Multisided collaboration and double stakeholder approach coexistence in restaurants: From Corporate Social Responsibility practices to partnerships for the goals

Abstract

Restaurants have been becoming increasingly aware of their responsibilities and impact; however, literature on corporate social responsibility has mainly applied quantitative methods to analyze the environmental dimension of sustainability. By drawing on the stakeholder theory approach (normative vs. instrumental) and through a qualitative narrative method based on the analysis of 41 open interviews, this study aims to evaluate which stakeholders are engaged in restaurant‐related CSR practices and the nature of the relationship that ties them together. The results show that although a normative approach is more common, both approaches coexist in many cases. The emergence of multisided collaboration and a double approach enables achieving sustainability issues outside a strictly instrumental logic. This study contributes to the scant literature on CSR in restaurants by analyzing a wider set of stakeholders engaged in sustainability practices and indicating which practices are common and why and how stakeholders are involved.