This study examines companies' responsibility for young people from the
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) point of view. We compare
cooperatives with listed companies in regard to responsibility for young
people. Much research has been carried out about CSR, but comparative
studies about the CSR programs of listed companies and cooperatives
concerning young generation are lacking. In addition, CSR studies rarely
discuss the relationship between an organization and the young
generation.



The theoretical framework consists of literature of CSR including
stakeholder theory and cooperative values and principles. The study uses
qualitative comparative case study design. We examined why, how and to
what extent listed companies and customer- owned cooperatives take
responsibility for young people as well as how can companies' youth
responsibility be seen in their CSR strategy and stakeholder
discussions. The major research focus is: Are there differences in the
companies' responsibility actions due to different ownership and
stakeholder structures? The findings indicate that cooperatives engage
more in youth collaboration than listed companies do. The main reasons
for this are the cooperatives' local ownership and stakeholder structure
and value-based operations. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.