Abstract Research has often depicted consumer co-operatives as specifically socially responsible organizations that both can and should take CSR issues especially seriously. In this paper, we analyse the CSR activities of the regional co-operatives of the leading Finnish retailer S Group based on annual board reporting. In light of our findings, we argue that no consistently high level of CSR can be identified across the S Group and all its regional co-operatives. Therefore, we do not deem it feasible to conclude that consumer co-operatives are inherently socially responsible organizations merely due to their organization form. Instead, it seems that the fact that the members are in charge in a consumer co-operative and elect a board to oversee it serves to keep the responsibility in the hands of local residents, but at the same time, it also requires a genuine interest towards governance of the co-operative as well as CSR issues. In the absence of either, the level of responsibility is likely to depend on the interest management and board members show in these issues. The paper concludes with practical implications for the S Group and consumer co-operatives in general as well future avenues for research on CSR and consumer co-operatives.

中文翻译：

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消费者合作社的CSR活动：基于董事会报告探讨芬兰S集团合作社的案例

摘要研究通常将消费者合作社描述为对社会负责的组织，他们可以并且应该认真对待企业社会责任问题。在本文中，我们根据年度董事会报告分析了领先的芬兰零售商S集团的区域合作社的CSR活动。根据我们的发现，我们认为，在S集团及其所有区域合作社中，无法确定始终如一的高水平的CSR。因此，我们认为仅凭消费者合作社的组织形式就不能得出结论，认为消费者合作社本质上是对社会负责的组织。取而代之的是，成员在消费者合作社中负责并选择一个董事会对其进行监督的事实似乎有助于将责任掌握在当地居民手中，但与此同时，它还需要对合作社以及企业社会责任问题的管理有真正的兴趣。在两者都不存在的情况下，责任的程度可能取决于利益管理，而董事会成员在这些问题上的表现。本文最后对S集团和消费者合作社以及对CSR和消费者合作社进行研究的未来途径都具有实际意义。