implications and future directions for researchers and practitioners interested in the domain of CSR in Italy.