**2. The evolution of national context: corporate social responsibility**

In Italy, social audit, the basic instrument of CSR, unlike in other European countries, is still a voluntary choice and not a legal obligation. Social audit is a public document drafted periodically and addressed to social interlocutors who, directly or indirectly, are involved in activities of the company. Therefore, the recipients of social audit are all stakeholders and the community at large; information on social outcomes helps create and spread a certain reputation of the company that is able to encourage dialog with all the stakeholders [1]. This term refers to an individual, a community or an organization that, directly or indirectly, influences the operations of the company or suffers its repercussions. Stakeholders are, therefore, all those who have an interest in the activity of the company which allows a better functioning of it. As a matter of fact, the company is part of a network of interactions and relationships, exchange with multiple social interlocutors, capable of influencing, in a positive or negative way, the destiny of the company. Only a careful management of this system of relationships allows the company to obtain the resources and contributions essential for the prosecution over time of the activity and the realization of its purposes.

has defined CSR as the responsibility of enterprises for their impact on society, and it is important in the agri-food system above all. CSR should be company led. Public authorities can play a supporting role through a smart mix of voluntary policy measures and, where necessary, complementary regulation. Companies can become socially responsible by: following the law; integrating social, environmental, ethical, consumer and human rights concerns into

In Italy, in recent years, CSR started as a response to new consumption paradigms interesting to our society which, in times of globalization of production processes, sees the eradication of the enterprise from the area of production and an increased need for the same to make its way of acting visible; however, social audit (the basic instrument of CSR) is still a voluntary choice, unlike in other European countries. CSR contributes to value creation and is therefore able to generate a competitive advantage for the company; it should not be considered as a cost, but as an element that, when integrated into corporate governance, positively affects the performance of the company and its competitiveness by improving its development prospects in a longterm perspective and, at the same time, by reducing the risk profile. In this way, CSR can be considered a true corporate philosophy or a direct decision as strategic response to major competitors' actions or a marketing policy for offsetting past immoral behavior toward consumers. The main functions of a company entail the creation of value through the production of goods and services, generating profits for its owners and for its shareholders, as well as wealth for the company, in particular, through a continuous process of job creation. Firms are aware of the possibility of contributing to the sustainable development of society, managing their operations in a way that strengthens the economic growth and competitiveness without harming the environment, neither fleeing from their social responsibilities nor neglecting the interests of the consumer. In this context, an increasing number of firms has adopted the concept of social responsibility in the following ways: by adopting a socially responsible behavior beyond the legal requirements; by taking into account the economic, social and environmental impacts of their activities; by considering social responsibility not as an additional element

to fundamental activities, but as correlated with the type of business management.

financial field, the ethical investment funds, rating and development are important.

**2. The evolution of national context: corporate social responsibility**

In Italy, social audit, the basic instrument of CSR, unlike in other European countries, is still a voluntary choice and not a legal obligation. Social audit is a public document drafted periodically and addressed to social interlocutors who, directly or indirectly, are involved in activities

Companies disclose their socially responsible initiatives through the adoption of social, environmental and sustainable audit and reports, that is, through the reporting of CSR activities that they have spontaneously launched. It is the practice of adopting socially responsible management systems (management of the environment, human resources, suppliers, information security and accuracy). Certification by third parties is also very widespread. In this context, it is possible to understand the importance of environmental compatibility brands and quality brands; in the

their business strategy and operations.

100 Social Responsibility

Therefore, companies do not limit themselves to undertake CSR, but often choose to make the stakeholders aware of such conduct, in an attempt to improve the corporate reputation and business results. Therefore, it permits a synergy between businesses and consumers: consumers' choices affect companies' policies, which (if properly communicated) are able to influence purchases. Considering the profile of modern consumers (careful of the consequences of its purchasing decisions in terms of social, ethical and environmental aspects), it is possible to identify the role of CSR for consumers through a study on critical, ethical and responsible purchase of products [2]. In this context, a wide range of factors are able to contribute to a positive reputation, including accounting measures of profitability and risk, market value, media visibility, institutional stock holdings, dividend yield, firm size and demonstration of social concern (but also other reputational factors, including customer satisfaction, stakeholder familiarity, corporate campaigns and corporate citizenship programs). Nowadays, consumers are more sophisticated than 30 years ago, thus, they may have a different understanding and awareness of CSR, and in this way, they might prove to be more receptive to a different style and approach to corporate initiative and communication. If it is correct, the changed features of consumers are possibly more distinct and noticeable considering the older and younger generations or differences in genders: which is what this study focuses on. In other words, an intent of this study was to either confirm or not a role in people's perception of proper ethical conduct of factors such as age or gender through the proposed statistical methodology.

In this context, ethical marketing becomes the function linking the company and the market through the synthesis between ethical decisions and economic consequences, respecting in any case the interests of the various stakeholders. In Italy, for historical reasons deriving from the importance of the cooperative movement, as well as for structural motives, given the prevalence of small and medium enterprises, the sensitivity toward the context of social relations in which companies operate, constitutes a significant part of the national economic system. In the beginning of the new millennium, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies launched the CSR-social commitment project aimed at the development and promotion of social responsibility. The project is based on a voluntary approach to CSR the companies elect and aims to promote the culture of social responsibility within the socioeconomic system and to increase awareness of sustainable development. In this way, it is possible to provide a response to information requests on CSR made by the stakeholders, pursuing the European Commission's goal of identifying a common language and reference framework [3].

The project assigns importance to the diffusion of ethical behaviors among companies, but what characterizes it is the widening of this vision through the dimension of social interventions, called social commitment, which has the aim of promoting the real participation of companies in supporting national and local welfare system according to a modern logic of public-private integration [4]. In particular, the role of the government is to identify areas of intervention, that, at a national and local level, require specific action and direct funding on priority projects [4]. Companies can join on a voluntary basis and contribute to the financing of welfare policies, while social intervention is managed directly by the associations and by voluntary work.

the basis of the variables on which the consumer focuses, ranging from quality/price ratio, to packaging of the product, to ethics of workers' rights, ecology, respect for the environment,

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A scenario which highlights that a consumer, with the purchase of the product, tends to satisfy more needs than in the past, ranging from food safety, in terms of compliance with hygiene rules and nutritional properties, to sustainability, in terms of use of renewable resources during the production process and in relation to respect for the living conditions of animals [10]. Lastly, as already stated, there is also the interest for safety in the workplace and the respect for workers' rights [10]. Furthermore, emphasis is placed on the dynamics of the consumption of quality products, expression of a growing 'modern consumer' sensitivity toward nutritional and ethical content: a post-modern consumer, considered as one of the main stakeholders of the company because, compared to the past, s/he chooses, buys, uses products and

The level of wealth that has characterized Western society leads individuals to make informed purchase choices, based not only on affordability, but also on issues such as quality of life and responsibility toward future generations [11]. The modern consumer becomes 'gatekeeper of the market' through actions that can be negative, positive, individual or collective: as a consequence s/he asks the companies for increasingly high quality and ethical standards. The figure of the modern consumer, that is, much more critical and careful toward the products and services offered by the market, it is one of the most significant transformations of Italian consumption patterns in recent years. This means that we are faced with a new subjectivism

In this context, the sociodemographic changes connected to economic development, product and process innovations [12] have pushed consumers toward an increasing sensitivity in terms of the safety of food. This sensitivity has been sharpened by food scandals and health emergencies that have hit the agricultural and agri-food sector on a global scale in the years

However, not only the food risks are important, but also the tendencies and sensitivities spread toward issues closely related to food and its processing (that includes the treatment of raw materials, the phases of preparation and the packaging of the product), from ecosystem pollution to biodiversity loss, from the conditions of animal breeding to genetic manipulation and from the new forms of labor exploitation to the increase in social inequalities [14]. It follows that the subjective component of the demand attributable to personal consumer's taste, considered enduring in the past, now is highly influenced by factors of a cultural and sociodemographic nature (education, age, social context), taking a leading role in the market. This component allows a better interpretation of the demand (not just the food one) and its transformation, since the traditional explanatory variables (price, relative prices and income)

of consumption especially in the agricultural and agri-food sector.

**4. Social and economic development**

between the old and the new millennium [13].

are no longer sufficient [15].

diet, health, and so on [9].

services in a conscious way.

Government's objective is to develop the ethical supplementary funds. The standard proposed by the ministry envisages a system articulated on two levels [5]: the first level, called CSR level, easy to access and articulated on the basis of already known schemes (e.g., the International Organization for Standardization approach), has the main purpose of promoting the culture of social responsibility; the second level (social commitment level) requires the company to cofinance social projects in order to benefit from tax bonuses and facilitates access to the financial market through ethical funds. For companies wishing to participate in the reward system, an easily usable, simple and innovative tool was developed: the social statement. This is a selfassessment device for social responsibility activities and a support in the drafting of a report whose objective is to guarantee transparency of performance in the field of social responsibility.

Lastly, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies established within the framework of the commitments undertaken in the context of the Third European Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, the Italian multi-stakeholder forum for corporate social responsibility [6]. The initiative was to encourage the dissemination of CSR among Italian companies and organizations by increasing the level of awareness of the importance of relations between CSR and sustainable development; facilitate the exchange of experiences and best practices; promote transparency and convergence of CSR practices and tools, with particular attention to the needs of small- and medium-sized enterprises, and, lastly, to promote the sharing of partnership experiences between institutions, companies and organizations and civil society.
