Terri Mannarini

Corporate social responsibility: a psychosocial multidimensional construct

Purpose – Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is conceptualized as the construct describing the relationship between companies and society. Although scholars reached an agreement about the linkages between CSR in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and psychosocial issues – social identity, organizational culture and commitment – it is still a problematic issue how CSR should be defined and how companies could behave as socially responsible. The authors hypothesize that psychosocial processes impact the activation of CSR. Within a psychological perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore CSR definitions and CSR psychosocial dimensions.Design/methodology/approach – According to an emic perspective oriented at in‐depth comprehension of phenomena, the authors adopted the grounded theory methodology to collect, analyze and discuss the data. In total, 14 entrepreneurs and 12 employees of Italian‐Apulian SMEs were interviewed on three thematic areas: organizational culture; sense of community; ...

Empowering Community Settings and Community Mobilization

Empowering community settings exist in many community domains. One domain includes groups and organizations that empower oppressed citizens to challenge societal culture and institutions, and take action to change them. To be considered empowering, a community setting must have both an empowering process, and lead to an empowered outcome. Our study tried to answer the following question: Does the empowering community setting model provide a potentially useful framework for analysis of community movements? Based on qualitative analysis of data related to the characteristics of the anti–High Speed Railway movement (Susa Valley, Italy) and to its effects on the larger community, the findings support the view that at least some types of community movements are usefully regarded as empowering community settings. Discussion focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of applying this conceptual framework to community movements, and highlights directions for future research.

Uses of the term NIMBY in the Italian press, 1992–2008

Uses of the term NIMBY (‘not in my back yard’) were analysed in the three main Italian newspapers between 1992 and 2008. In the first study, a content analysis of 231 articles containing the term NIMBY showed two main views of the issues raised: one, aligned with the conventional view, according to which protesters are mainly driven by parochialism, emotionalism and ignorance, and the other consistent with the most innovative literature on this issue, which presents NIMBY conflicts as struggles for justice and democracy. The second study, which adopted the discursive psychology perspective on the articles characterised by the co-occurrence of the words ‘NIMBY’ term and ‘protest’, confirmed those results. Overall, there are multiple and diverse portrayals of NIMBY conflicts in the Italian press; the idea that the press supports traditional views of such conflicts, is, in part, unfounded.

Ingroup Identification, Outgroup Infrahumanization, and Intention to Mobilize in Land Use Conflicts:

Based on the application of a social psychology intergroup perspective to the analysis of people–place relationships, we conducted an experimental study in the context of a land use conflict revolving around the construction of a bridge over the Messina Channel (Italy). We aimed to analyze the relations between the salience of the identification with the ingroup defined by being pro- versus antibridge, outgroup infrahumanization, and the intention to mobilize in the conflict. In two community samples, from Reggio Calabria, where the structure should be placed (n = 107), and from Sciacca, which is more than 200 kilometers away from it (n = 100), the salience of ingroup identification influenced the intention to mobilize via the partial mediation of outgroup infrahumanization. The attitude toward the bridge and the distance from it did not moderate the paths that we have analyzed. Strengths, limitations, and implications for environmental psychology research are discussed.

Symbolic universes between present and future of Europe: First results of the map of European societies’ cultural milieu

This paper reports the framework, method and main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus in 4 European countries (Estonia, Greece, Italy, and UK). The analysis is based on a questionnaire applied to a sample built through a two-step procedure of post-hoc random selection from a broader dataset based on an online survey. Responses to the questionnaire were subjected to multidimensional analysis–a combination of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis. We identified 5 symbolic universes, that correspond to basic, embodied, affect-laden, generalized worldviews. People in this study see the world as either a) an ordered universe; b) a matter of interpersonal bond; c) a caring society; d) consisting of a niche of belongingness; e) a hostile place (others’ world). These symbolic universes were also interpreted as semiotic capital: they reflect the capacity of a place to foster social and civic development. Moreover, the distribution of the symbolic universes, and therefore social and civic engagement, is demonstrated to be variable across the 4 countries in the analysis. Finally, we develop a retrospective reconstruction of the distribution of symbolic universes as well as the interplay between their current state and past, present and future socio-institutional scenarios.

Acculturation in the discourse of immigrants and receiving community members: Results from a cross-national qualitative study.

This study explores the bidirectional and interactional process of acculturation from the perspectives of immigrants and receiving community members (RCMs). Our aim was to understand the experiences and interactions of different ethno-cultural groups and their impact on the functioning and dynamics of multicultural communities. We conducted a cross-national, cross-cultural study of acculturation processes, using interviews collected across two countries (Italy: urban regions of Torino and Lecce; U.S.: Baltimore/Washington corridor) and three distinct groups of immigrants—Moroccans and Albanians in Italy and Latin Americans in the United States—and RCMs in Italy and the United States. Findings show that acculturation is a complex, situated, and dynamic process, and is generally conceived as an unbalanced and individual process of accommodation, which expects the immigrant alone to adapt to the new context. The boundaries among traditionally explored acculturation strategies were blurred and while integration was the most frequently discussed strategy, it often referenced a “soft” assimilation, limited mostly to public domains. Some differences emerged between ethnic groups and generation of immigration as well as among RCMs who differed by level of contact with immigrants. The need for more flexible models and for a critical perspective on acculturation is discussed.

The Dark Side of Pursuing Self-Esteem and Identity: Socio-cognitive Biases in Conflicts Over Locally Unwanted Land Uses

Building on a social psychological perspective that is centered on intergroup relations, the chapter focuses on analyzing Locally Unwanted Land Use (LULU) conflicts, i.e., conflicts that oppose the siting process of facilities, such as nuclear stations, incinerators, transport infrastructures, or facilities for stigmatized groups. It is argued that ordinary intergroup socio-cognitive processes impact the actors’ proclivity to engage in pro-ingroup actions, and that the knowledge of such processes is crucial for advancing understandings of LULU conflict dynamics. The effects of three intergroup bias manifestations are discussed, specifically the ingroup over-exclusion tendency, the false consensus bias, and outgroup infra-humanization. Research found that all of these biases impact the development and radicalization of LULU conflicts and are exacerbated by perceived threat to residents’ identities. Moreover, these processes are symmetric for people who are in favor and against building the facility. Implications for managing LULU conflicts are discussed.

Symbolic universes between present and future of Europe

This paper reports the framework, method and main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus in 4 European countries (Estonia, Greece, Italy, and UK). The analysis is based on a questionnaire applied to a sample built through a two-step procedure of post-hoc random selection from a broader dataset based on an online survey. Responses to the questionnaire were subjected to multidimensional analysis–a combination of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis. We identified 5 symbolic universes, that correspond to basic, embodied, affect-laden, generalized worldviews. People in this study see the world as either a) an ordered universe; b) a matter of interpersonal bond; c) a caring society; d) consisting of a niche of belongingness; e) a hostile place (others’ world). These symbolic universes were also interpreted as semiotic capital: they reflect the capacity of a place to foster social and civic development. Moreover, the distribution of the symbolic universes, and therefore social and civic engagement, is demonstrated to be variable across the 4 countries in the analysis. Finally, we develop a retrospective reconstruction of the distribution of symbolic universes as well as the interplay between their current state and past, present and future socio-institutional scenarios.

Symbolic universes between present and future of Europe: First results of the map of European societies’ cultural milieuDe første resultater fra kortet over det europæiske samfundenes kulturmiljø

This paper reports the framework, method and main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus in 4 European countries (Estonia, Greece, Italy, and UK). The analysis is based on a questionnaire applied to a sample built through a two-step procedure of post-hoc random selection from a broader dataset based on an online survey. Responses to the questionnaire were subjected to multidimensional analysis–a combination of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis. We identified 5 symbolic universes, that correspond to basic, embodied, affect-laden, generalized worldviews. People in this study see the world as either a) an ordered universe; b) a matter of interpersonal bond; c) a caring society; d) consisting of a niche of belongingness; e) a hostile place (others’ world). These symbolic universes were also interpreted as semiotic capital: they reflect the capacity of a place to foster social and civic development. Moreover, the distribution of the symbolic universes, and therefore social and civic engagement, is demonstrated to be variable across the 4 countries in the analysis. Finally, we develop a retrospective reconstruction of the distribution of symbolic universes as well as the interplay between their current state and past, present and future socio-institutional scenarios.

Identity and Immigrant Stereotypes: A Study Based on the Ego-Ecological Approach

ABSTRACT Based on the ego-ecological approach, which views identity as deeply interconnected with the social environment via group memberships, this study reconstructed the psychosocial identity of a group of Sri Lankan immigrants who settled in Naples, Italy, with the aim of detecting resonances between their self-representations and the stereotypes circulating in the receiving society. Fifty-one Sri Lankan immigrants completed a shortened version of the Multistage Investigator of Social Identity (MISI) with the following two stimulus groups: “Sri Lankans” (i.e., ethnocultural identity) and “immigrants.” Analyses revealed an implication of the self in both groups (i.e., Sri Lankans and immigrants), with the represented immigrant self more negatively connoted than the ethnocultural self. The contents of the self-representations showed resonances with both the stereotypes associated with immigrants in Italian society and the specific stereotype associated with the Sri Lankan community, thereby empirically confirming that in the immigrant experience identity feels the effect of the attitudes of the receiving context.