Beyond CSR: The virtues-based approach to corporate responsibility and sustainability in Italian SMEs

Abstract: The work addresses the issues of authentic corporate sustainability and social responsibility (CSSR) orientation, focusing on small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) with the aim to enquire if and how values and virtues foster CSSR strategies and activities and influence the effectiveness and authenticity of this orientation. Therefore, in a global context where CSR and sustainability are often used opportunistically, the study intends to verify if the shift from values to virtues can be considered a driver of innovative CSSRoriented strategies, capable of fostering social innovation and to build a model of sustainable development. The study has been developed by adopting both a deductive and an inductive approach. After presenting the literature review, the second part analyses a case-study relative to an exemplary Italian company, which has been distinguished for its authentic CSSR-orientation, deriving from a set of shared human and transcendental virtues diffused inside and outside the organisation.