Riccardo Spinelli

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation has gained momentum amongst professional sport organisations, including the football industry. Amidst the increasing normative and strategic importance of CSR for professional football clubs, this integrative review aims to consolidate and examine scholarly contributions in this area. Our content analysis performed on 50 studies (published from 2008 to 2022) elaborates on five CSR‐football thematic areas, namely “Implementation and Governance”, “Drivers and Barriers”, “Impacts and Perceptions”, “Communication”, and “Measurement”. Findings indicate that the extant research on CSR in football is rather limited in various aspects. Our discussion addresses those core areas in need of attention for future research endeavours, specifically the expansion of the research scale and scope, the strengthening of theoretical foundations, the prevalent instrumental approach in CSR implementation, the minimal attention on drivers and barriers, the lack of focus on impact assessment and evaluation, and the lack of emphasis on disclosure and communication issues.

This study investigates the sustainability practices of tourist ports, a little explored research area despite the environmental and social impacts of these infrastructures. Our research evaluates the diffusion of quality, environmental and social certifications among 225 Mediterranean tourist ports. We analyse the ports websites for an explicit graphic or textual reference to any certifications obtained. Our results show a limited adoption of certifications, with about half of the sample ports indicating possession of at least one certification. The port managers’ commitment towards certifications is limited, and focused on the most common ones – although not industry-specific – such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. The small size and limited entrepreneurial approach of the companies managing tourist ports are identified as contributing causes. A greater commitment to obtaining and communicating certifications is desirable, considering the increasing competition in the sector – which requires continuous innovation and improvement of processes and products – and the growing demand for quality and sustainability by nautical tourists.